Home/Public Theologies of Technology and Presence

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence (2018-2022) gathered and funded a cohort of leading scholars of religion, theologians, and journalists for their work addressing a pressing concern of contemporary life: The ways in which technologies reshape human relationships and alter how people are or are not “present” with each other. The initiative was developed and directed by psychoanalyst and religion scholar Dr. Steven Barrie-Anthony, and was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation. While the initiative has ended, the grantees’ work remains alive—collaborative projects continue, and a still-emerging stream of publications lay out the grantees’ research findings and their relevance to some of the central concerns of modern life.

Over recent decades and continuing at warp speed, new technologies are radically reshaping human relationships. These shifts have profound implications both for individuals and for the webs of relationships in which they participate. Scholars of religion and theologians, from across the traditions, are ideally situated to address this issue of great public concern. Public Theologies of Technology and Presence forwards and champions this work through an ambitious agenda of research projects, conferences, popular and scholarly publishing, active engagements with Silicon Valley technologists, the development of models for integrating the subject into university and theological institution curricula, a podcast, white paper, and grantee talks.

The grantees’ research and publication projects draw on the study of many different religions—Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Africana religions, among others—to address cutting-edge technologies such as cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, human augmentation, surveillance technologies, video games, and social media. The projects offer insights into technologies’ impacts on human relationships, including on friendships, introspective abilities, sexual relationships, moral attentions, and capacities for relational authenticity.

The initiative has helped support 14 books; more than 50 scholarly chapters and articles; more than 20 popular articles such as in the New York Times, The Atlantic, Vox, Aeon, The Conversation, San Francisco Chronicle, and Tricycle; and more than 80 scholarly presentations. To explore the grantees’ work further, see the links below. Highlights include publications (see “Publications and Outputs”); research talks from the capstone conference (see “Capstone Conference Presentations”); and interviews regarding teaching on these themes (see “Pedagogy Project”).

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence also supports several ongoing collaborations:

“Black Digital Religion: Exploring Interconnections between Black Religion and Emerging Digital Technologies,” led by Principal Investigator Dr. Margarita Simon Guillory at Boston University, with Secondary Investigator Dr. Gregory Price Grieve.
“Prioritizing Presence in a Post-Pandemic World,” led by Dr. Natasha Heller at the University of Virginia, in collaboration with several fellow grantees.
“Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age,” led by Co-Investigators Dr. Ilia Delio at the Center for Christogenesis, and Dr. Noreen Herzfeld.

Participating Scholars and Theologians
Participating Journalists
Publications and Outputs
Pedagogy Project
Capstone Conference Presentations
Advisory Board
Program Director and Staff

Stephen T. Asma

Professor of Philosophy, Columbia College Chicago

Amy Sue Bix

Professor, Department of History, Iowa State University

Sheila Briggs

Associate Professor, Departments of Religion and Gender Studies, University of Southern California

Ilia Delio, OSF

Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology, Villanova University

Gregory Price Grieve

Professor and Head, Religious Studies Department, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Margarita Simon Guillory

Associate Professor, Religion and African American Studies, Boston University

Kevin Healey

Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of New Hampshire

Natasha Heller

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

Noreen Herzfeld

Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion, St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict

Beverley McGuire

Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Carolina Wilmington

Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Associate Professor, School of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oregon State University

Devin Singh

Associate Professor, Department of Religion, Dartmouth College

R. John Williams

Associate Professor, Departments of English and Film and Media Studies, Yale University

Liz Kineke

Freelance Journalist

Sigal Samuel

Senior Editor, Vox

Books

Stephen Asma, Friendship in the Age of Social Distancing (in progress)

Stephen Asma, The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition, co-authored with Rami Gabriel, Harvard University Press (2019)

Ilia Delio and Noreen Herzfeld, edited collection, Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age (in progress)

Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey, Orbis Books (2021)

Ilia Delio, Re-Enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion, Orbis Books (2020)

Margarita Guillory, Africana Religion in the Digital Age, Routledge Studies in Religion and Digital Culture Series (in progress)

Kevin Healey, Ethics and Religion in the Age of Social Media: Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens, co-authored with Robert H. Woods, Routledge (2019)
*Winner of the 2020 Book of the Year Award from the Religious Communication Association (RCA)

Noreen Herzfeld, Artificial Intelligence and Authentic Relationships, Fortress Press (forthcoming)

Beverly McGuire, Mind the Gap: Transitions in Life with Mindfulness, UNC-Press (2022)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, Tracing the Path of Yoga: The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline, Suny Press (2021)

Devin Singh, Economy and Modern Christian Thought, Brill (forthcoming)

R. John Williams, Futurology, Oxford University Press (in progress)

R. John Williams, World Presence, University of Chicago Press (in progress)

Book Chapters

Stephen Asma, “Friendship and Attachment in the Digital Age,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Stephen Asma, “Music and Embodied Cognition,” in Evolutionary Perspectives on Imaginative Culture, edited by J. Carroll, M. Clasen, and E. Jonsson, Springer (2020)

Amy Bix, “Technology and Judaism: the Presence of Synagogue, Sabbath, and Social Community,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Sheila Briggs, Chapter (Title TBD), in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Ilia Delio, “Whither Thou Go O Universe? Why Evolution and Religion Belong Together,” in Science, Deep Past and Religion, edited by L. Gustafson, B. Rodrigue, and D. Blanks, Routledge (2022)

Ilia Delio, “The Restless Soul in a Digital Age: Why We Need a New Metaphysics” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Ilia Delio, “Transhumanism and Transcendence” in Cambridge University Series on Transhumanism, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)

Ilia Delio, “Transhumanism: An Overview,” in Cambridge Companion to Religion and AI, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)

Ilia Delio, “Religion and the Posthuman Life: Teilhard’s Noosphere,” in Becoming Digital Natives, Lexington Books (2020)

Ilia Delio, “Duns, Scotus, Catholicity and the Roots of Process Thought,” in Process Thought in Roman Catholicism, edited by M. Pugliese and J. Becker, Lexington Books (2022)

