Nature & Nurture #152: Dr. Webb Keane - Technology, Morality, & Narrative
Description
Dr. Webb Keane is the George Herbert Mead Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is an expert in the anthropology of religion and ethics; semiotics and language; material culture; gifts, commodities, and money; and media. He is the author of Animals, Robots, Gods: Adventures in the Moral Imagination.
In this episode we discuss Webb’s central argument that ethical dilemmas posed by interactions with non-humans and near-humans, including animals and AI, share common themes reflected in narrative and mythology cross-culturally. We discuss these findings in relation to cultural anthropology, evolutionary psychology, AI and large language models, and video games.
00:23 Exploring the Book's Themes
01:04 AI and Moral Imagination
04:51 Religious Language and AI
08:29 Human-AI Interaction
17:32 Moral Dimensions of Hunting
22:01 Animal Emotions and Morality
31:10 AI as a Moral Entity
34:45 The Fear of AI and Human Intentions
35:38 The Moral Implications of AI Decisions
38:34 Ethics and Social Interaction
41:04 Language and Perception
47:19 Cultural Differences in Language
52:48 The Intersection of Technology and Identity
59:46 Mythology and Technology in Popular Culture
United States
