All posts tagged: Catholic social teaching

Building God, Fearing Doom: The Theology of Superintelligence

Published by Sam Flores

A theology of sorts has been building in Silicon Valley, where questions about digital, biological and spiritual life are beginning to converge. For most of us, artificial intelligence means chatbots, recipe tips, work tools and strange little images. But in other circles, the conversation is darker and far more existential. Some believe AI could give humanity powers that once belonged to science fiction: curing disease, extending life, even overcoming death. Others look at the same advances and see catastrophe — even the possible end of civilization. So, which is it? Are we watching the future of medicine take shape, or the beginning of something closer to the end times? Through it all, religious language is never far away. Religion News Service reporter Hayden Royster joins Complexified to explain the belief systems shaping the AI race — from accelerationists and doomers to transhumanism, superintelligence and the strange theological language running through it all. Source link

Why Protestants should read the pope’s encyclical

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical declares artificial intelligence as the “rerum novarum,” the “new thing,” of our age. And while artificial intelligence is the encyclical’s stated focus, its analysis reaches far beyond AI itself into the broader social order that created the technology in the first place — presenting a critique of economic power that all Christians should wrestle with. As an Episcopal priest and theology professor, let me begin by acknowledging that Protestants have historically had a complicated relationship with papal encyclicals. Beyond the obvious historical divisions, the very understanding of “church” that grounds Catholic social teaching is not ours. The concept of a magisterium does not bind us, and not all of the doctrinal moves made in the document are ones that we would necessarily share. And yet, “Magnifica Humanitas” is a significant document that deserves careful attention, partly because it is written in a tone that is both humble and ambitious. The encyclical explicitly states that the church “does not claim to possess a monopoly on truth” and describes Catholic …

Pope Leo XIV and the Case for Imperfection

Published by Sam Flores

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII looked at the industrial revolution — factories, machines, workers being displaced and exploited — and decided the church had a role to play. The result was an encyclical: “Rerum Novarum,” translated as “On New Things,” became one of the foundational documents of modern Catholic social teaching. Now, 135 years later, another Pope Leo sees another technological revolution enveloping humanity: His first encyclical is about artificial intelligence. The ethics of AI is not a question solely for engineers, investors, governments or Silicon Valley. It is a question for all of us about the human person. So, today we begin there: with the document, the history behind it and the tension the Vatican is highlighting as we are barreling into the age of artificial intelligence. Technology is building machines that aspire to transcendence, while religion maintains that the divine is already present in fragile, embodied human life. Religion News Service Vatican correspondent Claire Giangravé has spent most of her waking hours in recent days with this encyclical and has been reporting on what …

With his first encyclical, Pope Leo hits it out of the ballpark

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — White Sox fans will be happy to know that on his first time up to bat with an encyclical, Pope Leo hit it out of the ballpark. In truth, the whole world should be happy, although those who only want to make money with unrestrained technology will boo. The 42,000-word encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), published on Monday (May 25), deals not only with artificial intelligence but more widely with digital technology and its impact on the real world we live in. And Leo argues Catholic social teaching can help us know how to deal with these technologies and their potential for disruption. The first two chapters of the encyclical lay out the history and foundations of Catholic social teaching, which is based on the equal dignity of all human beings and the value of human rights. He explains the principles of Catholic social teaching: the common good, the universal destination of goods, subsidiarity, solidarity and social justice. For those new to Catholic social teaching, these two chapters are a great introduction, and for …

A Pope, an AI founder and the most important document of our moment

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — On May 25, Pope Leo XIV will publish his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”) that will focus on addressing artificial intelligence and human dignity. It was signed on May 15, the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum Novarum,” confirming its place in the tradition of Catholic social teaching as a response to massive cultural change wrought by technological development. Leo XIII was responding to the techno-industrial revolution of the late 19th century, and the current Pope clearly imagines himself doing something similar in speaking to our current moment. So, in one sense what is happening here is not new. But in another sense what is happening is something genuinely unprecedented in the history of the Catholic Church. Indeed, in a first for any papal social document, the Pope himself will attend the Vatican press conference to mark its release. Remarkably, he will deliver an address alongside Christopher Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude large language model. Let that sink in. The head of the Catholic Church and …