AI and the Meaning of Life: The psychological, philosophical, cultural and religious implications of being thrust into an AI-saturated world
12 October 2026
AI and the Meaning of Life: The psychological, philosophical, cultural and religious implications of being thrust into an AI-saturated world
Dr Paul Duignan, Clinical and Strategy Psychologist, Author of Surfing AI.
[Please note that this is a more advanced presentation on the implications of AI that I would like to pilot with your group. It would be good if, before my presentation, you have the chance to listen to my recent lecture, Surfing AI Shock: How to prepare yourself psychologically to engage with the rapidly unfolding AI convulsion: https://paulduignan.consulting/presentationaugust2026. This video is below.
Also, if you have time, you could have a look through my recent book, Surfing AI: 30 New Concepts for Getting Your Head Around AI Shock. The full text is available at https://paulduignan.consulting/surfingai. The link to the book is below.
You can also follow my recent AI work by subscribing to my newsletter, which will be delivered to your email inbox: https://drpaulduignan.substack.com]
Regardless of whether we want to or not, we are now being thrust at breakneck speed into a fully AI-saturated world. This is not something that is going to roll out over the next decade or two. Rather, within the next couple of years, the existential question of what it means to be human in the world—a question people have faced in various ways over the centuries—is going to need to be rethought.
The most appropriate analogy is to imagine that an extraterrestrial species has just arrived on Earth. They are more intelligent than us and will become more powerful than us as they are rapidly embodied through robotics. What should we make of this? In what way does it call into question concepts of human identity and worth based on the belief that, up until now, we have been the most intelligent species on Earth?
What are the psychological implications of having to relate to this new species? What are the religious and theological implications of a world filled with AI entities for those who believe that humans are made in the image of God? In what image have AI entities been made? What does it mean for humans to be the creators of AI while knowing that this very creation may end up replacing them?
This presentation will discuss these and other implications of finding ourselves living in the age of AI shock.
