In my recent book, Temples of Modernity, one of my arguments is that religion, science, & technology can be integrated as a form of nationalist rhetoric. I… Read more “Science, religion, national pride”

All right; in fairness, I’m not good about blogging. I don’t know that the content of my blogging is all that good and, on top of that,… Read more “Back to the Future”

There’s something to be said for scholarship in an era of political upheaval. If nothing else, the Trump era and its lead-up provoked in me a somewhat… Read more “Politics, perspective, and composition”

Thanks to the help of Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others, we’re seeing an increasingly public conversation about Apocalyptic AI (the belief that machines will become transcendent… Read more “The AI apocalypse is catching on”

Recently, my 12-year old daughter read Ready Player One (a particularly fun read for gamers, Dungeons & Dragons players, children of the 80s, and the rest of… Read more “Home schooling with the Simulation Hypothesis”

With considerable delight, I report that the Fulbright Association, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, and the Indian government have approved my latest research project for… Read more “Return to Sender”

For many in today’s America, 9/11/2001 marks a radical shift in our vision of the future. Supposedly we went from prosperity, productivity, and security to fear, negativity,… Read more “American Disasters: distrust in science, the end of optimism, and the rise of fake news”

One of the key themes in my forthcoming book is that people enchant the world using technology. There’s this persistent (and wrong) idea in the social sciences… Read more “Harry Potter and the Augmented Enchantment of the World”

This week, a friend in India sent me a fascinating link: a brand new cinematic short based on a story written by the great Indian filmmaker Satyajit… Read more “Robots, religion, and Indian cinema”

This September, I was elected a Fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion. From the invitation, I understand that to be elected Fellow, an existing… Read more “A jolly good Fellow?”