Apocalyptic AI and the Stories Technology Tells with Robert Geraci

In this episode of Hunger for Wholeness, Ilia Delio speaks with scholar Robert Geraci about apocalyptic AI, robotics, transhumanist hope, and the religious stories embedded in technological imagination. Geraci traces how his study of robotics led him to notice strikingly religious themes in the writings of engineers and futurists: immortality, resurrection, salvation, and the future transformation of humanity.Together, Ilia and Robert explore the mid-20th-century roots of computer intelligence, the shadow of world war, and the deep eschatological hopes and fears that shaped early conversations about machines, minds, and human destiny. They consider how figures such as Hans Moravec, Ray Kurzweil, J. B. S. Haldane, Julian Huxley, Norbert Wiener, and Alan Turing reveal the religious imagination at work within technological culture.Later in the episode, the conversation turns toward technology, ecology, and responsibility. Rather than treating technology as the enemy, Ilia and Robert ask how human beings might reclaim the deeper narratives, values, and forms of belonging needed to guide technological development toward the flourishing of the whole Earth community.ABOUT ROBERT GERACIRobert M Geraci is the Knight Distinguished Chair for the Study of Religion & Culture at Knox College. His research explores religion, science and technology in the contemporary world. He is the author of Apocalyptic AI: Visions of Heaven in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual Reality (Oxford 2010), Virtually Sacred: Myths and Meaning in World of Warcraft and Second Life (Oxford 2014), Temples of Modernity: Nationalism, Hinduism, and Transhumanism in South Indian Science (Lexington 2018), Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. (Oxford 2022), and Futureproofing Humanity: Existential Risk and the Technomyths of Human Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Our Future among the Stars (self 2026). He has been a visiting researcher at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, the Indian Institute of Science and the National Institute for Advanced Studies in Bangalore, India. His research has been supported by the US National Science Foundation, the Republic of Korea National Research Foundation, the American Academy of Religion and two Fulbright-Nehru research awards. He enjoys kayaking, hiking, videogames, and Dungeons & Dragons but doesn’t really have time for any of it. Join us for the Center’s 10th Anniversary Conference, November 9–11 in Villanova, Pennsylvania, with a virtual option available. In a time of deep political, social, ecological, and spiritual division, this gathering explores how love can become a compass for transformation. Learn more and register at christogenesis.org/conference. We are currently in the midst of our summer fundraiser, From Fear to Hope: Change and the Perpetual Growth of Life. As the Center marks its tenth anniversary, your support sustains our conferences, webinars, publications, and emerging global learning platform. Please consider making a generous contribution at christogenesis.org/donate.Support the showA huge thank you to all of you who subscribe and support our show! Support for A Hunger for Wholeness comes from the Fetzer Institute. Fetzer supports a movement of organizations who are applying spiritual solutions to society's toughest problems. Get involved at fetzer.org.Visit the Center for Christogenesis' website at christogenesis.org/podcast to browse all Hunger for Wholeness episodes and read more from Ilia Delio.  Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for episode releases and other updates.