This was really fun to be involved in!
“It’s that time again to get your science brains rattling and see if you can beat this Christmas science quiz…“
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/interviews/december-quiz-festive-fun
The complete episode: Q&A: Reefs, Robots & Rubies ‘Rap’-Up
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-scientists-podcast/qa-reefs-robots-rubies-rap
Its been a long time coming *cough* five years *cough* but FINALLY the edited volume I have been working on with the esteemed and fabulous Professor Eileen Barker (of INFORM fame, among many, many, other accolades) is finally out there in the world!! The contributors are all amazing scholars and I will post a thread on Twitter later today with some of my favourite lines and insights from their chapters. These chapters cover religions and movements including: Paganism; LGBT Muslim groups; the Plymouth Brethren; Santa Muerte; and Satanism. And yes, I got to write about Star Wars and Jediism again 🙂
Take a look here (other sellers are available, this is currently the only link with the correct cover…
I recently wrote a blog post version of my AI Creation Meme journal article for the Better Images of AI site, check it out here!:
(At one point I talk about the excited reaction to AlphaStar at a transhumanist conference in 2019, I meant to refer to their reaction to AlphaGo in 2016! I need more tea 😀
Very happy to be a part of this piece on the developments in religious use of AI:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/technology-58983047
(if you’re interested in my work on trust in AI and theistic narratives in public discourse, my ‘Blessed by the Algorithm’ and ‘AI Creation Meme’ papers cover some of what I said in the larger interview that was cut down to my quotes in this:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00146-020-00968-2
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/5/253
For more on the possible impact of AI on religion, my ‘Introduction to Religion and AI for the Religious Studies Scholar’ covers the developments we might see:
fAIth: Believing in AI and AI in Belief Virtual Lecture on November 10th
The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies (NMRDC) is thrilled to host the 2021 Digital Religion Research Award Lecture on zoom with Dr. Beth Singler, the winner of this year’s Digital Religion Research Award
In this year’s lecture, fAIth: Believing in AI and AI in Belief, drawing on her ethnographic research, both on and offline, Dr. Beth Singler will explore historical and contemporary digital religion in relation to Artificial Intelligence and robots.
Dr. Singler will give the annual Digital Religion Research Award Lecture on November 10, 2021 at 9:30a.m. (3.30pm GMT) in an online Zoom webinar sponsored by the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies (NMRDC).
Click this link to register for the event: https://forms.gle/V6h7MooSjCgBoy7P7
For more information about the annual Digital Religion Research Award and the NMRDC, please contact Heidi A. Campbell at heidic@tamu.edu. Our award winner Beth Singler can also be reached for comments on her research via email: bvw20@cam.ac.uk
I’m very pleased and honoured to receive this award for my research, and looking forward to presenting my award lecture in November!
From the press release:
“2021 Digital Religion Research Award winner is Dr. Beth Singler for her article: The AI Creation Meme: A Case Study of the New Visibility of Religion in Artificial Intelligence Discourse
The Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies (NMRDC) is thrilled to announce Dr.Beth Singler as the winner of the 2021 Digital Religion Research Award.
Dr. Singler is the Junior Research Fellow in Artificial Intelligence and Director of Studies, Theology,Religion, and the Philosophy of Religion at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, England. Her article explores and demonstrates the ways that religious continuities and resonances emerge out of artificial intelligence in the modern era. Dr. Singler’s research expands the current scholarly conversation within Digital Religion studies to post-digital technologies by considering how AI narratives and religion interact now, and how they will in the future. This work is especially unique in that it advances knowledge about how religion is expressed in a field that is often framed by nonreligious or atheist discourses.
Dr. Singler is the third recipient of the recently established Digital Religion Research Award which recognizes the work of scholars whose research and publications promote and expand the field of Digital Religion studies. This area of scholarship explores how religious groups and practices intersect and engage with digital media in ways that influences online and offline expressions of religion. Decisions about the Award are made by members of the Advisory Board of the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies. These individuals evaluate submissions based on how well a scholar’s work expands the current knowledge within the research area and sophisticatedly applies the approaches and concepts developed by Dr. Heidi A. Campbell, who is the founder of the Network as well as a pioneer in the field of Digital Religion studies.
Dr. Singler will give the annual Digital Religion Research Award Lecture on November 10, 2021 in an online Zoom webinar sponsored by the Network for New Media, Religion and Digital Culture Studies (NMRDC). More information is forthcoming.
The NMRDC is the premier international research network for interdisciplinary scholars and students who study how emerging technologies, religion, and digital cultures interact and intersect. For more information about the Network, visit: www.digitalreligion.tamu.edu“
I was very pleased to be interviewed for this piece alongside people I really admire for their part in the growing conversation about religion and AI!
“Host Jonathan Bastian talks with Meghan O’Gieblyn, author of “God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning” about how advanced AI technologies are changing how we think about ourselves and our faith. Later, writer Linda Kinstler talks about the influential role of the tech sector on faith. And Dr. Beth Singler from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. discuses how religion is being renewed and reshaped by modern technology.”
https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/life-examined/technology-artificial-intelligence-religion-faith
Fab new interview for the Small Print, South Africa.
I was happy to finally ‘meet’ Bronwyn, who I’ve been following for a while on Twitter 🙂
My work on ‘Blessed by the Algorithm’ tweets has been mentioned in this New York Times opinion piece on Religion and AI
The original paper is here
Professor Beth Singler 