Not so keen on the use of ‘cult’ but here’s another interesting article I was interviewed for on the relationship between religion and AI:
A Cult That Worships Superintelligent AI Is Looking For Big Tech Donors
Dungeons & Dragons Could Prevent the AI Apocalypse—or Kick It Off – Tony Tran, The Daily Beast
Fantastic new piece from Tony Tran which [dungeon] delves into the adventures of using AI for D&D and references ‘The Elf Ranger Test’ that I proposed back in 2018 😀
Dungeons & Dragons Could Prevent the AI Apocalypse—or Kick It Off
LA Times: Can Religion Save us from Artificial Intelligence?
Pleased to have been quoted in this piece with so many other experts in Religion and AI:
LA Times: Can Religion Save Us From Artificial intelligence?
Forthcoming – The Cambridge Companion to Religion and AI
We’re very close to submitting the final draft of the CUP Cambridge Companion to Religion and AI, and I’m pleased to be able to share the current chapter list (unlikely final edits to the order and titles in the publication process notwithstanding!):
01. Introduction – Beth Singler and Fraser Watts
02. Steps Toward Android Intelligence – William Clocksin
RELIGIONS AND AI
03. Hinduism and Artificial Intelligence – Robert Geraci and Stephen Kaplan
04. The Buddha in AI/Robotics – Hannah Gould and Keiko Nishimura
05. Artificial Intelligence and Jewish Thought – David Zvi Kalman
06. Artificial Intelligence and Christianity: Friends or Foes? – Marius Dorobantu
07. Islam and Artificial Intelligence – Yaqub Chaudhary
SOCIAL & MORAL ISSUES
08. Transhumanism and Transcendence – Ilia Delio
09. The Eschatological Future of Artificial Intelligence: Savior or Apocalypse? – Noreen Herzfeld
10. AI Ethics and Ethical AI – Paula Boddington
11. Black Theology x Artificial Intelligence – Philip Butler
12. Imag(in)ing Human-Robot Relationships – Scott Midson
RELIGIOUS STUDIES
13. The Anthropology and Sociology of Religion and AI – Beth Singler
14. Simulating Religion – F. LeRon Shults and Wesley J. Wildman
15. Cognitive Modelling of Spiritual Practices – Fraser Watts
16. Artificial Companions and Spiritual Enhancement – Yorick Wilks
A pre-order page will go up on the CUP site when the book is a bit closer to publication 🙂
New Blog Post on Secular Religion at the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network
I am very pleased this is now out – written as I needed to exorcise some linguistic semantic bugbears 🙂 In particular around some recent descriptions of the Longtermist worldview and Effective Altruism as Secular Religions:
Taking Bugbears Seriously: Why Does the “Secular Religion” vs. “Religion” Distinction Matter?
And here’s something entertaining on the matter by @HamishDoodles ❤
The Daily Beast – The Radical Movement to Worship AI as a New God, by Tony Ho Tran
I am absolutely delighted to have been interviewed for this piece that covers so many of the details and issues around the deification of AI, which has been a subject I have been looking at, as an anthropologist, for a while now. Tony was a great interviewer and I am pleased to see so many of the ethical issues we discussed in the piece – even if our divergence into AI and D&D wasn’t covered (and I could talk about D&D for days! If you are interested in AI and D&D, you can also check out this older piece by me)
The Daily Beast – The Radical Movement to Worship AI as a New God
“I contain Multitudes”: Code-Switching in the Age of AI – New Blog Series for Swivel Secure
Some thoughts on the impact of AI, the first part of a new series I am writing for Swivel Secure as I bring anthropological insights to the #AI conversation.
“I contain multitudes”: Code-Switching in the Age of AI
AAR 2023 CFP Emerging Technologies
As co-chair of the Emerging Technologies group at AAR I am very excited to share our call for papers for this year’s conference.
There are a few extra things to be aware of since we are still working towards program unit status. First, we do have a fairly tight deadline and ask that paper proposals for this year’s panel please be submitted no later than Friday, February 17th. Also, we are not yet able to accept proposals through AAR’s PAPERS system, so please e-mail your paper to Co-Chair Christopher Senn at cps5@rice.edu
AAR
Emerging Technologies
Call for Proposals
Theme: Religion and Emerging Technologies of the Self
Foucault spoke of technologies of the self as technologies that “permit individuals to effect by their own means, or with the help of others, a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection or immortality.”
