Can Alexa tackle the meaning of life?

Advances in machine learning A.I. have brought vast changes to our society. Smart tech can help scientists and engineers sift through vast amounts of data. Students can access books and classes around the world. And anyone with a smartphone can find their way almost anywhere in the world. Technology influences everything from policing to politics. But how does the tech sector view their influential role? What ethics and standards are in place in a predominantly secular industry whose belief system will impact the way A.I. and tech operates?

KCRW’s Jonathan Bastian talks with Linda Kinstler, writer and Ph.D candidate in the Rhetoric Department at U.C Berkeley about her recent New York Times article “Can Silicon Valley Find God?.” What are the challenges for the tech industry when it comes to answering deeper questions on faith, humanity, and the meaning of life? We also hear from Dr. Beth Singler, who traces how religion is being reformed, remade, and reshaped by new religious movements and explains why artificial intelligence fits into the “god space.”