Robert Geraci

Meet Professor Geraci

Years at Knox: 2024 to present

I study religion, science, and technology with particular reference to digital technologies. My research methods draw from around the intellectual spectrum and around the world. I’ve lived in India, collaborate in Korea, and study the world of science and technology with a lens grounded in religious thought and practice. While I’ve ranged from handloom weaving to laboratory science, most of my research has to do with artificial intelligence. I’ve been reflecting on the religious narratives told by AI researchers for more than two decades.

I enjoy gardening, hiking, and kayaking. I came to Knox after a long teaching/research career in New York City, where I also moonlighted as a folk hero—once defeating a cabal of evil archmages and once wrestling the Hudson River Hydra into submission and extracting a promise of goodwill from it.

Education

Ph.D., Religious Studies, University of California—Santa Barbara
M.A., Religious Studies, University of California—Santa Barbara
B.A., Plan II Honors in Liberal Arts, University of Texas—Austin

Teaching Interests

Religion and Culture (especially science and technology); South Asian Religions; Methods

Personal Website

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants 

Fellow, International Society for Science and Religion

Finalist, A Social Contract for the 21st Century Prize, Rousseau Institute (2023)

American Academy of Religion Collaborative Research Grant (2023)—“Cross-cultural Religious Values and the Development of Ethical AI”

Collaborating scholar: "Critical Studies on the Issues of Artificial Moral Agents (AMA) and the Role of a Faith Community" (2022-24), "A Contribution of Korean Cultural Theology for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for Human Capability” (2022), and “Marginalization and Transcendence in Minjung Theology and Transhumanism” (2020-21); PI Yong Sup Song; Republic of Korea, National Research Foundation

Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award—Research (2018-19): “Crafting Culture: Community, Religion, and Handcraft Technologies”—National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India.

American Academy of Religion Collaborative Research Grant (2016)—“Ayudha Puja in Academia and Industry”

Fulbright-Nehru Academic & Professional Excellence Award—Research (2012-13): “Technically Religious: The Role of Religion in Indian Robotics and Artificial Intelligence”—Indian Institute for Science, Bangalore, India

National Science Foundation, EAGER #1144028 (2011-2014)—study of player experiences in virtual worlds and videogames (value $105,518); “Virtually Meaningful: The Power and Presence of Meaning in Virtual Worlds”

International Society for Science and Religion Library Project Grant (2011)

Publications (books)

Forth. (editor) Edward Elgar Handbook of Religion and Artificial Intelligence.

2022. Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the United States. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

2018. Temples of Modernity: Nationalism, Hinduism, and Transhumanism in South Indian Science. Lanham, MD: Lexington.

2014. Virtually Sacred: Myth and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life. New York: Oxford University Press.

2010. Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality. New York: Oxford University Press.

Publications (some favorite essays)

Forth. (with Yong Sup Song) “Cultural Theology & Social Robotics: The Intersection of Religion and Science in Ethical AI.” Religion.

2024. (with Stephen Kaplan) “Hinduism and AI.” In The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Artificial Intelligence, edited by Fraser Watts and Beth Singler. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 33-49.

2024. “Religion among Robots: An If/When of Future Machine Intelligence.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 59(2). doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.10860

2019. “Religious Ritual in Scientific Spaces: Festival Participation and the Integration of Outsiders.” Science, Technology & Human Values 44(6): 965-993.

2018. “Saffron Glasses: Indian Nationalism and the Enchantment of Technology.” Religion and Technology in India: Spaces, Practices and Authorities (eds. Knut Jacobsen and Kristina Myrvold). Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 25-42.

2016. (with Nat Recine and Samantha Fox) “Grotesque Gaming: The Monstrous in Online Worlds.” Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural 5(2): 213-236.

2014. (with Nat Recine). “Enlightening the Galaxy: How Players Experience Political Philosophy in Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Games and Culture 9(4): 255-276.

2013. (with Jovi L. Geraci). “Virtual Gender: How Men and Women Use Videogame Bodies.” Journal of Gaming and Virtual Worlds 5(3): 329-348.

2008. “Apocalyptic AI: Religion and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 76(1): 138-166.

2006. “Spiritual Robots: Religion and Our Scientific View of the Natural World.” Theology and Science 4(3): 229-246.