Ilia Delio, “Theology of Nature or Relational Holism? Building Teilhard’s Vision,” in The Natural World and God: Theological Explorations, edited by Denis Edwards, ATF Press (2020)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Paradise Lost: Faith, Immersion, and Procedural Apocalyptic Rhetoric in the Videogame Far Cry Five,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Buddhism in the Age of Digital Reproduction,” in Religion in the Age of Digitization–Spirituality and Human Interaction, edited by G. Isetti, E. Innerhofer, H. Pechlaner, and M. de Rachewiltz, Routledge (2020)

Gregory Price Grieve, “An Ethnographic Method for the Digital Humanistic Study of Buddhism,” in Mediatized Religion in Asia: Studies on Digital Media and Religion, edited by Daniel Veidlinger, De Gruyter (2019)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Value Formations,” in Oxford Handbook of Digital Religion, Oxford University Press (forthcoming)

Gregory Price Grieve, “American Buddhism and Technology: Of Ice Cubes, Anti-Aircraft Guns, Mindfulness, and Computer Geeks,” in Oxford Handbook on Contemporary Buddhism (forthcoming)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Digital Religion,” in The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology, WileyOne Scholar (forthcoming)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Digitizing Tibet: A Critical Buddhist Reconditioning of Stig Hjarvard’s Mediatization Theory,” in Mediatized Religion in Asia: Studies on Digital Media and Religion, edited by G. Grieve, C. Helland, and R. Singh, Routledge (2019)

Kevin Healey, “Technology and the Arts,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Kevin Healey, “The Ethics of Augmentation: A Case Study in Contemplative MR,” in Augmented and Mixed Reality for Communities, edited by J. Fisher, CRC Press (2021)

Natasha Heller, “Technology and Ancestor Offerings,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Natasha Heller, “Confucius and the Art of Coveillance” (in progress)

Natasha Heller, “Technology and Ancestor Offerings,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Surrogate, Partner, or Tool: How Autonomous Should Technology Be?,” in The Robot Will See You Now: Theological, Social and Ethical Implications of AI and Robotics, edited by J. Wyatt and S. Stephens, SPCK Publishing (2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “The Escatalogical Future of AI: Utopia or Dystopia?” in Cambridge Companion to Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge University Press (forthcoming)

Beverley McGuire, “Instant Karma and Internet Karma: Karmic Memes and Morality on Social Media,” in Believing in Bits, Oxford University Press (forthcoming)

Beverly McGuire, “Technology and Contemplative Pedagogy,” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Devin Singh, “Economics and Public Theology,” in Bloomsbury Handbook for Public Theology (forthcoming)

Devin Singh, “Crypto-Ethic? Presence, Relationality, and Care Among Digital Currencies” in Technology and Presence: Searching for Meaning in a Digital Age, edited by I. Delio, N. Herzfeld (in progress)

Academic Articles

Stephen Asma, “Adaptive Imagination: Toward a Mythopoetic Cognitive Science,” in Evolutionary Studies in Imaginative Culture (forthcoming)

Amy Bix, “‘Remember the Sabbath:’ A History of Technological Decisions and Innovation in Orthodox Jewish Communities,” in History and Technology (September, 2020)
*Winner of the Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize, awarded annually to the best paper in the history of electrotechnology

Ilia Delio, “Suffering and Sacrifice in an Unfinished Universe: The Energy of Love,” in Religions (forthcoming)

Ilia Delio, “Religion and Posthuman Life: A Note on Teilhard de Chardin’s Vision,” in Toronto Journal of Theology (Fall, 2020)

Ilia Delio, “Is Artificial Intelligence ‘Artificial?’” in Researcher: European Journal of Humanities and Social Science (2020)

Ilia Delio, “The Posthuman as Complex Dynamical Personhood: A Reply to Hyun-Shik Jun,” in Social Epistemology (April, 2020)

Ilia Delio, “Grace-Filled Nature or a Whole New Paradigm? A Response to Faith and Evolution,” in Horizons (December, 2020)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Paradise Lost: Value Formations as an Analytical Concept for the Study of Gamevironments,”in Gamevironments (July, 2020)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Video Game Development in Asia: Voices from the Field,” in Gamevironments (2020)

Margarita Guillory, “Black Religion in the Digital Age,” in The Black Scholar (Fall, 2022)

Kevin Healey, “Mobius Machine,” in Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy (in progress)

Kevin Healey, “Contemplative Photo-collage in Media Studies Pedagogy,” in The International Journal of Creative Media Research

Kevin Healey, “Dreaming the Virtual: How Lucid Dream Practice Can Inform VR Development,” in the Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (September, 2019)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Can Lethal Autonomous Weapons be Just?” co-authored with Gen. Robert Latiff, Peace Review, (Spring, 2022)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Do We Image God On-line? The Opportunities and Challenges for Authentic Relationships in Cyberspace,” in Theology and Sexuality (July, 2020)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Tool, Partner, or Surrogate? in Journal of Moral Theology (Spring, 2022)

Beverley McGuire, “A Student-Centered Framework for Digital Privacy, Digital Ethics, and Digital Literacy,” in The AAEEBL ePortfolio Review (Winter, 2020)

Beverley McGuire, “Gaming and Grieving: Digital Games as Means of Confronting and Coping with Death,” in Journal of Religion, Media, and Digital Culture (December, 2020)

Beverley McGuire, “Buddhist-Inspired Self-Tracking Apps: Tracking Emotions and Values in a Digital Era,” in Journal of Japanese Associations for Digital Humanities (2020)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Nirmāṇa-citta in the Pātañjalayogaśāstra: Yogic Constructed Minds and the Philosophy and Ethics of Artificial Intelligence,” in the Journal of Dharma Studies (forthcoming)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Pātañjala Yoga and Buddhist Abhidharma on the Sources of Extraordinary Accomplishments (siddhi and ṛddhi): The Constructed Mind (nirmāṇacitta) as a Framework for Understanding Religious and Psychedelic Experience,” in Religion of South Asia (Winter, 2022)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Buddhist Meditation and the Ethics of Human Augmentation,” in the Journal of the Japanese Association for Digital Humanities (Fall, 2020)

