I live, teach, and write in New York. I’m pretty sure that everyone loves robots, which is why I’ve written a book about them. People love games too, so I wrote another book.  I’m also interested in the toadstool circles, the ancient temples, the soaring cathedrals of our religious imagination. Likewise, the dark tunnels of mining and rapid transit. I visit mountains, deserts, temples, laboratories, factories, virtual realities…the places where magic enters the world.

Thanks to a Fulbright-Nehru Research Award, I spent 5 months at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in 2012-13, during which I interviewed dozens of scientists in academia, industry, and hacker culture. The book is published by Lexington Press (an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield). It offers new insights into contemporary India and into methodology in the study of religion, science, and technology. In 2018-19, I was back on sabbatical and back in India–once again under the auspices of a Fulbright-Nehru award. While there I finished my latest book, Futures of Artificial Intelligence, and this has launched a broader move toward AI ethics.

These days, I’m collaborating with Prof. Yong Sup Song of Youngnam Theological University on a variety of papers related to the ethical use of AI and the development of moral AI. Our work has been supported by the National Research Federation of Korea and the American Academy of Religion.

Overall, my theoretical interest is in how we use technology to enchant and give meaning to the world and my practical interest is in advancing the AI ethics conversation to include global cultural values. I am a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion.