Deus Et Machina

American Academy of Religion

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Science

A podcast that brings people together for short conversations about religion and technology. Hosted by Matthew Vaughan and Norm Jacknis.

11/18/2022

Better worlds, a patchwork of messiahs, and humans being

In this episode, we sit down to talk with Suzanne van Geuns, who is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Princeton University’s Center for Culture, Society, and Religion. Suzanne is helping us think big-picture through the roles that religion might play in helping us envision a tech-rich future. Perhaps more than in previous episodes, this conversation teased out some of the different approaches each group member has taken.
11/18/2022

Immortality!

This is the third and final episode in which we discuss transhumanism with authors Tracy Trothen and Calvin Mercer. Calvin teaches at East Carolina University, and Tracy teaches at Queen’s University in Ontario. They’re authors of a fascinating new book called “Religion and the Technological Future.” In this episode, the group discusses some of the most pressing religious implications of transhumanism: should we rethink the nature of immortality in light of technological advances? And what can fiction teach us about all of this?
11/17/2022

Robot faith

In this episode, the second in our three-part series with authors Calvin Mercer and Tracy Trothen, we spend some time listening to them introduce their new book, “Religion and the Technological Future.” In this episode, Calvin walks us through the five categories of human enhancement that they argue are ripe for religious reflection. We also spend a good deal of this episode reflecting on the use of machines to fulfill certain religious functions.
11/17/2022

Questions about questions about transhumanism

This episode is the first in a three-part series related to the themes of religion, transhumanism, and human enhancement. We are joined by Tracy Trothen and Calvin Mercer, authors of a recent book called “Religion and the Technological Future: An Introduction to Biohacking, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism.” In this first episode, Calvin and Tracy are defining the key issues at play in this conversation, as they see them.
11/17/2022

The Ethical Dilemmas of the Not-So-Humble Machine

In this episode, the second in our two-part series with David Hoffman from Columbia University, we continue our discussion of AI and medical ethics. In this episode, which very much builds on the previous one, we discuss some of the many ethical implications of letting machines into the healthcare business. We talk about things like prayer, data, privacy, and of course capitalism – among many others.
11/17/2022

Medical Ethics: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

In this episode, the first in a two-part series on medical ethics, we are joined by David Hoffman, a professor of bioethics at Columbia University and an attorney specializing in healthcare law. These two episodes are all about some of the ways that AI has impacted healthcare – something that religious communities have traditionally taken very seriously. This first episode has to do with the ability of machines to “think” in ways that perhaps supersede human wisdom.
11/17/2022

Who’s to blame? The Virtual Rabbi

This is the third and final episode in which we talk to Jacob Goodson, a philosopher from Southwestern College. In the previous episodes, we have talked about how to frame the questions we’re hoping to address, as well as what we mean by certain words we tend to use in this conversation. In this episode Norm, Jacob, and Matthew get into some of the ethical implications of this discussion, and we conclude by talking about a fascinating piece of technology: an AI bot that is programmed to speak as a rabbi.
11/17/2022

Can we be virtually real?

This is the second of three episodes in which we talk to Jacob Goodson from Southwestern College about the philosophical implications of putting religion and AI into conversation. We begin by talking about the work of another philosopher named David Chalmers. Much of this episode asks what we mean when we use some of the words that are common in this conversation, words like “virtual” and “reality.”
11/15/2022

Created Creators

Our guest is Dr. Jacob Goodson, a philosopher at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas. Our goal for this conversation was to tease out some of the key questions that should shape how we talk about artificial intelligence (AI) from a religious perspective, and religion from an AI perspective. In this first episode, we’re just getting started. Jacob, Norm, and Matthew are trying to figure out what a good starting point for this conversation should be. What should we be asking? And how?

9 Episodes

A podcast that brings people together for short conversations about religion and technology. Hosted by Matthew Vaughan and Norm Jacknis.

Creator

American Academy of Religion
Years Active

2022
Episodes

9
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Matthew Vaughan and Norm Jacknis
Show Website

Deus Et Machina