So much time had passed since I did the above interview for Talk Gnosis, that I had forgotten that it had yet to appear. I’m glad it is now available, and think that you will enjoy the conversation about my book Theology and Science Fiction. It also mentions Gen Con (a previous year, but this makes for a natural connection with things that I have been blogging about recently).
I also had the pleasure of talking with Ellen Duffer about artificial intelligence and religion recently, and the resulting article appeared yesterday. The title is “As Artificial Intelligence Advances, What Are its Religious Implications?” and it is published in Religion & Politics. Ellen also interviewed other names that you’re likely to recognize if you are interested in this topic, such as Noreen Herzfeld and Stephen Garner. But there are also some that are new to me, and so I am delighted to learn as a result of the article about the expanding academic community that is interested in exploring the intersection between AI and religion. Perhaps soon we can have some conversations about a new AAR program unit on the subject of “Artificial Intelligence and Religion”? There is a “Human Enhancement and Transhumanism Unit” but that isn’t quite the same thing. And while it is possible to explore aspects of this under the heading of “Religion and Science Fiction,” I know that I and others are interested not only in the fictional narratives that incorporate AI and religion, as interesting as those are, but also the real world technological developments present and future that may never be the focus of a compelling science fiction story, but which nonetheless are worthy of serious study and investigation.
If you’re reading this and you’re an academic interested in religion and artificial intelligence, would you be interested in trying to meet up in Boston at AAR to talk about a possible program unit in this area?
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