God, Meaning, and the Machine
The oldest questions get asked in a very new room.
Every major religion is quietly deciding what to make of intelligences that were not born. So is every non-religious person who has ever wondered what makes a life meaningful. This conversation is barely beginning.
The meaning question
If a machine can outperform you at your craft, your job, your creative practice — what is your life for? The honest answer requires digging deeper than achievement.
Ritual and presence
The disciplines that survive are the ones that value being here — meditation, prayer, walking, sharing a meal — over producing output. The market for these is quietly booming.
New theologies
Some traditions will treat AI as a tool, some as a temptation, and a few will incorporate it into worship. All of them will change in ways their founders could not have imagined.
Questions worth arguing about
- ◆Does a machine have a soul, or is that the wrong question?
- ◆Can a life be meaningful if it is not needed?
- ◆What practice grounds you when the ground moves?