Devin Singh, “Economy” in The Immanent Frame (January, 2020)

R. John Williams, “The Yin and Yang of G. Spencer Brown’s Laws of Form,” in ALPHABETUM III (2019)

Popular Articles

Stephen Asma, “This Friendship has been Digitized,” in The New York Times (March, 2019)

Stephen Asma, “Does the Pandemic have a Purpose?” in The New York Times (April, 2020)

Stephen Asma, “Phantasia: Imagination is the Sixth Sense,” in Aeon (March, 2021)

Stephen Asma, “Ancient animistic beliefs live on in our intimacy with technology,” in Aeon (February, 2020)

Gregory Price Grieve and Beverly McGuire, “Meditation Apps Might Calm You—But Miss the Point of Buddhist Mindfulness,” in The Conversation (October, 2019)

Beverly McGuire, “How to Hone Moral Attention—and Why It’s So Important,” in Tricycle (November, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “Joyful Noise and Meditative Hum, Sounds Resets the Mind for Faith,” in Religion News Service (March, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “African Spirituality Offers Black Believers ‘Decolonized’ Christianity,” in Religion News Service (January, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “Lockdown Dharma,” in Tricycle (Spring, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “All Access Dharma,“ in Tricycle (August, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “Learning to Contemplate the News,” in Tricycle (February, 2020). Featuring Kevin Healey.

Liz Kineke, “Buddhists with Physical Disabilities Access Digital Dharma,” in Tricycle (May, 2020)

Liz Kineke, “Together Alone: Online Sanghas in the Age of Social Distancing,” in Tricycle (March, 2020)

Sigal Samuel, “New Technologies are Promising a Shortcut to Enlightenment” in Vox (November, 2021)

Sigal Samuel, “Can You Beat Anxiety by Playing a Game on Your Phone?” in Vox (March, 2020)

Sigal Samuel, “Robot Priests Can Bless You, Advise You, and Perform Your Funeral,” in Vox (January, 2020). Featuring Ilia Delio.

Sigal Samuel, “Are We Morally Obligated to Meditate?” in Vox (January, 2020)

Sigal Samuel, “How Your Brain Invents Morality,” in Vox (July, 2019)

Sigal Samuel, “China is Installing a Secret Surveillance App on Tourists’ Phones,” in Vox (July, 2019)

Sigal Samuel, “The Witches of Baltimore,” in The Atlantic (November, 2018). Featuring Margarita Guillory.

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Tune in, Turn on, Turn up: Second-wave Psychedelic Ethics,” in The San Francisco Chronicle (November, 2020)

Devin Singh, “COVID-19 is Exposing Market Fundamentalism’s Flaws,” in The Washington Post (April, 2020)

Media Outputs and Interviews

Stephen Asma, “Loyalty, Loving and Distance,” on ABC Australia’s Counterpoint (host, A. Vastone)

Stephen Asma, “Monsterology: Technological Hauntings” (host, B. Onishi)

Amy Bix, “Time, Autonomy, and Obsolescence: Inequality, Precarity, and Work Amidst 21st Century Technological Change and Pandemic Crisis,” on KALA Radio Program, and “Relevant or Irrelevant” Podcast (host, R. Sweet)

Amy Bix, “Technological Sabbaths” (host, B. Onishi)

Sheila Briggs, “Sexuality, Technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution” (host, B. Onishi)

Ilia Delio, “Technology and Human Personhood” (host, B. Onishi)

Ilia Delio, “Re-Enchanting the Earth,” in “One on One with Robert Ellsberg” series (host, R. Ellsberg)

Gregory P. Grieve and Beverly McGuire, “How Much Actual Buddhism Is There In Your Mindfulness App?” (host, T. Peterson)

Gregory P. Grieve, “Virtual Tibet” (with G. Helland, C. Schaeffer and R. Singh)
*Details on the project can be found in Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media: the Pixel and the Lotus, edited by G. Grieve and D. Veidlinger (2018)

Gregory P. Grieve (featured), “The Mindfulness Business is Thriving on Our Anxiety“ (host, S. Todd)

Gregory P. Grieve, “Video Games and the Problem of Evil” (host, B. Onishi)

Margarita Guillory, ROAD: Religions of the African Diaspora Mobile App (forthcoming)

Kevin Healey, “A Virtous Walk in the College Woods: An Exercise,” in Contemplative Photojournalism for Anti-Oppression Pedagogy

Kevin Healey, “Digital Proverbs in Response to Silicon Valley’s Moral Catechism,” on Christianity and Communications Studies Network (host, R. Woods)

Kevin Healey, Instagram Mobius Machine, Arts-based project supported through the UNH Innovation Lab

Kevin Healey, “Contemplative Media Studies“ (host, B. Onishi)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Religion, Ethics, AI, Computing, and Robotics” (host, B. Onishi)

Beverley McGuire, “Chinese Religions, Moral Attentions, and Technological Presence” (host, B. Onishi)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Yoga, Buddhism, and Human Enhancement” (host, Dr. B. Onishi)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Contemplative Technologies,” on Paisley Gate Psychadelic Sangha Blog

Devin Singh, “Crypto-Religions” (host, D. Lev Shkolnik)

Devin Singh, “Teaching Religion and Tech: Ethical and Historical Considerations” (host, B. Onishi)

R. John Williams “Modernity, Presence, and Temporality” (host, B. Onishi)

Lectures and Forums

Stephen Asma, “Imagination and Psychedelics,” at Mind Foundation Insight Conference (September, 2021)

Stephen Asma, “Digital Intimacy in the Age of Social Distancing: Fungible Friendships and Attachment,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Stephen Asma, “As-if We Were Friends: Pretend Intimacy and Artificial Intelligence,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Stephen Asma, “Axial Age Friendship for the Digital Age?” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Amy Bix, “COVID, Community, and Complexity: Reassessing Technologies of Work, Life, and Presence Amidst Crisis” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Amy Bix, “The Crock-Pot, Sabbath Elevator, KosherSwitch, and Shabbos App: The History of Innovation and Controversy in Orthodox Judaism,” at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of History (September, 2020)

