Re-Enchanting the Earth: Why AI Needs Religion

by Ilia Delio

In her latest book, scientist and theologian Ilia Delio takes up the challenge of reconciling evolution and religion with particular attention to the role of Artificial Intelligence. She argues that AI represents the latest extension of human evolution, which has implications not only for science but also for religion. If the first axial age gave rise to the great religions, she sees us now on the cusp of a second axial age, in which AI, oriented by new religious sensibilities, can bring about an ecological re-enchantment of the earth.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction

266 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 19, 2020

About the author

Ilia Delio, OSF is a Franciscan Sister of Washington, D.C. and American theologian specializing in the area of science and religion, with interests in evolution, physics and neuroscience and the importance of these for theology. She was born in Newark, New Jersey and is the youngest of four children.


Fordham University
Ph.D., Historical Theology
M.A. Historical Theology

Rutgers University Healthcare and Biomedical Sciences
Ph. D., Pharmacology

Seton Hall University
M.S., Biology

DeSales University
B.S., Biology

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does the title of this book freak you out a little? Well, Ilia Delio would say, that's because a lot of religion is still stuck in first axial consciousness—which is marked by a focus on individual transcendence, the "I" set apart from the collective, and a fundamental separation between mind and matter, which results in us Othering the rest of the world into stratified categories/hierarchies. Meanwhile, our hyper-connected, technologically-extended minds and bodies are already living within the dynamic, networked milieu of second axial consciousness. Posthumanism is here—that is, our dawning realization that the only way to a viable future is through partnership with Earth's non-human agencies (nature and technology both) to benefit all life, rather than exploitation of these to further human dominance. As Thomas Berry put it, "We will go into the future as a single sacred community or we will perish in the desert."

Delio makes a distinction between what she calls "shallow AI"—e.g. the transhuman focus on human enhancement to further anthropocentrism—versus "deep AI", which is modeled on the unfathomably complex networks of information exchange that already exist within nature, and which, as we extend them through technology, can help us reach new depths of complexity not just in our thinking, but in our relationships with each other and nature (and thereby, one could argue, with the divine).

Does all this techno-mysticism still sound a little weird to you? Too bad, Delio says. We're cyborgs already. We're plugged into technology almost 24/7, entangled via cyberspace in ways that we're only beginning to understand, saturated with global concerns on an unprecedented level compared to the insular patterns of previous societies. It's changing us. What we need, she insists, is a second axial religious consciousness to orient us—new guiding metaphors that illustrate and emphasize the interconnectedness of all things rather than the separation between them, a story rooted in cosmic evolution that nurtures concern for we over me (and me because it is a part of we, and therefore matters greatly). If your next question is "well, why can't we have that without religion?"—Delio uses the word in a way that is more verb than noun, going back to its etymology: religion as in "re-ligmentation" or "re-membering", i.e. unifying what has been separated or bringing parts back into a whole. She, like Teilhard de Chardin before her, identifies religion (divorced from its institutional trappings) as a necessary dimension of evolution—the impulse in us that reaches for the not-yet, for a new form or configuration that can connect us more vitally to a greater whole.

"Can AI mediate an ethics of compassion for planetary life?" is just one of many powerful questions posed in this book. Delio opens up so many fascinating avenues of thought I've never encountered before, weaving them together with history, philosophy, science, and theology in ways I find tremendously hopeful and helpful.

I'm only removing a star because of how theoretically abstract the latter third of the book gets; it needs some more concrete examples and practical framing to bring the headiness of the outsized ideas back down to our present experience. Delio is a brilliant academic, but like a lot of academics, specialized language often wins out over clarity in her writing, which means she can get a bit lost in jargon right when she's getting to the good stuff.

But man, who else is putting all these ideas in conversation with each other right now, at this level? Incredible food for thought (and yes—I'll say it—prayer).

[Ephrem Arcement · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bold (too bold?) vision for harnessing divine energy through technology in order to usher in posthuman existence. There is much to commend in this work...the familiar theological vision of Illia Delio is re-presented here. But there is also some very questionable positions as well...like "posthumanism" and the total disregard and suspicion of institutional religion. Delio has a very high regard for the role of technology in augmenting human life and only passingly references the its dangers. I'd submit that, even with religion, technology poses serious problems to human consciousness. Is transfigured human existence cyborg posthumanism? I see an expansive shadow side to such a position that Delio downplays. The subtitle is a bit misleading...this book is only tangentially about AI and why it needs religion.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know that I completely agree with all her arguments (theogenesis for one)- and I think the best points in the book are the ones she quotes from other authors. But it's a nice addition to the AI and God discourse that is certainly more hopeful and more open than many I've read.

[Richard Pütz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harnessing the essence of Teilhard, and showing the evolutionary discovery of God in and of the universe and how technology is an integral element in humans meeting the living a God.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a engaging work on the need to be more respectful of God's creation. The argumentation is not as tight and at times is unclear as to the meaning and direction that she wants us to be brought.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful to understand Delio´s thought. I follow more classical theology at this point but it is helpful to see how these ideas fit together.

[Clayton Faulkner · Rating 3 out of 5]

An engaging discussion of AI and religion. The language is sometimes obtuse and connecting the thoughts hard to follow. I wish there were more space given to religion than technology.