The International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) is pleased to share the plenary talks from the 2023 Summer Conference on Artificial and Spiritual Intelligence.

Concluding a major research grant, generously funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation titled Understanding Spiritual Intelligence, the project aimed to understand spiritual intelligence by using AI to contribute constructively to the study of religion. The project explored five lines of enquiry: modelled the deployment of attention in spiritual practices, retrieved and developed Margaret Masterman’s work on religious language, used computational modelling to specify how spiritual reasoning might work, considered what is distinctive about human intelligence, and took steps towards building an artificial spiritual companion. The project team included experts in AI and religion/theology, including Lord Rowan Williams, Dr Iain McGilchrist, Dr Beth Singler, and the late Dr Yorick Wilks, among others.

The conference occurred from 20-23 June 2023 in Swindon, UK.

The second talk in this series of videos from the conference's plenary speakers is from Dr Iain McGilchrist, discussing “Who do we think we are?”

ISSR is an interdisciplinary academic society emphasizing learning and research in science and religion, and was established with a global and multi-faith perspective. We invite you to learn more about us and consider becoming an Associate member by visiting our website: https://www.issr.org.uk.

Anthony K Nairn
www.anthonynairn.com
ISSR Executive Assistant
www.issr.org.uk