Amy Bix, “Time/Machine and Sacred Pauses for Meaning: Religion, Work and the Quest for Control Amidst Chaotic Technological Pressures,“ at the American Academy of Religion (November, 2019)

Amy Bix, “Technology and Time in Tension: Interpreting Social, Political, Personal, and Religious Implications of Modern Connectivity, Through Kranzberg’s Laws,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Amy Bix, “Have the Time of Your Life: ‘Technology Sabbath’ and the Quest for Control,”at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Sheila Briggs, “Technology, Sex, and Salvation,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2020)

Sheila Briggs, “What Will Make Us Human in 2050?” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Sheila Briggs, “Imagined Bodies, Real Lives: Technology and Intimacy,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Ilia Delio, “Deep AI: Mind, Matter and the Quest for Unity,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Ilia Delio, “Teilhard’s Evolution and the Body of Christ,” University of Durham (May, 2021)

Ilia, Delio, “Teilhard de Chardin and the Third Axial Age,” MIT (April, 2021)

Ilia Delio, “Cosmology and Consciousness: In Search of the Whole,” Holy Wisdom Monestary (March, 2021)

Ilia Delio, “Care and Creation,” Porstmouth Abbey Institute (February, 2021)

Ilia Delio, “Posthumanism and the New Materialisms,” Institute of Religion in an Age of Science (December 2020)

Ilia Delio, “The Techno Human: Better World or Deeper Problems?” in the “Becoming Digital Neighbors Conference” at Fuller Theological Seminary (November, 2020)

Ilia Delio, “Considering Options: Is Artificial Intelligence ‘Artificial?’” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Ilia Delio, “Is AI Human? Exploring the Relationship Between Nature and Techne,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Ariadne’s Thread: A Multiform Study of Video Games and the Problem of Evil,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Cosmic Pollution: The Manchester Cathedral, Video Games, and Religion,” in Cosmic Pollution: The Manchester Cathedral, Video Games, and Religion at the University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, the Berkley Forum (August, 2019)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Darkrim: Vanilla and Transgressive Ways of Being Evil Online,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Beyond Belief: How Video Game’s Procedural Rhetoric Models how Rituals make Arguments,” American Academy of Religion (November, 2020)

Gregory Price Grieve, “Religion and Video Game Development in Asia: National Identities, Nationalism and Radicalization,” ICC-IAHR session, American Academy of Religion (November, 2019)

Gregory Price Grieve, “What Would the Buddha Tweet? Towards and Ethics of Social Media Use based on Origination,” Buddhism & Technology, UBC FrogBear Project (October, 2019)

Gregory Price, Grieve, “The Confession: Video Games, Violence, and the Problem of Evil,” at the Walter H. Capps Center for the Study of Ethics, Religion and Public Life (February, 2019)

Gregory Price Grieve, “The Confession: Video Games, Violence, and the Problem of Evil,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Margarita Guillory, “Playing with Voodoo: Race and Representation in Video Games,” at the American Academy of Religion (November, 2022)

Margarita Guillory, “To Boldly Go: Technological Frontiers and the Changing Landscape of American Religions,” at the Chautauqua Institution (July, 2021)

Margarita Guillory, “Digital (In)visibility: Notions of Absence/Presence of Africana Religions in the Digital World,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Margarita Guillory, “Divine Tech-Talk: Africana Religion in the Digital Age,” American Academy of Religion (December, 2020)

Margarita Guillory, “Playing with Voodoo Dolls: Race, Africana Religion, and representation in Digital Games,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Margarita Guillory, “The Internet, Selfie, and Ritual: The Purple People’s Use of Digital Technology in Past Life regression Rituals,” American Academy of Religion (November, 2018)

Margarita Guillory, “Virtual ROAD to Intimacy: Using an Africana Religious Mobile App to Foster Relationships,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Kevin Healey, “Contemplative Media Studies,” Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Kevin Healey, “Song and Video Design as Public Discourse Intervention: Countering COVID-19 Disinformation,” with Liese Zahabi, Kristiania University College (March, 2021)

Kevin Healey, “Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens,” at Religious Communication Association Award Ceremony (November, 2020)

Kevin Healey, “How Does Ethics Mesh with Social Media?” Active Retirement Association of Durham, NH (November, 2020)

Kevin Healey, “Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens: Lockdown Edition,” at the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (May, 2020)

Kevin Healey, “Contemplative Reading: Pedagogy and Practice” at the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (November 2019)

Kevin Healey, “Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Kevin Healey, “Contemplative Photo-mapping and Media Ethics Pedagogy,” at the New England Humanities Consortium (August, 2019)

Kevin Healey, “Contextual Integrity in Data and Beyond,” at UNH Manchester Sidore Lecture Series (October, 2018)

Kevin Healey, “Arts-Based Research and Contemplative Media Pedagogy,” at the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (October, 2018)

Kevin Healey, “Being Digital Citizens: Mindful Media from Tweets to Big Data,” at the the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education (October, 2018)

Kevin Healey, “Dream Yoga and the Ethics of Virtual Reality,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Natasha Heller and Beverly McGuire, “Prioritizing Presence in a post-Pandemic World,” Workshop and White Paper at the University of Virginia (Fall, 2022)

Natasha Heller, “The Quantified Self in Later Imperial China,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Natasha Heller, “Technology, Presence, and the Hong Kong Protests,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Natasha Heller, “Self-Watchfulness and Other-Watchfulness,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Why Chatbots Fail,” Temple University (October, 2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Surrogate, Partner, or Tool? Are Lethal Autonomous Weapons Just?” at the Religious Philosophy Between Humanism and Posthumanism Conference (November 2020)

