How AI is shaped by Western religious culture and universal existential aspirations—and why we think we need it in the first place.
Artificial Religion argues that to fully understand our puzzling relation to AI, we must first look at the religious and existential background of our thinking about machines. Mapping some surprising connections between our history of thought about machines and Western religious narratives to political issues and existential human needs and aspirations, Mark Coeckelbergh offers a better understanding of our relationship to machines and why we think we need them at all.
The book is unique in not just discussing the myth of AI in terms of its technical limitations and the power of Big Tech but also revealing the deeper cultural “grammar” of AI—that is, the religious patterns of thinking and existential aspirations that are often not visible but still haunt Western thinking and shape its technological culture. Moreover, this is done in a way that sheds critical light on the power of AI.
ENDORSEMENTS
“The religion of artificial intelligence is among the major drivers of 21st-century culture. Artificial Religion gracefully invites readers into a shared project of understanding AI and prepares us for religious, philosophical, and political action. From Greek myths to Silicon Valley superintelligence, Coeckelbergh offers an incisive inquiry into contemporary technology, one that opens our eyes to the technological options before us.” —Robert M. Geraci, author of Apocalyptic AI
“A wise and insightful exploration of both ancient religion and modern technology, Artificial Religion is an important work for anyone who wants to understand this moment in which AI seems to inspire such fervently religious zeal.” —Greg Epstein, author of Tech Agnostic (MIT Press)
“An absolute must-read for anyone seeking to more fully understand both AI and its perils and promise for our shared human futures. Coeckelbergh creatively and most fruitfully crosses the otherwise all-too-common divides between critical scholarship and religion to develop a unique framework that unveils with startling clarity how religious traditions, beliefs, and stories fundamentally shape the narratives, fears, and hopes defining contemporary discourse and debate concerning AI.” —Charles Ess, University of Oslo
Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna and ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Growing Moral Relations, New Romantic Cyborgs, AI Ethics, Robot Ethics, The Political Philosophy of AI, and Why AI Undermines Democracy and What to Do About It.
How AI is shaped by Western religious culture and universal existential aspirations—and why we think we need it in the first place.
Artificial Religion argues that to fully understand our puzzling relation to AI, we must first look at the religious and existential background of our thinking about machines. Mapping some surprising connections between our history of thought about machines and Western religious narratives to political issues and existential human needs and aspirations, Mark Coeckelbergh offers a better understanding of our relationship to machines and why we think we need them at all.
The book is unique in not just discussing the myth of AI in terms of its technical limitations and the power of Big Tech but also revealing the deeper cultural “grammar” of AI—that is, the religious patterns of thinking and existential aspirations that are often not visible but still haunt Western thinking and shape its technological culture. Moreover, this is done in a way that sheds critical light on the power of AI.
Praise
ENDORSEMENTS
“The religion of artificial intelligence is among the major drivers of 21st-century culture. Artificial Religion gracefully invites readers into a shared project of understanding AI and prepares us for religious, philosophical, and political action. From Greek myths to Silicon Valley superintelligence, Coeckelbergh offers an incisive inquiry into contemporary technology, one that opens our eyes to the technological options before us.” —Robert M. Geraci, author of Apocalyptic AI
“A wise and insightful exploration of both ancient religion and modern technology, Artificial Religion is an important work for anyone who wants to understand this moment in which AI seems to inspire such fervently religious zeal.” —Greg Epstein, author of Tech Agnostic (MIT Press)
“An absolute must-read for anyone seeking to more fully understand both AI and its perils and promise for our shared human futures. Coeckelbergh creatively and most fruitfully crosses the otherwise all-too-common divides between critical scholarship and religion to develop a unique framework that unveils with startling clarity how religious traditions, beliefs, and stories fundamentally shape the narratives, fears, and hopes defining contemporary discourse and debate concerning AI.” —Charles Ess, University of Oslo
Author
Mark Coeckelbergh is Professor of Philosophy of Media and Technology at the University of Vienna and ERA Chair at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. He is the author of numerous books, including Growing Moral Relations, New Romantic Cyborgs, AI Ethics, Robot Ethics, The Political Philosophy of AI, and Why AI Undermines Democracy and What to Do About It.
