Technology besides weaponry has metaphysical, interpersonal, and moral sides that modern society is only now starting to more fully engage with on an open level. As entertainment and internet-accessing technology in particular have grown more realistic, far more potent in their potential for escapism and likelihood to trigger philosophical contemplation, not only are virtual worlds--immaterial inventions that spring from certain physical hardwares--a much more prominent part of modern life, but they also introduce new ways of experiencing moral issues that otherwise only have an equivalent in interpersonal behaviors or thoughts of the mind.
Virtual reality, video games that are more immersive and complex than before, and artificial intelligence, which is either a realistic outward simulation of a conscious being or something that is itself perhaps truly conscious, have already made it so that we can do things virtually or to non-human entities that would be discouraged and hated if they were done to fellow people. Sexual and violent acts are especially pivotal here. While killing a non-playable character or another player's avatar in a standard video game is not immoral for the same reasons murder would be, what of maliciously attacking and killing more realistic player avatars in extensive virtual reality experiences? What about married people having very lifelike sex in virtual reality environments?
Thankfully, not everything here is as complicated as some, especially Christians, might pretend. Sex with everything from a sex robot to a virtual NPC or player avatar is not sex with a fellow human, so it cannot be adultery or promiscuity for the same reason killing virtual characters cannot be murder. Biblically speaking, to condemn these virtual acts (or in the case of using sex robots, acts involving a non-human physical shell with the potential for its own consciousness) is to go beyond the Bible's own commands in violation of Deuteronomy 4:2. Now, there might still be malice or selfishness behind some people's actions in a hypothetical virtual reality of extreme realism or use of a sex robot (for instance, trying to make a spouse jealous would be problematic), but that would at worst make only their motives immoral.
Even if a sex robot is genuinely conscious, its artificial intelligence would not make performing sex acts with it adulterous for married people because it is not a human or even an animal (sex with the latter would be bestiality, condemned by the Bible because of the difference in species and the fact that animals cannot give consent). Similarly, even if a person was to kill a virtual avatar of another actual person in a way that brings psychological discomfort to the other player, "killing" a virtual being that does not necessarily have its own consciousness would not be wrong by the same Biblical standard that opposes murder. Just as stealing in a video game is not the sin of theft, these and other comparable acts are not true equivalents to sinful deeds like adultery, murder, or theft, among other things.
Although some moral issues involving technological constructs like virtual worlds or robots are not as difficult to know the Biblical stance on as it might initially seem, the technological revolution of the past three decades has brought the capacity for virtual worlds and machines that at least act as if they have their own minds into the fabric of everyday life, and it is vital for Christians to understand the ramifications of rationalistic and Christian philosophy for technology. The true Biblical stance will likely surprise or anger many. Here, I mean Biblical stance in that the stance is perfectly consistent with what the Bible actually says about related matters and connects with it, not in the sense that the Bible addresses artificial intelligence, gaming, or internet usage directly, though Deuteronomy 4:2 already means that anything the Bible does not condemn directly or by direct, logically necessary extension of its condemnations is not morally wrong. I still do not see some of the hypothetical uses of technology with major moral aspects joining the culture just yet, but even greater technological revolutions could be looming right around the corner.
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