AI Theism : Technology, Divinity, and the Emergence of a New Religious Myth (Routledge Studies in Religion)

AI Theism examines stories in which artificially intelligent characters are depicted as divine through the lens of religious studies and mythology. Narratives in which conscious technologies such as artificial intelligences are portrayed as divine have proliferated in parallel with advances in AI and related fields. In these stories, which include both fiction and nonfiction works across media categories, scientifically plausible technological characters, often in the form of AI, exhibit many of the abilities and responsibilities historically assigned to the gods of traditional religions. Were such entities to emerge, they might be indistinguishable from the deities described in traditional religious myths, giving the world a tangible god with the ability to save or destroy humanity. The author argues that these theistic AI stories, beyond simply being an anthropological phenomenon, represent a new category of religious myth that introduces a scientifically acceptable form of god into a secular world. The book is especially relevant to scholars of religion and theology with an interest in science and technology.