Chatbots of the gods

Abstract

This paper reflects on the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) with techno-spirituality and science fiction (SF). The paper considers science fiction treatments of spirituality, religion and "the numinous" --- a mysterious presence that evokes fascination, awe and sometimes dread --- as stimulus for exploring techno-spiritual design through "imaginary abstracts", a form of design fiction. It presents an imaginary abstract --- a summary of a paper that has not been written about a prototype that does not exist [6] --- to explore possible user reactions to an artificial intelligence system that provides spiritual advice drawn from diverse sacred texts as relevant to the user's question. The paper argues that SF is a valuable resource for creating design fiction and may help HCI build a vocabulary for techno-spiritual experiences.