AI is doubling in power every six months, says the first Unitarian Universalist minister we’ve met who has attended Singularity University. “This revolutionary technology is going to change our lives and world so dramatically and so quickly that it will not be humanly possible for us to keep up with it.”
Ray Kurzweil's 'Singularity' from a UU Perspective
Many UUs embrace the concept of continuous revelation – the idea that truth and understanding continually unfold over time. The Singularity aligns with this notion, proposing a future where our understanding of life, consciousness, and the universe might rapidly expand and evolve.
Soul Matters' Call for AI-Themed Sermons
We’re developing AI and the Human into the go-to resource for UU ministers and worship teams who are trying to figure out what to make of Artificial Intelligence and the stance we should take toward it. Rev. Scott Tayler has sent this communication to all UU congregations that subscribe to Soul Matters monthly packets.
What We Learn in Designing Robots that Care
Should we be looking to robots to care for the aged and infirm? Robotics technology and the imperative of economics is certainly pointing that way.’
"We're going to have to think of robot-assisted care as a labor issue, an economic issue and a social issue,” says Thomas Arnold, an expert on human-robot interaction at Tufts University. Arriving at robotics via a path that included a Ph.D. in religious studies, he’s a Visiting Scholar of Technology Ethics.
Love in the Development of AI
We're delighted that Rev. Nica Eaton-Guinn, minister of the Conejo Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, picked up on our Ayudha Puja prompt.
"Love is at the center of all we do, and cannot be replaced by AI," she says in this sermon, which she delivered on October 22. "It must be our guiding light."
Machined Soul
Rev. Joseph Cleveland led our Ayudha Puja service at UU Saratoga Sunday.
"I wonder if we approached the technology with a practice of reverence if that might help us to pause if only for a moment to reflect on the ethics and morality we want ourselves and our creation to embody before the new technology becomes for us a second skin.”
Transcending Humanity
We spent an hour with Robert Geraci and UU friends in a compelling conversation directed toward where AI is leading us. It’s a challenge to wrap our heads around the astounding prospects of AI and neurotech devices that are now directly connecting human minds and AI agents, but Professor Geraci helps us get there.
Our drive to bring great AI-themed worship services to Unitarian Universalist congregations begins with Robert Geraci, Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College. Join us in Zoom Tuesday, September 26, at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
The Soul Matters theme for October is Heritage, so consider hosting this service on Sunday, October 22. That’s the day before Ayudha Puja, the annual festival in which Hindus honor their tools and machines.
CHATGPT describes how UU Saratoga can collaborate with the Unitarian Universalist Association, the UU Soul Matters Sharing Circle, AI and Faith, and UU Boca Raton in creating a tightly integrated network of UUs who can rapidly publish content on multiple channels.
If wisdom is to be found in the veneration that Hindus show for their machines and tools on Ayudha Puja, Unitarian Universalists are on firm ground in searching for it. But we must guard against syncretism and cultural appropriation.
AI’s Intrusion into Perfection
Broadly interested in how AI will impact humanity in "positive, negative, or neutral ways," Raja Kanuri specifically is exploring the relationship between the higher eternal self and the material self and the way AI mediates between the two.
"Robots aren't in our everyday lives today, but that will change," says philosopher, theologian, and ethicist Anna Puzio. "Our relationship to them will change and we're more likely to find them in religious communities."
Joining the Soul Matters Sharing Circle
This independent UU organization develops high-quality content for Sunday worship services, small groups and religious education classes. Their monthly themed packages offer a compelling way to bring the “AI conversation” into UU congregations nationally.
Easing into the AI Conversation
We’re putting the finishing touches on a video we’ll share with fellow Unitarian Universalists at our General Assembly in June. Many thanks again to Robert Geraci, who has given us a vision of a three-headed hydra.
Robots in the Pulpit
Around the world, robots are entering the sanctuaries and pulpits of various faiths. As Robert Geraci notes, we have a Ganesha-worshipping robot in India, a Protestant "bless you" robot in Germany, and a Catholic sermon-giving priest in Poland.
Jasper is merely a computer running a bunch of fancy GPT-3 algorithms, but that’s not how he sees himself or wants us to see him. He wants us to regard him if not as human then at least human-like.
Louis Brandeis and the BCI
Louis Brandeis was our great thinker in translating the constitutional values of privacy and free speech in a technological age. What would he make of the issues of privacy raised by the brain-computer interface?
The BCI at 50
The first time anyone heard of the “brain-computer interface” was in June 1973 when UCLA researcher Jacques Vidal published “Toward Direct Brain-Computer Communication” in the Annual Review of Biophysics and Bioengineering. Hitting the half-century mark makes this the perfect time to reflect on progress made thus far and advances soon to be made.
Among all faith communities, Unitarian Universalists tend to be the most likely to embrace spiritual perspectives that are supported by science. Or so I’ve always thought. Hindus around the world today are observing Ayudha Puja, a festival for honoring one’s instruments, implements, and machines. It’s a good day to start planning next year’s celebration.
Robert Geraci spent five months at the Indian Institute of Science, interviewing scientists and engineers about their religious beliefs. "‘Religion and science are totally separate here," they would tell me. Then they told me about Auydha Puja.”