{"id":43035,"date":"2018-02-09T05:58:45","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T10:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=43035"},"modified":"2018-02-09T07:02:20","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T12:02:20","slug":"review-theology-science-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2018\/02\/review-theology-science-fiction.html","title":{"rendered":"Theology and Science Fiction Radio Interview and Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I recently spoke with Jim Lebans of the Canadian Broadcasting Company<\/a> about religion and the singularity. Here is the program they put together:<\/p>\n

<\/iframe> \nIt is fascinating to hear the result, as they brought together not only my own conversation but that of other academics into a fascinating combination.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/radio\/ideas\/imagining-the-singularity-what-happens-when-computers-transcend-us-1.4526303\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\">On their website they add<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Superintelligent machines as prophets or gurus<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"figure col3width floatright\">\nAnother way to imagine our relationship with the superintelligent machines is to think about the gods of mythology. As Theologian\u00a0James McGrath<\/strong>\u00a0points out, we have a long history of imagining our relationship with beings that are superior to us, and many of these are cautionary tales.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nMcGrath, however, imagines many more positive outcomes in our relationship with superintelligent machines, including the possibility that they might use their abilities to develop religious thought \u2014 and answer some of the great religious and theological questions that humanity has struggled with. They might even become new prophets or gurus guiding our thinking about existence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/radio\/ideas\/imagining-the-singularity-what-happens-when-computers-transcend-us-1.4526303\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\">Click through to read (and listen to) more<\/a>.\u00a0Of related interest, Rev. Andrew Tucker wrote a review of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2BifauI\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Theology and Science Fiction<\/em><\/a> in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/currentsjournal.org\/index.php\/currents\/article\/view\/106\/124\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\">Currents in Theology and Mission<\/em>\u00a045:1 (2018)<\/a>. Here is a brief excerpt:<\/p>\n<blockquote>This small treatise offers\u00a0an overview of the relationship\u00a0between theology\u00a0and science fiction. The book\u00a0speaks well to those of us\u00a0whose nerdery extends from\u00a0the realms of theology to the stretches of our technological\u00a0imaginations, but provides value even for those who do not appreciate\u00a0science fiction as entertainment. Specifically, McGrath\u00a0details how often science fiction and theology perform similar\u00a0tasks for their consumers, and as such, suggests they perform\u00a0better as partners than antagonists in the quest for meaningful\u00a0living.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/currentsjournal.org\/index.php\/currents\/article\/view\/106\/124\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\">Click through to the journal website to read the rest of the review<\/a>. I am not sure whether \u201cnerdery\u201d is technically a word, but I like it, and plan to use it in the future, at least to describe myself if not others!<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Theology-Science-Fiction-Cascade-Companions\/dp\/1498204511\/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&linkCode=li3&tag=jamefmcgrshom-20&linkId=3d460b0a5779ae0a6f3dcedda146811c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\" decorated-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=1498204511&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=jamefmcgrshom-20\" border=\"0\"><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=li3&o=1&a=1498204511\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\"><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I recently spoke with Jim Lebans of the Canadian Broadcasting Company about religion and the singularity. Here is the program they put together: It is fascinating to hear the result, as they brought together not only my own conversation but that of other academics into a fascinating combination.\u00a0On their website they add: Superintelligent machines as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":38340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,86,101],"tags":[1312,10890,12508],"class_list":["post-43035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-science-fiction","category-theology","tag-book-review","tag-science-fiction","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Theology and Science Fiction Radio Interview and Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I recently spoke with Jim Lebans of the Canadian Broadcasting Company about religion and the singularity. 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