Is Knight Distinguished Chair for the Study of Religion & Culture at Knox College. He is the author of Futureproofing Humanity: Existential Risk and the Technomyths of Human Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Our Future in Space (indie 2026), 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), and Futures of Artificial Intelligence: Perspectives from India and the U.S. (Oxford 2022). 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 hiking, kayaking, and Dungeons & Dragons.
