How to Age Up

How to Know What's Real: How to be Immortal Online

Jun 17, 2024

Associate professor Hanna Reichel discusses the intersection of technology and theology, exploring the parallels between religious concepts and technological advancements. The podcast delves into right-to-be-forgotten laws, justice, mercy, and immortality online, and the intricate connections between religion, technology, and artificial intelligence.

37:23

Episode guests

Hanna Reichel

AI Summary

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Tech mirrors theological debates about divine knowledge and human interaction.

Recreating deceased individuals digitally raises ethical concerns about blurring reality with simulated experiences.

Deep dives

The Ideometer Effect and Human Experience

Ouija boards work through the ideometer effect, where players unconsciously guide their movements, a metaphor for human influence in technology. The allure of such devices lies in their providing answers, reflecting human's craving for certainty and knowledge like the internet. While the web seems omniscient, glitches and biases expose its human origins, prompting reflections on human-tech faith dynamics.

Technology Reflects Our Deepest Questions

01:11

Intro

2min

Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Theology

12min

Exploring Right-to-Be-Forgotten Laws and the Notion of Mercy

2min

Exploring the Intersection of Justice, Mercy, and Immortality Online

4min

Exploring the Intersection of Religion, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence

17min

With digital spaces regularly evolving and updating, and the infinite scroll beckoning to us at all times, this episode questions if we have, as a culture, fully embraced the end of endings. Hanna Reichel, an associate professor of reformed theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, helps illuminate how the emergence of godlike AI and the rise of creator culture compare with the reformations and transformations through which people lived (and died) in the past.

Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com.

Music by Forever Sunset (“Spring Dance”), baegel (“Cyber Wham”), Etienne Roussel (“Twilight”), Dip Diet (“Sidelined”), Ben Elson (“Darkwave”), and Rob Smierciak (“Whistle Jazz”).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.

How to Age Up

How to Know What's Real: How to be Immortal Online

Episode guests

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Ideometer Effect and Human Experience

The Theological Implications of Technology

AI and Spiritual Reflections

The Intersection of Ethics and Technology in Resurrecting the Past

Technology Reflects Our Deepest Questions

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts