Artificial intelligence does more than raise technical questions; it presses the deeper question of what it means to be human. Camden Bucey speaks with Jason Thacker, author of The Age of AI: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, about human dignity, the image of God, and the crucial distinction between a human person and a machine.
They consider how Christians can receive technology as a tool under God’s providence without confusing imitation with intelligence, convenience with communion, or productivity with personal worth. The conversation also explores how technology forms its users, why embodied life and genuine relationships matter, and how transhumanism redirects the human longing for life beyond death toward technological self-salvation.
Against both utopian promises and dystopian fear, Thacker points to the sufficiency of Scripture and the hope of the risen Christ. Christians can engage emerging technologies wisely because human identity is given by the Creator, human dignity cannot be earned or erased, and Christ remains Lord over every age.
Chapters
- 00:00 Introduction
- 01:19 Jason Thacker background
- 03:24 From public policy to AI ethics
- 06:05 Teaching ethics, philosophy, and technology
- 09:53 AI’s anthropological challenge
- 12:58 What has changed since The Age of AI?
- 14:55 Humanizing machines and dehumanizing people
- 19:55 The image of God and human dignity
- 25:39 AI companionship and simulated relationships
- 28:11 How technology forms and disciples us
- 34:00 Embodiment, materialism, and personal identity
- 42:20 Transhumanism and the longing for immortality
- 48:35 Engaging Pope Leo XIV’s AI encyclical
- 53:22 Technology as ecological change
- 54:43 Scripture, Christian hope, and the future
Participants: Camden Bucey, Jason Thacker
Christ the Center focuses on Reformed Christian theology. In each episode a group of informed panelists discusses important issues in order to encourage critical thinking and a better understanding of Reformed doctrine with a view toward godly living. Browse more episodes from this program or subscribe to the podcast feed.
