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SUMMARY:Do Robots Have Souls? Intelligent Machines\, Digital Humans\, and the Future of Technology 
DESCRIPTION:In this lecture\, Sylvester A. Johnson interprets the work of Ibn Rushd (“Averroës”)\, the twelfth-century Islamic scholar of Andalusia who achieved renown as the ‘father’ of secularism\, in order to elucidate Ibn Rushd’s theory of the intellect as a power of the soul. Johnson leverages Rushd’s distinction between sensing and knowing in order to examine contemporary\, sensory-driven AI technology (particularly brain-computer-interface architectures) as a uniquely generative problem of interest for humanists and technical experts alike. Of central importance is the sensation of pain\, as it constitutes a phenomenon of embodiment\, a category of human experience\, and a political problem. \n  \n  \nSylvester A. Johnson is Assistant Vice Provost for the Humanities and Executive Director of the “Tech for Humanity” initiative advancing human-centered approaches to technology at Virginia Tech. He is the founding director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Humanities\, which is supporting human-centered research and humanistic approaches to the guidance of technology. Sylvester’s research has examined religion\, race\, and empire in the Atlantic world; religion and sexuality; national security practices; and the impact of intelligent machines and human enhancement on human identity and race. He is a Professor in the Department of Religion and Culture and a design-team affiliate faculty member in Virginia Tech’s socio-technical\, transdisciplinary Calhoun Discovery Program. In addition to co-facilitating a national working group on religion and US empire\, he co-leads a project at Virginia Tech\, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation\, to develop ethically designed\, public-interest Artificial Intelligence that can benefit an innovation-driven society. \nSylvester is the author of The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity (Palgrave 2004)\, a study of race and religious hatred that won the American Academy of Religion’s Best First Book award; and African American Religions\, 1500-2000 (Cambridge 2015)\, an award-winning interpretation of five centuries of democracy\, colonialism\, and freedom in the Atlantic world. Johnson has also co-edited The FBI and Religion: Faith and National Security Before and After 9/11 (University of California 2017) and Religion and US Empire (appearing from NYU Press in 2022). He is a founding co-editor of the Journal of Africana Religions. Sylvester is writing a book on human identity in an age of intelligent machines and human-machine symbiosis. \nHe currently leads “Future Humans\, Human Futures” at Virginia Tech\, a series of research institutes and symposia funded by the Henry Luce foundation that focus on technology\, ethics\, and religion. He is also directing the creation of a university-wide “Tech for Humanity” undergraduate minor\, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation\, to prepare future talent at the intersection of humanities\, social justice\, and technology. \n  \n[gravityform id=”123″ title=”false” description=”false”]
URL:https://religion.ucla.edu/event/do-robots-have-souls-intelligent-machines-digital-humans-and-the-future-of-technology/
LOCATION:Zoom
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