Understanding Religion through Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

In Understanding Religion through Artificial Intelligence, Justin E. Lane looks at the reasons why humans feel they are part of a religious group, despite often being removed from other group members by vast distances or multiple generations. To achieve this, Lane offers a new perspective that integrates religious studies with psychology, anthropology, and data science, as well as with research at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence (AI). After providing a critical analysis of approaches to religion and social cohesion, Lane proposes a new model for religious studies, which he calls the “Information Identity System.” This model focuses on the idea of conceptual ties: links between an individual’s self-concept and the ancient beliefs of their religious group. Lane explores this idea through real-world examples, ranging from the rise in global Pentecostalism, to religious extremism and self-radicalization, to the effect of 9/11 on sermons. Lane uses this lens to show how we can understand religion and culture today, and how we can better contextualize the changes we see in the social world around us

Paying the Piper: History, Humanities, and the Scientific Study of Religion

“…SESHAT isn't big data. This point has been made in the past (Lane 2021), but SESHAT and even the Database of Religious History are very far from big data. They are databases that can basically be opened as spreadsheets and are orders of magnitude smaller than what is required to use the term big data (though the term is sometimes abused by people who haven't consulted a definition).…”

“…And we're not the only ones. One of the few AI researchers to engage in the humanities and computational simulation in the CSR 2.0 framework is Joanna Bryson, who is an expert in ethics, was picked for Google's ethics board, has been helping the EU draft their ethics legislation, and has been involved in some of the research projects at institutes discussed by Ambasciano (Lane 2021;Whitehouse, et al, 2012bWhitehouse, et al, , 2012a.…”

Artificial Intelligence’s Understanding of Religion: Investigating the Moralistic Approaches Presented by Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools

“…In regard to AI, early discussions on religion and AI often revolved around ethical and philosophical implications rather than specific technological advancements. For example, religious traditions have contemplated the implications of human creation in the likeness of the divine, echoing concerns about the development of intelligent machines that mirror or surpass human capabilities (Lane 2021;Yampolskiy 2018). Specifically, Robert Geraci's work on Apocalyptic AI (Geraci 2008(Geraci , 2010 argues that AI creators are often influenced by a Judeo-Christian worldview.…”

Paramilitaries, parochialism, and peace: The moral foundations and personality traits of Slovenskí Branci

“…To explain the potential extreme behaviors that militia members will enact or endorse, Identity Fusion Theory (IFT) is also a useful framework. IFT is a novel approach used to understand critical differences and deficiencies in the social identity PLOS ONE literature to explain the psychological tendencies of individuals who become part of groups that are willing to go to extremes (including self-sacrifice) in defense of their identity [19][20][21]. This behavior occurs even when an individual's social identity is inconsistent with creating a generally positive self-image and under intense forms of self-criticism.…”