Events

Regent College's Centre for Humanity and the Common Good presents an eight-part lecture series on the Theology of the Person. This lecture series recovers the all-important concept of the "Person" for a theological engagement of contemporary culture.

Join us on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 for the seventh lecture, titled "Persons Divine, Creaturely, and Artificial: A Theological Reflection on Sociable AI" with Dr. Jordan Wales.

This lecture will be available online. Information about an in-person component for the public will be available closer to March 30, 2022.

EVENT DETAILS

Lecture Title: Persons Divine, Creaturely, and Artificial: A Theological Reflection on Sociable AI
Speaker: Jordan Wales
Date: Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Time: 12 pm–1 pm

ABOUT THE LECTURE

In the near future, conversations with sociable AI apps on our phones will rouse in us the empathy that we usually experience only in conversation with fellow human beings. Exploring the theological origins of our understanding of the "person," and engaging with contemporary philosophers of AI and of mind, I will consider what these apparent persons might be and how we might live as their owners without destroying our own personhood.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Jordan Wales is an Associate Professor and the John and Helen Kuczmarski Chair in Theology at Hillsdale College, where he teaches historical theology. His scholarship focuses on early Christianity as well as contemporary questions relating to theology and Artificial Intelligence. His work appears in AI & Society; Augustinian Studies; Autonomous Robots; Contagion; and the Journal of Moral Theology, among others. He has edited two volumes of writings by Athanasius and Irenaeus, forthcoming from Ave Maria Press of Notre Dame. He currently is at work on a book on AI and theology.

ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR HUMANITY AND THE COMMON GOOD

The James M. Houston Centre for Humanity and the Common Good is a five-year initiative of Regent College dedicated to the question of human identity and its importance for conceptions of the good life. Grounded in Dr. James M. Houston’s Christian theological vision of integrative scholarship combining academic study, practical research, and lived reality, the centre will provide opportunities for interdisciplinary and inter-religious dialogue on the question of what it means to be human. Through planned collaboration with UBC and other academic institutions, and by inviting insights from a wide range of secular and religious perspectives, the centre aims to engage in a broad consideration of human identity and the common good.

EVENT REGISTRATION

The lecture is free, but a ticket is required to participate.