To close out our summer episodes, we're talking with Kevin Kelly, founder of WIRED Magazine and writer about all things tech and culture. Kevin is a devout Christian with an eye toward the ethical good of technology. In our conversation, we cover technological skepticism, the AIÂ identity crisis, the Amish, and much more.Â
P.S. Check out host David Zvi Kalman's new YouTube channel, Sabbath Mode, for more in depth conversations about religion and technology.
Resources:
Kevin's website
Kevin's books
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38:35
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38:35
The Two Codes
BIG NEWS: Belief in the Future now has a YouTube channel: Sabbath Mode. Go check it out before listening to the episode Coding is one part skill, one part magic, and one part tradition. But when AI use takes out the conversation of code -- the necessary language of the code itself -- can the tradition be kept alive? How do we keep something living and growing without passing along its stories, its trials and errors, and its complexities? On this episode, host David Zvi Kalman speaks with scientist Samuel Arbesman about his new book, The Magic of Code, and the ways that religion and coding reflect one another.Â
Resources:Â
The Magic of Code by Samuel ArbesmanÂ
The poetic web
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33:01
Are AI Sermons a Good Thing?
Religious organizations, like all other organizations, are beginning to use AI. Some of these uses are unremarkable, but others bring AI into the business of delivering religious messages. In this episode, host DZ Kalman speaks with religion and AI evangelist Kenny Jahng about the tools he sees churches adapting and what it means to use AI as a tool for evangelism.
Resources:
Kenny Jahng's website
Futureproof, by Kevin Roose
Exponential NEXT
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32:34
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32:34
The Wild World of Bible Apps
We often think about how technology has influenced religion, but we rarely question the opposite: how has religion pushed technological advancement? In the case of Christianity, software to share the Bible has been in development for decades and has been shaping tech advancement behind the scenes for even longer. On this episode, we're talking to John Dyer, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and the author of the new book People of the Screen that details the entwined history of software and evangelism.
Reading and resource list:Â
YouVersion
Hebcal
The Medium is the Message, Marshall McCluhan
Geneva Bible
The Scofield Study Bible
Encountering Peace
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The Church that wants to build God
What if AI and religion had a converging relationship rather than a parallel one? In Professor Beth Singler's new book, Religion and Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction, she explores how enmeshed technology and religion are in our current era, and how we as a society may be heading toward the creation and worship of a god-like AI. Â
Reading list:Â
Roko’s Basilisk or Pascal’s? Thinking of Singularity Thought Experiments as Implicit Religion
The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence
Existential Conversations with Large Language Models: Content, Community, and Culture
The Turing Church
Theta Noir
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Technology and religion sometimes seem like oil and water, but they've been crossing paths for centuries and aren't going to stop. Hosted by David Zvi Kalman. New episode every other week.
Belief in the Future is a production of Sinai and Synapses. It was made with support from Templeton World Charity Foundation.
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