intel/research

1. www.intel.com/research Research & Development at Intel

2. talking about religion is a source of discomfort in public life in America strong ideological separation of church and state Christian iconography and sentiment pervade religion is seen as intensely private held in opposition to science/rational thinking in other cultures, religion is differently incorporated into daily life, discourse and ideology

3. why should you listen to me? anthropology has a well established set of methodology and theoretical practices around locating the researcher, in relationship to and beyond her field of study 100 families across 7 countries: 3 year project examining ways in which cultural practices in urban Asia are shaping people’s relationships to new technology child of symbolic anthropologist, child of ‘mixed marriage’, kicked out of Catholic school

4. Getting to God:technology and religion in the digital age Genevieve Bell, Intel Research, February 2005

5. outline • definition of terms • why focus on religion at all? • a survey of information & communication technologies (ICTS) with religious purposes • mobile applications • internet applications • new domains and anxieties • technology and religion: what does this all mean?

6. “religion” is a culturally defined category shapes ideas about time, space and social relationships: in many cultures it is impossible to delineate between religious practices and beliefs and the larger structuring of society can be institutionalized or institutional a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive and long-lasting moods and motivations in men [sic] by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic. Clifford Geertz, Interpretations of Culture, 1973:90 Each of the great historical religions has three aspects: (1) a Church, (2) a creed, and (3) a set of personal morals. Bertrand Russell, Religion and Science, 1939: 8 As distinct from spirituality which is more individually based

7. 85% of the world is religious Christianity: 2B, Islam: 1.3B, Hinduism: 900M, Buddhism: 360M, Chinese traditional religion: 225M, indigenous: 150M, African Traditional & Diasporic: 95M Other Religions Sikhism: 23M, Juche: 19M, Spiritism: 14M, Judaism: 14M, Baha'i: 6M, Jainism: 4M, Shinto: 4M, Cao Dai: 3M, Tenrikyo: 2.4M, Neo-Paganism: 1M, Unitarian-Universalism: 800K, Rastafarianism: 700K, Scientology: 600K, Zoroastrianism: 150 850M Secular/Nonreligious/Agnostic/Atheist

8. 128 Million Americans use the internet for spiritual or religious purposes According to “Wired Churches, Wired Temples: Taking congregations and missions into cyber space”, a Pew Report (2003), 64% of wired Americans have used the internet for spiritual or religious purposes. 55% of the online faithful are women, 83% are white, 49% have college educations, 47% are between the ages of 30 and 49, and 31% live in households earning more than $75,000 Usages including sending/receiving mail with spiritual content, e-greetings cards for religious holidays, online news stories, and information about local and general religious events.

9. information and communication technologies are supporting religious and spiritual activities there is a long relationship between religious institutions and new technologies also of religious doctrines conscribing technology use (ie: Orthodox Jews, or the Amish) and many novel work-arounds GE pioneered Sabbath-mode cookers religious applications on mobile and other computing platforms are a logical next step, so why aren’t we talking about it? and what might talking about it get us?

10. mobile phones support Islam Qiblah applications: Maxis (Malaysia telecom) – uses software application and basic visual coding to orient phone to Mecca “Built-in Islamic applications” including qiblah, salat, calls to prayer, Koran … LGE produces “Mecca” handset with GPS technology –Qiblah (LG-F7100) Ilkone i800 take your mobile beliefs with you Pocket PC Phone (ADCOM Group) – EMIRATE 1

11. a range of religious content, services & applications exist for your phone Lunar almanac (Ngonli) on China Mobile Papal SMS service (Papa on/Papa off). 3 million subscribers in first 2 months. 15 cents/day/message. Now carried by most US carriers (without advertising) Catholic Church in the Netherlands has Lent SMS service (with Gospel verse every day at midday) Text to the western wall in Israel 30,000 texts in first couple of months religious ring-tones, face-plates and wall-paper Catholic hymns in the Netherlands (www.catholictunes.nl) Islamic calls to prayer

12. anxieties arise Catholic Bishops conference in the Philippines bans confession via SMS (and also fax and email) in 2003. Korean & Mexican churches have cell-site dampeners Archbishop of Salerno asks for parishioners to give up SMS for Lent National Human Rights Council (India) blames SMS for rising divorce rate in India Divorce via SMS legal in Saudi Arabia but not Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia. Malaysian authorities rule that participating in SMS lotteries and competitions constitutes gambling and is thus forbidden

13. naturalizing phones through religious practices blessing mobile phones in southern Chinese city of Guangzhou Phones augmented with jade amulets many Korean phones augmented with religious iconography cell-phone shaped coffins & caskets in Ghana a Taiwanese teleco (Okwap) is offering 2000 specially blessed phones blessed at Matsu temple, come with hologram of deity, religious ring tones and themed wall paper

14. at 10AM on February 8, 1996, three Tibetan Buddhist monks of the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, New York, blessed the internet We pray to reduce the negative things that may happen in cyberspace and to increase the positive things.... When we bless something, we are seeking to change its disposition -- to eliminate negative things that come from that particular object -- and we generate the motivation that the use of that object will be very positive and beneficial …The person using the Internet has the choice. Whether the Internet becomes material for happiness or for suffering depends on your mind.

15. an online presence for offline places web interface to the Franciscan sisters of Perpetual Adoration (Wisconsin) praying for 125 years continuously rituals go online: cyber-Seders, diwali blessings temple dedicated to Hindu deity Ganesh has website (www.siddhivinayak.org) buy religious artifacts and make acts of devotion (puja) Church of England launches ‘virtual parish’, i-church For people who travel a great deal or are unable to attend regularly, i-church can support them spiritually wherever they are in the world Catholic bishop launches virtual diocese in 1995 www.partenia.org takes its name from5th century Saharan diocese destroyed in sand storm

16. creating new sacred spaces, experiences & possibilities Chinese online ancestral worship for QingMing www.ev991.com fortune telling & soothsaying Virtual parrots in SriLanka picking cyber fortunes on paper Vatican searches for internet Patron saint Isidore of Seville front runner (as of October 2003) growing cyber-pagan movement groups/individuals using power of technology to challenge traditional power dynamics Falun Gong’s use of CDROM, digital TV

17. does religion have a place in the digital home? Or other technology futures? Mark Weiser was interested in thinking through how computers were embedded in daily life. “In particular, how were computers embedded within the complex social framework of daily activity, and how did they interplay with the rest of our densely woven physical environment (also known as the “real world”)?”Mark Weiser, Scientific America 1991 but how many digital home scenarios (or other future scenarios) embrace or support the possibility of a spiritual life?

18. rethinking the relationship between technology & religion the use of computing technologies for religious purposes challenges some basic American assumptions the kinds of work that technology does (both literally and culturally) if not about efficiency and speed, then what? how does religion fit into the post-enlightenment, late capitalist secular division of work and leisure (which technology supports and is framed by)? perhaps technology is aligned with different cultural stories/narratives attending to religion also informs other larger contexts for technology consumption: ie: privacy, security, identity, location, productivity …

19. When I have the Map, I will be free, and the world will be different, because I have understanding...of digital watches. And soon I shall have understanding of videocassette recorders and car telephones. And when I have understanding of them, I shall have understanding of computers. And when I have understanding of computers, I shall be the Supreme Being! God isn't interested in technology. He knows nothing of the potential of the microchip or the silicon revolution. Look how he spends his time! Forty-three species of parrot! Nipples for men! Slugs!! He created slugs. They can't hear! They can't speak! They can't operate machinery! I mean, are we not in the hands of a lunatic? If I were creating a world, I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, day one! Terry Gilliam & Michael Palin Time Bandits