Another Case of Déjà Vu: The Sacrifice of Conscience to Monsters

Dr. Neville Rochow KC is an Australian barrister, associate professor (adjunct) at the University of Adelaide Law School, and a member of Elliot Johnston Chambers in Adelaide. The post is a part the Sacralization of AI series.

Introduction

The possession of a conscience is a fulcrum of the human rights project. The defining characteristic of humankind is the possession of conscience. Variously described, and difficult to define [1], conscience is essential to our capacity to make moral judgments. As Douglas Langston described “conscience,” it is “as a judging and punishing faculty” or an “internal judge” [2]. Summarizing the thought of Immanuel Kant and Sigmund Freud on the subject, conscience can be regarded as “moral reasoning, a personal monitor, emotive reasoning” [3]. Morality is not and cannot be mechanical [4]. Despite this, we seem willing to submit to totalitarian regimes that do not rule according to conscience and that profess no moral values: the corporation, and the algorithm.

(more…)

Continue Reading Another Case of Déjà Vu: The Sacrifice of Conscience to Monsters

The Impact of Israeli Judicial Reform on Freedom of/from Religion

Moshe Jaffe is a constitutional law adjunct professor at the Academic Center of Law and Science in Israel and an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law.

Introduction

Judicial reform proposed in 2023 and promoted by the Israeli government has led to turmoil in society. While some support the reform and others oppose it, the offer of this reform has led to extensive public discourse.

One concern of reform opponents is that the reform will turn Israel into a Halakhic (Jewish-law-based) state. This post challenges this concern and argues that the proposed judicial reform, independent of whether or not it passes, will not have a real effect on the relationship between religion and the state in Israel.

(more…)

Continue Reading The Impact of Israeli Judicial Reform on Freedom of/from Religion

AI and Commodification of Religion

Johan Eddebo is a researcher at the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society(CRS), Uppsala University. The post is a part the Sacralization of AI series.

“In the beginning was the word. Language is the operating system of human culture. From language emerges myth and law, gods and money, art and science, friendships and nations and computer code. A.I.’s new mastery of language means it can now hack and manipulate the operating system of civilization. By gaining mastery of language, A.I. is seizing the master key to civilization, from bank vaults to holy sepulchers.

What would it mean for humans to live in a world where a large percentage of stories, melodies, images, laws, policies and tools are shaped by nonhuman intelligence, which knows how to exploit with superhuman efficiency the weaknesses, biases and addictions of the human mind — while knowing how to form intimate relationships with human beings? In games like chess, no human can hope to beat a computer. What happens when the same thing occurs in art, politics or religion?”

—Yuval Harari, Tristan Harris, and Aza Raskin [1]

The words of Harari et al. above are symptomatic of contemporary technological culture’s preoccupation with spectacular AI—with the awesome and almost redemptive promises attributed to this really not-so-novel form of technology through what’s perhaps best described as a highly effective viral marketing endeavour.

(more…)

Continue Reading AI and Commodification of Religion