The Christian Transhumanist Podcast

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<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Neil Gaiman</...

I think it’s high time we shot one enduringly false UFO meme down. I’m pretty sure most people have heard the standard tale of how the term flying saucers came to be. On June 25, 1947, The East Oregonian ran a brief story by Bill Bequette with the...

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>George R. R. Martin slew the narrator-god that makes mea...

Fundamentalism is used as a by-word these days and perhaps much of their reputation is deserved. I used to joke that I was trying to put the “fun” back into fundamentalism because the “duh” and the “mental” were already well covered. Originally, C...

The following declaration from members of the World Congress of Mummy Studies appeared on their Facebook page in connection with fully human corpses being promoted by Jaime Maussan and Gaia as potentially “alien” mummies.   The day before the decl...

Fellow science fiction author Dr. Michael Heiser gave a presentation called “Science Fiction: Televangelism for ET Religion” at the 2017 Roswell UFO Festival. Basically, he has set out to demonstrate that sci-fi is isn’t just escapism entertainmen...

Over the past few days, I’ve been watching presentations from the Roswell UFO Festival 2017: “70 Years Later: Modern Challenges to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis.” This particular post concerns a presentation given by RoswellMission.org founder a...

“What are we really looking for in stories of flying saucers and government cover-ups?” Luke Sharret asks in a July 7, 2017 op-ed for The New York Times entitled, “Roswell’s Mysteries Are Life’s Mysteries.” The short answer is just that: answers. ...

One of the presentations from the 2017 Roswell UFO Festival (themed “70 Years Later: Modern Challenges to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis”) that I was most intrigued by a presentation called “Science Fiction: Televangelism for ET Religion.” The sp...

The Christian Post features The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek's theological take on sexbots. Read the full article HERE.           Related StoriesInverse – This Religion is the First to Say Sex Robots are a SinČeská Pozice – Robot a jeho pán aneb Mů...

Jack Crosby of Inverse cites the writings of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek in an article dealing with theological implications of developing sexbots. Read the full article HERE.           Related StoriesČeská Pozice – Robot a jeho pán aneb Může ...

One of the earliest reports of Christian interpretation of the flying saucer phenomenon came from Kenneth Arnold himself. On June 27, 1947, newspapers across the US ran a story in which Arnold “said that a preacher called him from Texas and inform...

Writing for Czech Magazine Česká Pozice, Blahoslav Hruška quotes The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek in his piece on AI Ethics. Read the full version HERE. Don't read Czech? Try Google Translate.           Related StoriesMinistry Matters – Christians...

 I was reading a 2016 feedback article on Creation.com, entitled, “Is the universe a simulation?” when I realized how much the allegedly Biblical principles that modern creationists tout in support of their Earthbound religious perspective have in...

By and large, Biblical creationists are anti-alien and they think the Bible forbids the existence of extraterrestrials. I blame Gary Bates. Gary Bates is the CEO of Creation Ministries International and, more importantly, the author of the best-se...

We all utilize tools and tech to enhance our abilities. Some are attached to our body such as a filling in our teeth, contact lenses, or screws to help a broken bone mend. Others are not, such as a knife to cut our food or a hang glider etc. For u...

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Our brains associate neural regions that are architectur...

Gary Bates is the CEO of Creation Ministries International and the author of the best-selling book Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection. It is perhaps no surprise that Bates does not believe aliens exist, especially intelligent alien...

Gary Bates, CEO of Creation Ministries International and the author of the best-selling book Alien Intrusion: UFOs and the Evolution Connection, has responded to my previous post, Gary Bates Thinks ET Could Potentially Falsify The Bible. Predictab...

Mike Poteet quotes The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek regarding theological considerations regarding Christianity and AI. Read the full article HERE           Related StoriesČeská Pozice – Robot a jeho pán aneb Může mít umělá inteligence vlastní etik...

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Conservative news sources condemn black rage before cond...

In the previous blog, I talked about how theology has much to offer to the AI conversation. With that said, one must recognize that the conversation between AI and Theology is rather awkward at the moment. While sharing common points of references...

