Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T14:21:31.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Simulating Religion

from Part III - Religious Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2024

By
F. LeRon Shults  and
Wesley J. Wildman
Edited by
Beth Singler  and
Fraser Watts
Beth Singler
Affiliation:
Universität Zürich
Fraser Watts
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Get access

Summary

Simulating religion through computer modelling can demonstrate how fragmentary theories relate, untangle individual lines of causal influence, identify the relative importance of causal factors and enable experimentation that would never be possible (or ethical) in the real world. This chapter reviews the application of computational modelling and simulation to religion, presents findings from specific simulation studies and discusses some of the philosophical issues raised by this type of research. Social simulations are artificial complex systems that we can use to study real-world complex systems. The best of these simulation models are carefully validated in relation to real-world data. Multilevel validation justifies confidence that the causal architecture of the simulation reflects real-world causal processes, thereby delivering an invaluable proxy system into the hands of researchers who study religion.

Keywords

social simulationmulti-agent AIreligionethicscomplex systemsartificial societies
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Religion and Artificial Intelligence , pp. 241 - 256
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bainbridge, William Sims. 2006. God from the Machine: Artificial Intelligence Models of Religious Cognition. AltaMira Press.Google Scholar
Diallo, Saikou Y., Shults, F. LeRon and Wildman, Wesley J. 2021. “Minding Morality: Ethical Artificial Societies for Public Policy Modeling.” AI & Society 36(1), 49–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diallo, Saikou et al., eds. 2019. Human Simulation: Perspectives, Insights, and Applications. Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gore, Ross et al. 2018. “Forecasting Changes in Religiosity and Existential Security with an Agent-Based Model.” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 21, 1–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaše, Vojtěch, Hampejs, Tomáš and Pospíšil, Zdeněk. 2018. “Modeling Cultural Transmission of Rituals in Silico: The Advantages and Pitfalls of Agent-Based vs. System Dynamics Models.” Journal of Cognition and Culture 18(5), 483–507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, Justin E. 2021. Understanding Religion through Artificial Intelligence: Bonding and Belief. Bloomsbury Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nielbo, Kristoffer L., Braxton, Donald M. and Upa, Afzal. 2012. “Computing Religion: A New Tool in the Multilevel Analysis of Religion.” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 24(3), 267–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shults, F. LeRon et al. 2018a. “A Generative Model of the Mutual Escalation of Anxiety between Religious Groups” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 21(4). www.jasss.org/21/4/7.html.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shults, F. LeRon et al. 2018b. “Modeling Terror Management Theory: Computer Simulations of the Impact of Mortality Salience on Religiosity.” Religion, Brain & Behavior 8(1), 77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shults, F. LeRon et al. 2018c. “Multiple Axialities: A Computational Model of the Axial Age.” Journal of Cognition and Culture 18(4), 537–564.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shults, F. LeRon and Wildman, Wesley J. 2018. “Simulating Religious Entanglement and Social Investment in the Neolithic.” In Religion, History and Place in the Origin of Settled Life, ed. Hodder, Ian. University of Colorado Press.Google Scholar
Upal, Muhammad Afzal. 2005. “Simulating the Emergence of New Religious Movements.” Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 8(1). https://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/8/1/6.html.Google Scholar
Wildman, Wesley J. and Shults, F. LeRon. 2018. “Emergence: What Does It Mean and How Is It Relevant to Computer Engineering?.” In Emergent Behavior in Complex Systems Engineering: A Modeling and Simulation Approach, ed. Mittal, Saurabh, Diallo, Saikou and Tolk., Andreas John Wiley & Sons.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wildman, Wesley J. et al. 2020. “Post-Supernatural Cultures: There and Back Again.” Secularism and Nonreligion 9. https://doi.org/10.5334/snr.121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Connor and Sosis, Richard. 2019. “Simulating Religions as Adaptive Systems.” In Human Simulation: Perspectives, Insights, and Applications. Springer.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×