Noreen Herzfeld, “A Digital Revolution? Ethical Implications and Interreligious Engagement,” Panel sponsored by Interreligious Forum of the G20 (July, 2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “AI, Agency, and Deception,” Joint forum of ZRS Koper and IRCAI (July, 2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Servant of Partner? What are We Looking for when We Look for AI?” Society of Philosophy and Technology Annual Conference, (June, 2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Bodies Matter: AI and Authentic Relationships,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference, (May, 2021)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Surrogate, Partner, or Tool? How Autonomous Should Technology Be?” at the Center got Theology and Natural Science (September, 2020)

Noreen Herzfeld, “AI: A New Neighbor or a Divisive Force?” at the Fuller Theological Seminary (September, 2020)

Noreen Herzfeld, “AI: A New Neighbor or a Divisive Force?” at Chautauqua Institute (July, 2020)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Ghosts or Zombies: On Separating Body and Mind,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Cybernetic Enhancement and the Problem of the Self,” at St. Mary’s University Scotland (April, 2019)

Noreen Herzfeld, “Can a Computer Love Me? Can I Love It?” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Liz Kineke, “Religion is Always in the Room and in the Zoom,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Liz Kineke, “Contemplative Practices for Digital Natives,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Liz Kineke, “Looking for God in the Machine: Can virtual reality really change how we understand ourselves and others in the real world?” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Beverly McGuire, “A Pedagogy of Presence and Technology, or: Zoom and the Art of Attention Maintenance,“ at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Beverley McGuire, “Promoting Empathy through Digital Games and Social Media,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Beverley McGuire, “What Counts as Morally Salient?” Moral Attention in Chinese Religion,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Sigal Samuel, “Is Digital Technology Making us Less Moral?” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Sigal Samuel, “What does Big Tech owe us? The Ethics of Algorithmic Accountability,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Sigal Samuel, “Five Different Types of Tech/Religion Coverage,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Technologies of the Self: Yoga, Biohacking, and the Construction of Identity and Community,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Tracing the Path of Yoga: Four Facets of Mind-Body Discipline,” at the Oxford University Center for Hindu Studies, (Fall, 2020)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Staying Grounded During the 2020 Election Season: A Pedagogy of Kindness” at the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion Teaching Forum, Oregon State University (Fall, 2020)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Buddhist Meditation and the Ethics of Human Augmentation,” Buddhism & Technology: Historical Background and Contemporary Challenges, (Fall, 2019)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Śramaṇa Ethics and Human Augmentation,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

Stuart Ray Sarbacker, “Turn on, Tune in, Step Up: Contemplative Ethics and ‘Awakened Futures,’” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Devin Singh, “Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies, and the Future of Polity,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

Devin Singh, “Currency and the Form of Life: Implications for the Digital Age,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

R. John Williams, “Technology, Media, and the Metaphysics of Presence,” at the Public Theologies of Technology and Presence Capstone Conference (May, 2021)

R. John Williams, “Technology, Memory, and Our Sense of Time,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2019)

R. John Williams, “The Spiritual Technologies of the Here and Now,” at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (October, 2018)

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence involves a central focus on teaching and pedagogy. The program supports the development of powerful and effective ways of teaching about technologies’ human impacts for use within university departments of religion and theological institutions. These themes are of particular importance for today’s students who, as all of us, are navigating a world in which technologies exert profound, but confusing and understudied, impacts on their senses of self and on their relationships with others. In the COVID-19 era particularly, technologically-mediated contact has become ubiquitous, and students—as all of us—are hungry for frameworks that explore these experiences and impacts in deep, reflective, stimulating, new, and useful ways. Religion scholars are well-positioned to provide these frameworks and to support these explorations.

In what follows, Dr. Bradley Onishi hosts a series of interviews with PTTP grantees about the courses on these subjects that they have developed and are currently teaching at universities and theological institutions across the U.S. The grantees hail from a wide variety of academic traditions and disciplines, and they study a wide variety of religious traditions. Each interview is paired with links to syllabi for the courses that the grantees are discussing.

Together, these interviews and syllabi provide a significant resource for university and theological institution teachers who or would like to teach about these themes in meaningful and dynamic ways.

Introduction by Dr. Bradley Onishi

Interview with Dr. Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Stuart Ray Sarbacker is an Associate Professor in the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion at Oregon State University. His research and teaching center on the relationships between the Indian religious and philosophical traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

He discusses the implications of emerging technology on human relationships by examining how the philosophical and contemplative traditions of yoga and of Buddhism address the effect of human augmentation on interpersonal relationships. He explains how yoga and Buddhist traditions view the disciplining of mind and body as producing extraordinary modes of perception and action that have profound, but morally ambiguous, implications on human relationships.

Syllabus: HumanTechEnhancement

Interview with Dr. Sheila Briggs

Sheila Briggs is Associate Professor of Religion and Gender Studies at the University of Southern California.

Briggs discusses her approach to research and pedagogy at the intersection of sexuality, technology, and modernity. According to Briggs, sexuality shapes the full range of our interpersonal relationships. We are present to one another not only as friends and lovers but also as citizens, workers and consumers. The impacts of technology in one area of our lives affect us in others: one cannot isolate our interpersonal relationships from how we are economic and political actors. To think about how technological innovation is affecting our sexuality, we need to go beyond a discussion of social media and dating apps.

Interview with Dr. Gregory Price Grieve

Gregory Price Grieve is Professor and Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His current research uses video games to explore the category of evil in contemporary life.

Grieve discusses how video games differ from other media such as film and printed literature, because they do not merely represent evil as an audio/visual layer, or tell about evil as narrative, but simulate immersive worlds in which players dwell. Because of such immersion, video games reveal the ways in which digital technologies reshape human relationships.

Syllabus: REL 207 Evil and Video Games

Syllabus: HSS 206 Religion and Video Game

Syllabus: REL 207 Digital Religion

Interview with Dr. Amy Bix

Amy Sue Bix is Professor of History at Iowa State University and director of ISU’s Center for Historical Studies of Technology and Science. Her 2013 book ‘Girls Coming to Tech!’: A History of American Engineering Education for Women (MIT Press) won the 2015 Margaret Rossiter Prize from the History of Science Society.

