Catch up with last night’s discussion on VALIS featuring myself, Matthew Sweet, Roger Luckhurst, Sarah Dillon, and Adam Scovell.
Simulation theory, Plato, alien AI, messianic children, Gnosticism, psychedelics, David Bowie, and more!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001r98n
I’m excited to have a chapter in this very timely new eBook that promotes female scholars’ voices on our future with AI:
I am very excited about co-leading the URPP Digital Religion(s)’ new DSI-funded MEEET-LAB-project in collaboration with colleagues from the UZH/LiRi/DSI Community Gaming, where we will experiment with new immersive technologies in modes of “existential encounters”. Our team of five includes experts on the digital from anthropology, theology, and ethics.
More information to come!
https://www.dsi.uzh.ch/de/research/projects/dsi-lab-infra/meeet-lab.html
I found this list online, and I am very pleased to be included in it! But also, this is a great resource for both people looking for reasoned and evidenced discussions on AI and its impacts, and for those who know a bit more already but who might be looking for scholars to cite/interview:
Out now in paperback, and only a bit less shocking in price 😀 Including my introduction and my chapter on Jediism and corporate changes to canon.
Radical Transformations in Minority Religions
Pleased to have been able to contribute to this piece, dealing with the viral spread of a story that coincided with a wider discussion about longtermism and ‘doomerism’ in AI
I was interviewed for this piece – but not as one of the faith leaders!
New podcast interview from the Theologischen Fakultät der Universität Zürich 🙂
“The Jedi religion from the Star Wars saga has hundreds of thousands of followers today, down from the hundreds of thousands who said they were Jedi in the 2001 and 2011 England and Wales Censuses. But do they really believe in Darth Vader and the Death Star? And what connections can be established between pop culture and religious ideas in general? Beth Singler, Assistant Professor of Digital Religion(s) – and not, as Chat GPT has suggested, a member of the Health and AI steering committee at the Turing Institute – talks about science fiction-inspired religions, animism in vernacular Christianity and the fact that we think Chat GPT is intelligent just because it is linguistically eloquent. She also addresses ethical issues surrounding the Metaverse, asks whether artificial intelligence could found a religion and presents some specimens from her robot collection.”
https://erleuchtung-garantiert.podigee.io/35-singler#t=1
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
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