How might scholars of religion theorize the way people use emerging technologies to rebel against and reinforce the intersecting imperatives to thrive and find meaning while navigating the economic and legal restriction of the tools they rely on to foster their life worlds?
The Religion and Emerging Technologies Group welcomes papers that examine how new, experimental, and theoretical electronic or digital technologies are being used to reshape our bodies, souls, or thoughts – through materiality, cultures, and discourse.
Examples of new technologies of the self could include, but are not limited to:
- Pleasure technologies, e.g., teledildonics, virtual companions, romancing NPCs (both AI enabled and not)
- Ascetical technologies, e.g., methods of self-perfection and self-improvement, dietary and exercise gamification technologies, moral and spiritual enhancement applications
- Spaces of identity self-creation: AR, VR, proto-Metaverses, MMORPGs, games
- Technologies for getting rid of the self, and/or for reconceptualizing the self
- Conversations about ChatGPT5, a theoretical, coming technology
- Vaporware and technology-based scams, and startups
- Others not included in this list are also possible subjects
We also recognize the need to examine technologies of the self that involve emerging technologies. Emerging technologies may be those that we think we currently understand, those that are so nascent we do not yet fully comprehend their abilities, affordances, limitations, and possibilities, and those we think that we never will fully understand.
Submission Method
Please e-mail to Chris Senn at cps5@rice.edu
Deadline
February 17, 2023 at 11:59 PM
Review Process
Proposer names are visible to chairs but anonymous to steering committee members.
Co-Chairs
Chris Senn, Rice University, USA
Beth Singler, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Steering Committee Members
Jacob Boss, Indiana University, USA
Jordan Loewen-Colón, Queen’s University, Canada
Sarah Gallant, University of Toronto, Canada
Sharday Mosurinjohn, Queen’s University, Canada
Sharday.Mosurinjohn@queensu.ca
Victoria Lorrimar, University of Notre Dame, Australia
Website
Artificial Intelligence: Threat or Opportunity? – with Beth Singler by Faith at the Frontiers
New podcast from Faith at the Frontiers, where I get to chat about all things Anthropoligy, Digital Religion, and AI with Emily and Barney 🙂
New Post About my New Post :)
Today I start as the new Assistant Professor in Digital Religion(s) at the University of Zurich. I’m joining the UZH Faculty of Theology and working directly within the special research group or URPP on Digital Religion(s). Its almost a year to the day since I interviewed for this post, so its been a long time between fretting over what shoes to wear for my interview to fretting over what shoes to wear for my first day (answer, anything smart that I can still walk in with the ankle I sprained falling off my bike almost seven years ago!).
The move to Zurich has been both exciting and complicated. I’ve bitten my tongue alot around any pro-Brexit friends and family, but it would have been simpler (and less expensive) without that choice being made! But the new ‘Swiss Family Singler’ are all here, we have somewhere to live, and my son is back into the school routine (including moaning about homework again!). We’ve found a lovely if eccentric flat in Adliswil, about 20-30 mins by train from the famous Zurich Grossmünster, which my office is next to. Our flat dates back to the 1700s but has been recently renovated by the local architect who owns it, keeping many of its wooden beams and original features like doorways that my 6’2″ husband has to duck under 🙂 But we are all unpacked, and already well known at the bakery next door! We inflict our nascent German on them and they very occasionally give Henry free bread rolls, which hardly seems like a good deal for them!
This morning I walked from the Zurich HB to my office for my first day, passing cows on balconies…
… and I got straight into writing my first To Do list as a new Assistant Professor. There’s a bit on there about sorting out IT and email issues, but there’s also some really exciting projects that I’m still working on or about to launch: book projects like the Religion and AI book I’m witing and the Cambridge Companion on Religion and AI that I’m co-editing with Fraser Watts… notes for the course on Digital Religions I’ll be teaching at UZH from the Spring… travel plans for my speaking event at Princeton in November… notes for the presentation I’ll be making on AI and Religion at the URPP’s Digital Religion conference in just a few weeks… scribbled thoughts about a larger funded project on AI agency and Digital Religions… a reminder about writing a proposal for a pitch for a BBC radio documentary… there’s lots to do! I’m very excited about this new chapter in my career, and thrilled about finding a new home in Zurich where I’ll be surrounded by people enthusiastic about researching the digital world and modern technologies. And this view as I walk towards my office isn’t bad either!
Professor Beth Singler 