She discusses her research and teaching surrounding the phenomenon of “tech sabbaths,” the religious, social, and popular meanings of the twenty-first-century movement encouraging people to adopt regular breaks from smartphone and Internet use.

Syllabus: History of Technology

Interview with Dr. Kevin Healey

Kevin Healey is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of New Hampshire. His work focuses on the ethical and religious dimensions of digital culture. Kevin’s latest book, co-authored with Robert H. Woods, Jr., is Ethics and Religion in the Age of Social Media: Digital Proverbs for Responsible Citizens (Routledge).

He discusses his multi-faceted approach to teaching in contemplative media studies, relatively new field that integrates empirical social-science research (neuroscience, medicine, psychology, psychiatry) with insights derived from first-person contemplative practices (mindfulness training, meditation, yoga, arts and music therapy).

Syllabus: Contemplative Media Studies

Interview with Dr. R. John Williams

R. John Williams is Associate Professor at Yale University where he teaches in the departments of English and Film and Media Studies. He is the author of The Buddha in the Machine: Art, Technology and the Meeting of East and West (Yale University Press, 2014), which examines the role of technological discourse in the development of Asian religious experience in the United States and Europe.

Here he discusses his courses on modernity, time, human presence, and “futurology” as ways to understand how human relationships with technology have changed in the modern era.

Syllabus: Modernity, Presence, Time

Interview with Dr. Beverley McGuire

Beverley McGuire is an Associate Professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. As a historian of religion specializing in Chinese Religions, McGuire examines the impact of digital technology on moral attention—the capacity to discern and attend to the morally salient features of a given situation. Although most scholars associate moral attention with Western philosophers, Chinese religious traditions describe various means of facilitating moral attention, including Confucian techniques of moral cultivation, Daoist practices of “fasting the mind,” and Buddhist meditation.

This project considers ways in which digital technologies can distract us from other people and disrupt our moral attention, and ways in which digital technologies might enhance our interpersonal relationships and develop our moral attention.

Syllabus: Asian Religions

Syllabus: Mindfulness and Racial Injustice

Interview with Dr. Stephen T. Asma

Stephen T. Asma is Professor of Philosophy and Founding Fellow of the Research Group in Mind, Science and Culture at Columbia College Chicago. Asma is the author of ten books, including Why We Need Religion (Oxford University Press, 2018), The Evolution of Imagination (University of Chicago Press, 2017), On Monsters: an Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears (Oxford, 2009), and The Gods Drink Whiskey (HarperOne, 2005). He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Aeon.

He discusses how his recent book, The Emotional Mind: The Affective Roots of Culture and Cognition (with Rami Gabriel), (with Rami Gabriel) informs his approach to teaching at the intersection of philosophy, religion, technology, and monsters. Yes, monsters.

Syllabus: Philosophy of Religion

Syllabus: Philisophical Issues in Film

Syllabus: Monsterology

Interview with Dr. Noreen Herzfeld

Noreen Herzfeld is the Nicholas and Bernice Reuter Professor of Science and Religion at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict. She holds degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics from the Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. in Theology from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley. Herzfeld is the author of In Our Image: Artificial Intelligence and the Human Spirit (Fortress, 2002), Technology and Religion: Remaining Human in a Co-Created World (Templeton, 2009), The Limits of Perfection in Technology, Religion, and Science (Pandora, 2010), and editor of Religion and the New Technologies (MDPI, 2017).

A leading voice on the relationship between religion and technology, Herzfeld discusses her approaches to teaching ethical issues in robotics, AI, and computing.

Syllabus: Ministering in a Technological World

Syllabus: Ethical Issues in Computing

Interview with Dr. Ilia Delio

Ilia Delio, OSF holds the Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University. She is the author of eighteen books and numerous articles. She lectures nationally and internationally on various topics in Science and Religion, including religion and evolution, consciousness and complexity, integral ecology, and artificial intelligence. Her most recent book is The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey (Orbis).

She discusses her research and teaching, focusing on a number of core questions: How did we arrive at a level of technological dependence? Where are we going with our technologies? What is the human person? What do we hope for as persons and as community? Can technology help us create a more unified world?

Syllabus: Technology and the Human Person

Syllabus: Posthumanism, Transhumanism, and the New Materialisms

Interview with Dr. Devin Singh

Devin Singh is Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College, where he teaches courses on modern religious thought in the West, social ethics, and philosophy of religion. He is the author of Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West (Stanford 2018), as well as of articles on religion and money appearing in Implicit Religion, Political Theology, and The Huffington Post.

He discusses his research and approach to teaching “Religion and Technology” by interrogating the following questions:
In what ways is technology a response to the difficulties of labor and work, the biological limitations of bodies and lifespans, or the unpredictable forces of nature, for instance? What do Western religious and philosophical traditions have to say about such forms of augmentation of life capacities and processes? What promises and perils arise from technological progress? Why is the problem of technology seemingly central to the question of modernity, and how does religion fit in, if at all?

Syllabus: Religion and Technology

Public Theologies of Technology and Presence
Capstone Conference

Dr. Stephen Asma

“Digital Intimacy in the Age of Social Distancing: Fungible Friendships and Attachment”

Loneliness was on the rise well before Covid-19 increased isolation for many people. One of the consequences of the worldwide pandemic is reduced face-to-face social interaction. Many people report “skin hunger” (the desire for touch) and “face hunger” (desire for perceptions of complex facial expressions). In this talk, Stephen Asma will reexamine the question: How much embodiment is needed for friendship? Parasocial research suggests that the reciprocity bar is surprisingly low for bonding. In a socially-distanced world, linguistic conversation becomes the default mode of interaction. This presentation will focus on the capacity of linguistic conversation for bonding, in light of affective neuroscience, attachment theory, and cognitive linguistics.

