Scott Midson

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Scott Midson is an emerging scholar working at the intersection of theology, technology, and posthumanism, with a particular focus on how religious thought engages with artificial intelligence and robotics. His research explores the profound philosophical and spiritual questions that arise when humanity creates increasingly sophisticated non-human entities, examining how these figures challenge traditional religious categories and practices. In his 2018 paper "Robo-Theisms and Robot Theists," Midson investigates the tendency to ascribe godlike qualities to posthuman figures such as robots and artificial intelligences, analyzing how notions of perfection and transcendence traditionally associated with the divine are mapped onto technological creations. Building on this foundation, his 2022 work "Posthuman Priests" examines real-world cases such as the BlessU-2 robot priest to interrogate how robots might mediate and represent religious rituals and teachings. Though still accumulating citations — with his foundational work garnering six citations — Midson's scholarship opens genuinely novel conversations between religious studies and technology ethics. His work is particularly valuable for students and researchers navigating questions about what it means to be human in an age of rapidly advancing artificial intelligence.