In this section:

About|Details|What our students say|Tutor(s)|Related short courses

Home Short Courses Theology, Imagination & Culture Robot Souls?

Robot Souls? course

Can we program soul into robots, and should we?

Two of the biggest design problems in AI are how to build robots that behave in line with human values, and how to stop them ever going rogue. One solution to these problems is to take a closer look at how these are already addressed in the design of humans.

Looking closely at the human blueprint, it contains a suite of capacities that are so clumsy they have generally been kept away from AI.

It was assumed that robots with features like emotions and intuition, that made mistakes and looked for meaning and purpose, would not work as well as robots without this kind of code. But on considering why all these irrational properties are there, it seems that they emerge from the source code of soul. Because it is actually this ‘junk’ code that makes us human and promotes the kind of reciprocal altruism that keeps humanity alive and thriving.

This course will introduce this idea of ‘junk code’ and invite participants to reflect on what they think of AI. It will provide an opportunity to demystify what is being portrayed as a very alarming phenomenon, and to think hard about our own design. There will be time for discussion on what might make humans distinctive enough to deserve to prevail, even as the capacities of AI cast into question many of the ways in which we see ourselves as having a privileged place in the world.

About the Tutor
Dr Eve Poole OBE is interim Chief Executive of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. She has written several books, including Robot Souls and Leadersmithing, which was Highly Commended in the 2018 Business Book Awards. She holds a BA from Durham, an MBA from Edinburgh, and a PhD in theology and capitalism from Cambridge.

For 15 years she taught leadership at Ashridge Business School, pioneering a new approach to the neurobiological development of leaders. Before Ashridge, she worked for the Church Commissioners and for Deloitte Consulting, where she specialised in change management for the Financial Services sector. She was Interim CEO of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022, Third Church Estates Commissioner from 2018-2021, and the first female Chairman of Gordonstoun from 2015-2021. She is a regular contributor to Thought for the Day on BBC Radio Scotland. You can follow her on twitter @evepoole and at http://evepoole.com/

Details

Dates & Times

29 Apr 2024

Expired!

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Tutor(s)

Dr Eve Poole OBE

Course code

2442

Other Notes

This is an online course to be delivered via Zoom.

Free places are set aside for those eligible for Salisbury CMD.

What our students say

PhD Research Programmes

Visual Artist Claire Reed

The complex and sometimes fractious relationship between contemporary art and religion has intrigued me throughout my art career, informing my direction as an artist. It has led me to work in sacred spaces with their immediate and wider communities, to study an MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture at Sarum College, and recently to become artist–researcher at Leo Baeck College of Jewish scholarship and learning.

My aim is to examine the extent to which this creative approach might generate fruitful inter-religious theological insights within a Jewish and Christian ministry training context.

Sarum College combines an open-minded embrace of the imagination and the arts with a supportive, questioning and diverse community. Crucially for me, the Sarum-Winchester PhD programme is one of the very few UK university programmes to offer a hybrid thesis in art and theology in which the creative process and resulting art output along with a written critical component are presented for examination.

This PhD research is a key part of my development as an artist engaged with theology and inter-religious dialogue.

Read full article

Stimulating and Challenging

What is Successful Ageing? led by James Woodward

I enjoyed the course immensely from beginning to end – the seamless interweaving of knowledge, ideas and research and the linking with belief and faith.

The content was stimulating, challenging, thought provoking and I was greatly appreciative of the contributions and questions from other participants, your considered and sensitive responses and integration with your presentations.

Thank you!

Netflix, Theology and Pastoral Practice

Peter Butchers on his MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture student experience

How do cultural tropes, like those found in Black Mirror, help bridge the gap between what academic theology espouses and what the everyday Christian believes? In his research as a student on the MA in Theology, Imagination and Culture, Peter Butchers explored platonic philosophy, digital theology and eschatology, and pastoral practice around death and dying.

Rewarding Sabbatical Stay

The Revd Greg Syler, is Rector of Ascension & St. George’s, Resurrection Parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC USA, spent part of his ministry sabbatical at Sarum College in spring 2022.

His account of the experience begins: ‘I loved spending nearly three weeks of my ministry sabbatical at Sarum College earlier this year.

Not only did I rest, and rest well in the comfortable care of the Sarum College staff, I experienced very significant renewal and fresh insights.’

The Road Not Taken

Sarum Graduate Mike Truman

January 2022

Five years ago, I told my Warden of Readers that I would not be renewing my licence when it expired in 2019, as I thought my faith was becoming too unorthodox for a Church of England licensed lay minister. As someone who knew me well, she challenged me to actively explore what I did still believe. Thus started the journey that ended last August with the dissertation completing my MA in Theology Imagination and Culture (MATIC) at Sarum College.

Clergy Study Breaks

The opportunity for clergy to get away occasionally from their own context, to have an overnight stay in the beautiful setting of Sarum College and all that the Salisbury Cathedral Close offers is hugely valuable. All the clergy I have suggested who have spent 24hrs at Sarum College have benefit greatly from the experienced mentoring where they can talk, reflect, think, plan and pray.

The support and encouragement they receive is excellent and has a positive on their on going ministry. This is something the Diocese of Rochester encourages and supports financially in preparation for their clergy preparing for Extended Ministerial Development Leave (Sabbatical).

— Canon Christopher Dench, Diocese of Rochester Director of Formation and Ministry

Retreats and Private Stays

When I arrived, exhausted and sensitive, I was grateful not to be asked by Reception were I came from, whether I had had a good journey etc. That was the kind of hospitality I needed: a non-intrusive welcome that was found in ancient cultures and still survives in some societies today, where the host asks questions about a stranger and his journey only when the visitor has rested and been given food and drink.

— guest on a private stay

Biblical Study Breaks

I just found it very refreshing – as a leader of a church I don’t get as many opportunities to step out and do courses (my fault, not the church!) and so I loved it. I think it was run really well online – which is a difficult medium to work with.

Pádraig Ó Tuama (pictured) was outstanding in his balance of getting us to engage and sharing his learning. Also the quick availability of resources provided by Sarum College Librarian Jayne Downey was excellent.

— course participant, Story Theology: Narrative Approaches to Scripture

Tutor(s)

Dr Eve Poole OBE

Visiting Scholar in Human Flourishing

View all courses

Robot Souls?

Robot Souls? course