Dr. Amy Bix

“COVID, Community, and Complexity: Reassessing Technologies of Work, Life, and Presence Amidst Crisis”

The human fallout of 2020-2021’s global pandemic urgently commands re-examination of the evolved inequities in American work/life culture, in highlighting and exacerbating the divide between those with more or less control over employment conditions. As businesses put “essential” workers’ lives on the line, the privileged enjoyed even-greater flexibility to work from home (or well-appointed escape-havens). Job losses and school closures further underlined class, gender, and racial inequities in “work-life balance.” Pandemic gave the fortunate invaluable extra personal/family time, while deepening others’ fight to juggle family needs with no safety net.

This emergency calls for re-framing assumptions about work, life, community, and technology use, rather than hoping for a flawed “return to normal.” The “Groundhog Day” feeling of “days blending together on Zoom” reaffirms the psychological, physical, and social value of face-to-face interactions, a long-standing priority of the “technology Sabbath” movement. By interrupting the “technological determinism” of twenty-first-century work/life, COVID-19 offers potential for a deliberate social/economic/personal reboot. Conscious re-inspection can seek to preserve positive dimensions of pandemic transformations (such as environmental benefits). Meanwhile, persistent instability and struggle should revitalize consideration of a universal basic income, a shortened workweek, and other measures to reverse injustices and honor contributions to community.

Dr. Ilia Delio

Deep AI: Mind, Matter and the Quest for Unity

I began the PTTP fellowship with a keen interest in consciousness, nature and transcendence. Following Teilhard de Chardin, I sought to explore the relationship between mind and matter and the inherent drive toward complexity and consciousness in evolution. Through various articles, presentations and a book on AI and religion, I examined nature’s transcendence toward complexity and consciousness, examining trends in transhumanism and posthumanism, and positing that the ultimate impulse of evolution is God, who is the source and goal of absolute unified consciousness. Drawing on aspects of quantum physics and evolution, I suggested that the term “artificial” intelligence thwarts nature’s propensity toward more consciousness, giving an illusion of engineered ingenuity. The process of evolution shows that nature is techne and has the inherent capacity to construct and transcend its present conditions. Henri Bergson posited an elan vital in the material world, an impulse that drives evolution. My current explorations on AI and evolution continues in the study of theogenesis. I posit that AI undergirds self-liberation toward the fullness of unity. The drive towards unity involves the liberation of consciousness from fragmentation and individuation, which Teilhard described by the term “Omega.”

Dr. Gregory Price Grieve

“Ariadne’s Thread: A Multiform Study of Video Games and the Problem of Evil”

Has ethics reached the end of the line in our current society? Has digital media ushered in the demise of morality and a new era that has replaced duty and responsibility with the singularity of pure mediated aesthetics? This study suggests that gaming can lead us out of our ethical labyrinth. It explores the role that “evil” plays in video games and focuses on how video games’ immersion reshapes identity, community and our understanding of human relationships. It argues that many current North American video games engage with the problem of evil; that is, that video gaming can operate as vernacular theodicies through which players, as moral agents, engage the problem of evil. Broadly speaking, theodicies attempt to work out the problem of evil in the world. Vernacular theodicies are diverse everyday media practices, which are entrenched in popular culture, rather than in the official “high” culture. Using an Ariadne’s thread, a method of solving complex problems through multiple means, the study employs a multiform scholarship which takes a branching path. Not quite kaleidoscopic, it is designed as a triptych, whose three paths each have an increasingly difficult ergodic level. Derived from the Greek words ergon, “work”, and hodos, “path,” ergodic describes the level of difficulty required to read a text.

Dr. Margarita Guillory

“Digital (In)visibility: Notions of Absence/Presence of Africana Religions in the Digital World”

From using the Internet to conduct cyber-rituals to designing apps meant to endow mobile devices with sacred properties—practitioners of Africana religions engage emerging technologies to make their presence known across various digital platforms. This presentation explores the various ways that this technological presence takes shape, drawing specifically from PTTP sponsored research. What both the manuscript, Africana Religion in the Digital Age, and the mobile app (ROADs of Boston) has revealed is a sophisticated usage of digital interactive media by practitioners to solidify their presence through the construction of complex modes of identity. Simultaneously though, these same channels have fostered an ethos of absence in the form of digital hush harbors—digital safe havens where practitioners convene to practice diverse Africana religiosities. In this way, their technological presence is best described as (in)visible.

Dr. Kevin Healey

“Designing for the “Green Zone”: A Contemplative Framework for Augmented and Mixed-Reality Environments”

This presentation offers a framework for understanding and assessing the ethical implications of digital media, with special emphasis on augmented, virtual, and mixed-reality (MR) environments. As an intervention in scholarship on digital aesthetics, this framework offers both critical analysis of existing systems as well as strategies for shifting technical development in a more ethically and economically sustainable direction. This dual focus is accomplished by drawing from emerging research in Contemplative Media Studies (CMS), which integrates critical media studies and contemplative practice. To demonstrate this framework’s relevance to MR environments, the chapter describes a set of experiential exercises which combine contemplative and arts-based practices with Geospatial and Information Systems (GIS) applications (namely ArcGIS and Google Earth). Discussion of this case study shows how designers can avoid common pitfalls of mixed-reality development in favor of a “Green Zone” aesthetic guided by the aspirational virtues of wisdom, integrity, and hope.

Dr. Natasha Heller

“The Quantified Self in Late Imperial China”

Ledgers of Good and Bad Deeds (Gongguo ge 功過格) emerged in the late Ming (1368–1644) dynasty as a way to convey shared ethics, and to make legible the processes of retribution. With deeds that could be tailored to different religious traditions and social statuses, their growth in popularity and influence have been attributed to the rise of print culture and the acceptance of mercantile perspectives; these ledgers are early examples both of mass media and the quantification of self. Drawing on scholarship on contemporary self-tracking, and attending to the visual formats of the ledgers, I will argue that they represented a new technology of self-reflection that constituted particular kinds of social and moral persons. I will conclude with a discussion of more recent examples of the use of ledgers will show how they continue to respond to new technologies of information management and self-tracking.

