News

Dr. Bill Anderson, Professor of Pop Culture and Religious Studies here at CUE, is pleased to announce the publication of his fifth book (third edited volume) entitled Technology and Theology with Vernon Press.

The foreword was written by Mike Wade, former Chair of the Board here at CUE and the Director of CUE’s Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Jonathan Strand, Professor of Philosophy at CUE, wrote a chapter on “Will Androids Need Salvation? A Dialogue with Chalmers’ Philosophy of Mind” and Erin Archer, who did her M.A. at CUE, contributed a chapter entitled “Does This Geth Unit Have a Soul? Aquinas and Origen on the Ethics of Transhumanism and AI in Mass Effect”.

The back cover of the book reads: “Technology is growing at an exponential rate vis-à-vis humanity’s ability to control it. Moreover, the numerous ethical issues that technology raises are also troubling. These statements, however, may be alarmist—since Telus would tell us that “The Future is Friendly”. The Modernist vision of the future was utopic, e.g., Star Trek of the 1960s. But postmodern views, such as are found in Blade Runner 2049, are dystopic. Theology is in a unique interdisciplinary position to deal with the many issues, pro and con, that technology raises. Even theologians like Origen in the third century and Aquinas in the thirteenth century made forays into Artificial Intelligence and surrounding issues (they just didn’t know it at the time). Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Transhumanism raise questions about what it means to be human. What is consciousness? What is soul? What are life and death? Can technology really save us and give us eternal life?”. You may purchase your copy at https://vernonpress.com/book/1154.