Computers - the technology of the future! Presumably if you have reached this site then you are fairly 'computer literate'. The trouble is that technology changes so rapidly. What is state-of-the-art one minute is redundant the next. Each year computers seem to shrink while their speed and capacity seem to grow exponentially.

Threat or promise? Computers will soon be Able to out-manoeuvre even the very best flesh-and-blood chess grandmaster that humankind can produce. In the 19th century, uneasiness about our technological abilities generated the mythical story Frankenstein. In the 20th century the myth was updated in the exciting films Terminator 1, Terminator 2… and soon to be Terminator 3. The ageing Arnie Schwarznegger is being wheeled back to play the hulking cyborg from the future. Arnie's appearance is obviously based on early images of Frankenstein's monster, but is such hideousness really appropriate? Modern computers have all the light and speed of angels… Maybe the computer will be tomorrow's angel…

An absurd thought? Maybe - though theologian John Puddefoot, in his fascinating book God and the Mind Machine (SPCK 1996) speculates that if "a time should come when significant portions of human life are devoted to relationships with android, we may find ourselves less concerned to argue that such creatures should not or cannot enter the gates of heaven, than to plead with St Peter that if we are to be admitted, they must be admitted too."

Androids in heaven! An intriguing idea. The main problem perhaps, is that one of the main functions of an angel is to praise. Will androids ever be able to praise God? Would the Hallelujah Chorus written by an android be the same thing as if it were written by a human?