There is presently a societal clash occurring over issues of inclusion in the fields of science and technology. Some advocates believe that all people should be equipped and encouraged to participate in making our scientific and technological fut...

CreationWiki believes that the Bible teaches that there aren’t “any other Earths.” At least, that’s the argument presented in their Extraterrestrial Life article: Consider this well-known verse, which Astronaut Jim Lovell, one of the first three m...

I love the movie Moana. And, particularly, I love this song—both because it’s a great song, and because it perfectly encapsulates a deep truth about reading scripture, or any kind of story. (Listen to it!) On the surface, the meaning of the so...

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> This book failed to enchant me. Perhaps I have a high b...

What does Theology have to do with Artificial Intelligence? What does Jerusalem have to do with Silicon Valley? In this blog, I want to address this question head-on to show that theology is not just relevant but much needed in the current debates...

<img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="844" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-v3V1N-BuMrM/WUXYD2RNUjI/AAAAAAAB_Rw/pjhJg4l5rScOOTQQT3Pu_ZDoDQ-KwJ5cgCLcBGAs/s1600/heaven.jpg" /><br /><br />I love how heaven i...

Superheroes have always served as metaphors for the nuances of human behavior. The starkest dichotomies of these distinctions represent our hopes and fears of what humanity could potentially become through enhanced good or evil. Ironically, suc...

– – What’s up guys? This is Mark Russell with thesingularity.com. It’s been six days with no caffeine and still thinking about Jesus and the second coming and technology and want to comment on 1 Timothy 4:3. So here’s my thought. I think about Jes...

I have intentionally steered clear from political topics in this blog. Yet, just like many in this season, I found myself needing to say something given the unique political moment the US is undergoing at this point. For starters, as an immigrant ...

Today marks a year since the Orlando nightclub shooting. On June 12, 2016, a single gunman walked into a Florida nightclub and killed 49 people, wounding 58 others. A few days later, I wrote down some thoughts about what was happening. This is the...

Stephen Hawking may be an extraordinary theoretical physicist and cosmologist, but he is a misguided futurist. The Earth is not going to be destroyed in 100—or even a 1000—years as he predicts. Instead, it is going to be remade into a new creat...

In a previous blog I talked about how big government and big business were racing to get a piece of the AI revolution. In this blog, I want to explore the parallel grass-roots movement of open AI and its possibilities. Open-Source Movement: The De...

I can really appreciate the idea of us needing each other. Too many times religion says I don’t need you to the rest of the world. Religion tends to look at people on the outside, as do scientists, and in their hearts they think I don’t need you. ...

In a previous blog, I described the trends that led to the current AI renaissance. In this blog, I want to talk about where AI is going and how we can prepare children and young adults to seize on the opportunities emerging from it.  The Global Ra...

Christians should be concerned by the recent international March for Science that happened this past April.             CommentsCommentsRelated StoriesWhen Science Advocates Say “(Expletive) Religion”Wonder Woman Depicts the Need for Christian Tr...

AI hype has come and gone in the past. Why is back on the spotlight now? I will answer this question by describing the three main trends that are driving the AI revolution. The post Why Is Artificial Intelligence All Over The News Lately? appeared...

Top innovator, creative thinker & global strategist, John Nosta interviews The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek on God, Christian Transhumanism & AI for Psychology Today. Read the article HERE.           Related StoriesČeská Pozice – Robot a je...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Ursula K. Le Gui...

In previous blogs, I often used the phrase “AI for human flourishing.” In this blog, I want to explore what human flourishing is. What is Human Flourishing? I learned of this concept still in seminary when taking classes on ethics, mission and min...

Very rarely do the words sex and theology appear in the same blog title. Yet, here we are. Sexbots: The Final Step in Human Machine Relationships In a previous blog I discussed how Intelligent Agents could eventually develop romantic relationships...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Chimamanda Ngozi...

– The spirit is willing but the flesh is week. My name’s Mark, this is May 6th, with thesingularity.com. Just got done working out, and I was thinking about the idea of what computers are doing. Ray Kurzweil talking about the age of spiritual mach...

Right now we are seeing the rudimentary functionality of the gospel of Christ move through the net.    The job of bringing people good news is done manually.  One day, Artificial Intelligence will do this work for us. One day I believe technology ...