Dr. Noreen Herzfeld

“Bodies Matter: AI and Authentic Relationships”

Christian theologian Karl Barth postulated four criteria for authentic relationships: look the other in the eye, speak to and hear the other, aid the other, and do it gladly. Using these criteria to examine both the potential for authentic relationships with an AI and how our relationships are mediated by current AI programs shows one thing—that our bodies matter. The more technology moves us away from the body, the less authentic our relationships become. As Barth puts it, “to trivialize the body jeopardizes the soul.” We see this in technology we already possess, ranging from Facebook to sexbots to autonomous weapons. While futurists such as Nick Bostrom and science fiction writers worry about the possibly devastating consequences of a superintelligent AI, the much simpler algorithms and machine learning programs may present the greater threat in the ways they are already eroding our relationships with each other.

Ms. Liz Kineke

“Religion is always in the room and in the Zoom”

My talk looks at the reporting I’ve done during 2020 for Tricycle and Religion News Service. 2020 is a year like no other. It’s changed how we do just about everything. My discussion looks at the ways religious and spiritual communities were able to quickly innovate using technology in ways they never thought possible. Highlights include digital sanghas, digital dharma for people living with physical disabilities, and an Instagram church that mixes African spiritual practices with Christianity for worship.

Dr. Beverley McGuire

“A Pedagogy of Presence and Technology, or: Zoom and the Art of Attention Maintenance”

The COVID-19 pandemic forced all of us to teach online. Those who had only taught face-to-face had to suddenly pivot and faced a steep learning curve, and even veteran online teachers encountered challenges of teaching while enduring the stress and overwhelm of a global pandemic. This presentation draws from scholarship on teaching and learning to articulate a pedagogy of presence and technology. It considers the questions: How can we cultivate presence in online spaces? How might we design our courses to prioritize presence? Agreeing with Derek Bruff when he says that “our teaching and learning goals should drive our technology use, not the other way around” (Intentional Tech, 2019, p. 2), we will explore ways that technologies amplify and limit presence in online teaching environments.

Ms. Sigal Samuel

“Is digital technology making us less moral?”

We’ve been hearing for years about how digital tech is shortening our attention spans and making us more distracted. What if it’s also making us less empathetic and ethical? There’s reason to believe the constant alerts and pings and messages on our phones and computers are degrading our ability to notice when someone in front of us is suffering and act appropriately. That’s hugely worrisome, especially because the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted us to move most of our human interactions onto digital platforms like Zoom.

Western philosophers like Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, and Martha Nussbaum have developed the idea of “moral attention,” our capacity to attend to the morally salient features of a given situation. And Eastern traditions describe methods of enhancing our moral attention (e.g. Taoist practices of “fasting the mind,” Buddhist mindfulness meditation). More recently, people like Tristan Harris have argued that tech is downgrading humanity, and scholars like our own Beverly McGuire have researched how digital games and apps can either degrade or enhance our moral attention. I’ll discuss what we can do — on the individual level and on the policy level — to keep tech from harming us as moral agents.

Dr. Stuart Ray Sarbacker

“Technologies of the Self: Yoga, Biohacking, and the Construction of Identity and Community”

Michel Foucault defined Technologies of the Self as how individuals “effect by their own means or with the help of others a certain number of operations on their own bodies and souls, thoughts, conduct, and way of being, so as to transform themselves in order to attain a certain state of happiness, purity, wisdom, perfection, or immortality”. In this presentation, I will focus on three contemporary examples of such methodologies: yoga and meditation practice, contemplative tech, and psychedelics, with an eye to their historical genealogies and to their aggregated use by contemporary “biohackers.” I will argue that such self-directed practices have profound social implications, and that, in effect, the process of self-transformation as such is simultaneously a process of community formation, whether it be “actual” or “virtual.” Lastly, I will demonstrate how the history and philosophy of Indian contemplative traditions provides for both academic perspective and a normative assessment of such methodologies. In particular, I will argue that it calls on us to pursue modes of self-transformation that help us to relationally embody kindness, compassion, and love for others, and not acquire power and enjoyment simply for their own sake.

Dr. Devin Singh

“Cryptocurrencies, Digital Currencies, and the Future of Polity”

In this presentation I explore the similarities and distinctions between cryptocurrency and other digital currencies, asking about the visions for community and society set forth by each. Recent moves by Facebook and Google to create their own exchange tokens add to and complicate a field already crowded by Bitcoin and the like. Yet all digital exchange media are not created equal, and the varieties portend of various possible futures not just for the economy but for political organization, the state, and the sacred canopies that bind society together. In our moment of profound political, religious, and cultural fracture, where all bets are off for the future of democracy, we can expect reorganizations and new consolidations of power. I sketch out several trajectories signaled by these alternative currencies for the shape of what is to come.

Dr. R. John Williams

“Technology, Media, and the Metaphysics of Presence”

This presentation will argue that McLuhan’s media theoretical interventions were revolutionary not only because he was so successful as a celebrity intellectual (more so than any other professor of the humanities in the twentieth century), but also because he suggested that new modes of electronic media (telegraph, radio, television, and so on) were effectively returning Western culture to the redemptive “orality” that the long night of alphabetic writing had destroyed. The real renaissance, for McLuhan, was electricity, and the renewed attention to the “media” of human experience was a prescient topic. But as I hope to illustrate in this presentation, McLuhan’s argument relied on a number of metaphysical assumptions (particularly regarding the metaphysic self-presencing authority of the “voice”) that were being simultaneously challenged by Jacques Derrida in France. This presentation will argue that Derrida’s Of Grammatology (1967) actually clarifies the unspoken assumptions governing McLuhan’s media theoretical insights, and that while a number of scholars have attempted to portray them as engaged in similar projects–they were, in the end, arguing for quite opposite philosophical arguments, and the consequences of that difference will reach into our own understanding of “media.”

Audrey Cooper

Editor-in-Chief, San Francisco Chronicle

Kim-Mai Cutler

Partner, Initialized Capital

Kate Dailey

Managing Editor, Vox

Josh Estelle

Senior Engineer Manager, Google

Alex Feerst

General Counsel, Neuralink

Sha Hwang

COO and Co-Founder, Nava