Do robots have souls? Sylvester A. Johnson may have the answer; Do Robots Have Souls? is the tentative title of the book he’s currently working on, exploring the concept of being human in an age of intelligent machines.
At Virginia Tech, Johnson is the associate vice provost for public interest technology and executive director of the Tech for Humanity initiative advancing human-centered approaches to technology at the university. He’ll be speaking at 2 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy, continuing the Week Two Interfaith Lecture Series discussion on “Religion’s Intersections: Interdisciplinary Imagination with Science, Technology and AI.”
Johnson is the founding director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Humanities, which supports work across disciplines in arts, humanities, and social sciences.
His research has examined religion, race and empire in the Atlantic world; religion and sexuality; national security practices; and the impact of intelligent machines and human enhancement on human identity and race.
A professor in the Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, Sylvester is the author of — in addition to the forthcoming Do Robots Have Souls? — The Myth of Ham in Nineteenth-Century American Christianity, a study of race and religious hatred that won the American Academy of Religion’s Best First Book award; and African American Religions, 1500-2000, an award-winning interpretation of five centuries of democracy, colonialism, and freedom in the Atlantic world. Johnson has also co-edited The FBI and Religion: Faith and National Security Before and After 9/11 and Religion and US Empire.
He currently leads Future Humans, Human Futures at Virginia Tech, a series of research institutes and symposia funded by the Henry Luce foundation that focus on technology, ethics and religion. He is also directing the creation of new curriculum, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to prepare future talent at the intersection of humanities, social justice and technology.