In my previous blog, I discussed how algorithmic matchmaking was changing how people choose their spouse. In this blog, I want to explore how AI is actually displacing human relationships. While the first example shows some evidence of improving t...

Agah Bahari talks with The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek about the Christian Transhumanist Association on The Neohuman Podcast. Hear the full interview HERE           Related StoriesČeská Pozice – Robot a jeho pán aneb Může mít umělá inteligence vla...

  In a previous post, I mentioned that AI was changing relationships. In this multi-part blog, I want to delve further on this topic to describe how AI is changing marriages. I will focus on algorithmic matchmaking which is present in dating sites...

I want to say that it has been an honor serving as the Board Chair of the CTA for the past 3 years. This is an organization admittedly still in its infancy, and it rightly means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But its creat...

Writing for The Guardian, Meghan O'Gieblyn, chronicles her personal journey and features a cameo appearance of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek. She writes "After losing her faith, a former evangelical Christian felt adrift in the world. She then fo...

I’ve heard it over and over again, when people are considering some new capabilities or technological power: “This is just a repeat of the Serpent’s lie, You shall be like God!” The reference is to Genesis, where the Serpent tempts Eve by prom...

Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. My name is Mark. Today is April 28th, and this is an encouraging word for you about your identity, and who you are. So I just got done working out, and I was thinking about that verse, Romans 12:2,...

This is SOOO neat!

I just read a great article (below): Ghost in the Cloud Transhumanism’s simulation theology,  by MEGHAN O’GIEBLYN that was published on N+1. _________________ “I DO PLAN TO BRING BACK MY FATHER,” Ray Kurzweil says. He is standing in the anemic lig...

Matthew 11:4-6  Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed...

Here…   You want to see where God is moving?    Just watch this. Here is where we are going…

<img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZAr3OUzDrE/WOvC8sl51oI/AAAAAAAB_Ac/az4vXhfbw9w5WxJrDh_ZDkf7WPDXQSVzgCLcB/s1600/lincoln-cannon-mta-2017.jpg" /><br /><br />At the 2017 Conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Associa...

<img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7rhHvnkz0mk/WORiLtkuz1I/AAAAAAAB--4/97O4Hry52BQiAfXpbwARmysGvsG8uYdwwCLcB/s1600/religions-of-the-future.jpg" /><br /><br />In 2007 and 2008, I gave a few presentations in the virtua...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Andrea Rock</...

What’s up guys, this is Mark with the singularity.com, and I’ve just been thinking about perspective and computers and God and, man, I’m just excited. I saw Eric Schmidt’s, his comments on artificial intelligence. As a Christian, I’m very excited ...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Eduardo Galeano&...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Ursula K. Le Gui...

<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Somewhere along the line, I learned that racism was over...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Hope Mirless<...

<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-3 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="field-label">Author: </span>Lucius Shepard&l...

<img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vb90Qp__6oo/WNDH8Vn6bGI/AAAAAAAB-8o/NyXCgKrcA94NJ5trwVCUY1_RZqMs6GcyACLcB/s1600/lds-evolution.jpg" /><br /><br />The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the la...

Reading scripture is meant to be hard. I don’t mean that it has to be tedious or boring or anger-inducing or something like that. I mean that the meaning is not just floating on the surface, waiting to be scooped off like so much pond scum. No, th...

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L_1e5vPutYA/WMQ54cIr0aI/AAAAAAAB-2s/Vyw33_OFaScLtrtHc21MySyfvyJfM1tswCLcB/s1600/caravaggio-conversion-paul-unseen.jpg" /><br /><br />I envision the role of Mormon Transhumanism in c...

If you could flip a switch and experience more pleasure than you have ever felt in your entire life—would you do it? What if that switch also made you feel incredibly happy and joyful? What if it made you feel contented and successful and accompl...

I’ve recently been rediscovering how truly audacious the biblical vision for humanity is. According to even a cursory reading of the scriptures, humanity is made in the image of God, given charge of the entire world, and called to participate with...

