Are emerging technologies raising more questions about religion, spirituality, and human meaning?

Are emerging technologies raising more questions about religion, spirituality, and human meaning?

What should be our approach to exploring how emerging technologies raise more questions about religion, spirituality, and human meaning?

To delve into the profound questions that emerging technologies raise about religion, spirituality, and human purpose, we must adopt a thoughtful, interdisciplinary, and reflective approach. This method, similar to the JOC method, combined with contemplation, will guide our exploration and keep us intellectually engaged.

1. Begin with Anthropological and Theological Grounding

• Ask: What does it mean to be human?

• Engage theological anthropology: How do various faith traditions define human dignity, consciousness, purpose, and destiny?

• Compare it with Tech Visions of Humanity:

• Analyze how transhumanism, AI, virtual reality, and neurotechnology reshape what it means to be human.

2. Utilize the 'See–Judge–Act' Framework (along with contemplation) to guide your actions.

• See: Observe tangible technological advancements (e.g., AI, gene editing, robotics) and their social and cultural impacts.

• Judge: Assess these by spiritual, ethical, and religious principles.

• Contemplate: practice being fully present—in heart, mind, and body—ask yourself how you allow yourself to creatively respond and work toward what could be rather than what you have come to judge and observe.

• Act: Determine which personal and communal responses are needed—policy, pastoral care, spiritual renewal, education.

3. Frame the Key Questions Emerging Technologies Raise

Some deep questions that are being reawakened or redefined:

• What is consciousness? Can machines or uploaded minds be considered "persons"?

• What is the soul? How can we differentiate between algorithmic intelligence and spiritual existence?

• What is salvation or transcendence? Is immortality through technology a distortion or reflection of religious hope?

• What defines a community? How does a spiritual community evolve in an era of digital mediation?

4. Engage Interdisciplinary Dialogue

• Philosophy and Ethics: Examine metaphysics, epistemology, and virtue ethics in connection with technology.

• Science and Tech Studies: Explore how scientific paradigms influence worldviews.

• Religious Studies and Theology: Reinterpret sacred texts, rituals, and doctrines in the context of digital and biotechnological advancements.

• Cultural Critique: Analyze how tech culture operates like a quasi-religion (e.g., Silicon Valley utopianism).

5. Attend to the Spiritual Impacts

• Digital Disembodiment vs. Incarnation: How do technologies reshape our experience of presence, embodiment, and attention?

• Algorithmic Authority versus Divine Authority: How do people trust decisions made by algorithms compared to divine wisdom?

• Techno-Emancipation versus Techno-Idolatry: Does technology free or enslave our sense of meaning?

6. Learn from Liberation, Indigenous, and Contemplative Traditions

• Liberation Theology: Question who is marginalized by new technologies and how spiritual frameworks promote justice.

• Indigenous Wisdom: Cherish relational, non-mechanistic perspectives on life and the Earth.

• Contemplative Traditions: Explore silence, presence, and deep listening as countercultural spiritual practices in a digital world.

7. Create Spaces for Dialogue and Practice

• Interfaith discussions on AI and ethics

• Theological labs exploring VR liturgy and digital sacraments.

• Spiritual formation through discernment in a tech-saturated life

• Art and ritual as a way to address collective tech anxieties and hopes

Summary: A Discerning and Prophetic Approach

Emerging technologies are more than tools—they are shaping human identity, purpose, and longing. Religion and spirituality provide language, practices, and wisdom for critically engaging with these changes. Our approach must be:

• Discerning instead of reactionary

• Rooted in deep traditions while embracing innovation

• Community-focused rather than individualistic

• Hopeful but not naive