Acknowledgments

This book has been a work in progress for longer than we might like to admit. During the course of this work, we have been privy to countless discussions with our friends and colleagues. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution that these discussion have made to the form and content of this work and we express our heartfelt thanks to all those who so participated. There is always a risk when extending thanks to specific people that some may be overlooked, and to anyone so offended we offer our sincere apologies. However, we feel compelled to make special note of a few people who have been especially generous with their time and thoughts on our rather arcane endeavor.

The authors would like to thank two precursors in the field of computer theology, Anne Foerst in God in the Machine and Donald Knuth in Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About. They opened the door to us.

Bertrand thanks Reid Smith and the directors of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence for inviting him at the 2000 AAAI meeting to make a presentation which would become the forerunner for this work. Then the students at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas at Austin, Purdue University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, University of Hamburg, University of Grenoble and University of Paris, commented on subsequent versions of the presentation that eventually led to this project, when Tim offered that it was possible to transform this set of tentative ideas into a comprehensive work of religion and science. I would like to thank the computer security community that participated for so many years in several organizations that I had the honor to found and participate in as chairman or president, in particular the Java Card Forum, where Tim and I had the opportunity to not only discuss the topics at hand, but also to launch this book in Berlin, Germany, in 2005. Finally I thank my former colleagues at Axalto, now Gemalto; and foremost the management and the employees of Schlumberger, for their promotion of fundamental values of scientific integrity that are as good for the business as they are for the human adventure. I have a particular debt towards Schlumberger Fellows Fikri Kuchuk and Mike Sheppard for penetrating critique. Eric Abecassis, Guillermo Arango, Danièle Cuzin, Richard Dollet, Tim Finin, Thomas Fisher, Zhian Hedayati, Philippe Lacour-Gayet, Mark Leveno, Robert Leydier, Mathias Lorieux, Yi Mao, Yogi Mehta, Fiona Pattinson, Elena and Jean-Claude Perrin, Guy Pujolle, Alain Rhelimi and Alain Sigaud contributed erudite insights during discussions that, one way or another, shaped my thoughts. After the long evenings and week-ends and all my ratiocinations, I owe so much for my family support, which extended to helping elaborate parts of the book, including cover design by Léonard, and picture by Clémente. Moreover, my wife Christine suggested that Computer Theology is about Intelligent Design of the World Wide Web.

Tim would like to acknowledge the seminal discussions about the broader aspects of privacy and identity with Ken Binion and Marilyn Binion. Discussions regarding religion and technology with Mike Montgomery and with Ksheerabdhi Krishna were of great benefit. Gerry Smith was an excellent sounding board for some of our early ideas, with the sidewalk cafés of Paris providing an incredible backdrop. Scott Guthery and Mary Cronin were invaluable sources of technical expertise along with a wealth of encouragement. Ann Daniel has been a marvelous source of publishing guidance and general encouragement. Sarah Bremer offered a number of extremely relevant observations on art, art history and legal scholarship. Miriam Jurgensen offered a wealth of information regarding presentation and artistic interpretation. Theresa Schwarzhoff and Jeffrey Cua provided a number of interesting insights on concepts of political discourse. Mike Neumann

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