The other day I saw The Lego Batman Movie, a great addition to both the Batman movie franchise, and the Lego movie franchise. It had action, adventure, drama, romance—and more cameos from familiar good guys, bad guys, and ambiguous guys than you c...

I’ve spent my entire life wondering what I would do at certain junctures in history. Would I have followed Jesus—or stood with the Pharisees? Would I have worked against slavery—or argued that it was a necessary evil? Would I have opposed the Nazi...

Johnathan Merritt, writing for The Atlantic, highlights to the work of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as Merritt wrestles with issues surrounding AI and Christianity. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pasto...

Here is what I believe is happening in the world. Accelerating technological change has unleashed an era of unprecedented prosperity, freedom, and opportunity. The necessity of extreme poverty is vanishing in the rear view mirror, the incidence ...

I am a Christian, and part of what that means is that I am an heir of an incredibly dense and comprehensive cultural tradition. I would call it a maximal cultural tradition, as it has produced art, music, literature, language, buildings, societies...

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XjtCA35qNNA/WIvI1QC0B2I/AAAAAAAB9Dc/8euFyrNNlvoZejHirhq4pwHuZUPsmD69QCLcB/s1600/simulated-earth.jpg" /><br /><br />"<a href="https://www.lds.org/music/library/hymns/if-you-could-...

Carli Velocci, of Gizmodo, points to the work of The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as she explores various uses of VR in the modern context. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pastor Who Found God in Technology...

Nicholas Korody, writing for the Architect, quotes The Rev. Dr. Christopher Benek as he investigates what VR will mean for the future of Religion. Read the full story HERE.           Related StoriesPsychology Today – The Pastor Who Found God in T...

In the last few years, a number of different organizations have launched projects to end aging and radically extend human longevity. Google’s Calico Labs is perhaps the most well-known effort, followed by Aubrey De Grey’s SENS foundation—but many ...

Christianity is the assertion that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Of course, when we talk about love, all kinds of ideas come to mind, from romance to hippies to powerful feelings about ice cream. (And by the way, if you don’t ...

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pJH45OaOnYg/WHGGwHvmNyI/AAAAAAAB8tA/j53j04vMyC8-42T5Qxt-zRtH1ZOH5DWvwCLcB/s1600/little-lincoln-byu-dorm.jpg" /><br /><br />Implicitly, I’ve been a <a href="http://lincoln.metacan...

This Fall I taught a Bible class at my local church, along with Kyle Creamer, Nate Underwood, Emily Stutzman Jones (Lipscomb’s Director of Sustainability), Rob Touchstone (founder of the Well Coffeehouse), Tim Catchim (creator of OneLife Ministrie...

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gh9zABU0gRo/WF7kAUZNO1I/AAAAAAAB8kI/ee-kEPg9r9Mid0feRqcj4mVESWuvViPTwCLcB/s1600/girls-consoling-scripture.jpg" /><br /><br />Jesus has many titles and corresponding roles, most nota...

At the beginning of last year, I inadvertently found myself listening to an interview with self-help guru Tony Robbins. That interview made me curious, and pretty soon I had listened to several interviews, a 20-hour full-length audiobook, and a co...

In the movie Elysium, some people live in a paradise city in the sky, while…(can you guess the next part?)…some people live in a hell on earth. I bet you could have guessed the second part even if I hadn’t told you. Why? Because you know this sto...

In the ancient world, leprosy was incredibly unclean—if you had it, you were not simply unhealthy, you were cast out of society. For you to touch anyone was to risk contaminating them. You had to live on the outskirts of town, shouting “unclean! u...

<img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaRLHyBePlQ/WDuPB8NTixI/AAAAAAAB77k/5K-NfM8GZEYcakoXndoetjRKWz0lKRDaQCLcB/s1600/christian.jpg" /><br /><br />The Bible teaches Christian Transhumanism. Or, in other words, as presen...

<img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HtEeXW1U9PY/WBQdGNJd2UI/AAAAAAAB7ow/ZyqPQX1C_jkvSAZyrI60aCvKvKLaZCsLgCLcB/s1600/marionette.jpg" /><br /><br />Spencer, my oldest son, recently completed training to be a missionary ...

<img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DCcYTTIW2X8/WAUGfyn7-CI/AAAAAAAB7jU/dHGVFwPqz780VwKN4-39o57yJpVslxeaQCLcB/s1600/timothy-killian.jpg" /><br /><br />Timothy Killian authored a critique of the <a href="https://new...

Back in March, I had the privilege of speaking at a TEDx event in the Cayman Islands. My topic? We all live in the developing world. The idea is simple. When we say “the developed world”, it suggests that our society is already finished—that ...

We often encounter new things in very different ways. Sometimes, new things are terrifying—even demonic. Sometimes, new things are freedom. Talking to Emily the other day, I was struck by how quickly we can switch between these responses. I remem...

I have often thought about the way we define ‘death’. When is someone actually dead? At one point in time, we defined death as the point when someone’s heart stopped beating. Now, we define death as the cessation of brain activity. But even “...

This is part of a series on a Minimum Viable Theology. The idea is to see if we can construct a minimal theological starter kit, using only reasonable assumptions. The first entry is about why good wins. You should start there. The Theistic Premi...

One of the reasons that science has been widely regarded as an atheistic enterprise over the years, is that for quite a while now, it has preached a future of relentless annihilation. Ever since the laws of thermodynamics were formulated, the out...

For quite a while now, I’ve been suffering through something I might call abstraction angst. It’s hard to describe to those who haven’t experienced it, but you might get a little of the flavor if you imagine working at a bank, handling thousands a...

If you, like me, grew up in a “Bible-believing church”, one thing that might have been discussed is the question of what role women could play in church services. You might have been told, for example, that the Bible clearly teaches women to be si...

When I was 12, I began to wonder whether I was becoming an atheist. I couldn’t tell, of course, because while I knew I was exploring things that had turned other people into atheists, I didn’t know whether they inevitably led people into atheism, ...

A few months ago, I gave a talk entitled “The Infinite Resurrection” at the annual conference of the Mormon Transhumanist Association. The MTA are always great hosts, and I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and talk with many of the other speakers. ...

The other day, I explored the story of Genesis, and its perplexing account of the corruption of mankind through the knowledge of good and evil. I tried to unpack some of the overlooked dynamics of the story, to get at what it is telling us about h...

The other day I posted a hypothesis I was working on, and stirred up some wide-ranging discussion on Twitter. After a while, this kind of thing becomes difficult to squeeze into 140-character chunks, so I thought I would unpack my thinking a bit m...

After 2 years, and 3 rounds of peer review, my landmark global Delphi for 2030 has been published. See the URL link to: Gary, J. E., & von der Gracht, H. A. (2015, August). The future of foresight professionals: Results from a global Delphi s...

I will teach a one-day master course at the World Future Society this summer to precede their annual conference. I am calling it the Foresight Educator's BootCamp.

Recently I was asked me to develop a course that anyone could take on "how to think like a futurist." What emerged was a 16-week elective, A&S 392: Contemporary Futurist Thought: From H.G. Wells to Ray Kurzweil.

Religious imagination first re-framed our quest toward tomorrow. Can it still move us in the twenty-first century to recreate our worlds?

Thank you for visiting JayGary.com. I created this site to help you reframe your future based on my latest papers, workshops, consulting, and features.

Forty years ago, America was gripped by Future Shock, so claimed Alvin Toffler. Are we seeing the eclipse of Future Shock as a younger, more adaptable workforce comes into its own?  Future Shock was a book released in 1970, but it was also an idea...

In the fall of 2011 I conducted a Real-time Delphi survey with members of Empowered21, entitled: "Outlook 2020: The future of Spirit-empowered Christianity."

Based on more than a decade of management consulting, in 2003 I formed PeakFutures as a firm to offer foresight training, research and assessments for teams and organizations.

This paper views Sardar’s postnormal times as embryonic, and extends it using ecosystems theory. To develop Sardar's concept as a macrohistory, Holling's adaptive cycle and panarchical systems are proposed as mechanisms of change that create postn...

What has occupied your executive team’s attention the past three years? Chances are you have been restructuring departments or reengineering core programs for immediate gain, rather than regenerating your strategies or reinventing your organizatio...