AI: Consciousness, Self-Consciousness, and Algorithms

Dr. Carroll is half-Guatemalan and was raised bilingual and bicultural. In his youth, he spent many summers in Guatemala and later taught at El Seminario Teológico Centroamericano in Guatemala City for thirteen years. The realities of Central America sparked Dr. Carroll's fascination with the Old Testament. The relevance of the biblical text for the challenges of poverty, war, and politics in those developing countries led him to a passionate focus on Old Testament social ethics and the social sciences.In addition, his studies in English literature and literary theory have generated an ongoing engagement with literary approaches to the Old Testament and critical studies. Experiences in this country and abroad have led him to a deep appreciation for the unique contributions that ethnic minorities, women, and the global church make to the interpretation of the Old Testament. Before coming to Wheaton, Dr. Carroll taught Old Testament at Denver Seminary for many years and founded a Spanish-language lay training program there. At Wheaton, he hopes to model a commitment to connecting careful biblical scholarship with the mission of the church as it engages today’s complex realities. Dr. Carroll has been involved in Hispanic churches and teaching on the Bible and immigration for many years. His research focuses on the prophetic literature and Old Testament social ethics. He has just completed a major commentary on the book of Amos.

Zahra N. Jamal is Associate Director at Rice University's Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance, and a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Consultant. An award-winning former faculty member at Harvard and MIT, Dr. Jamal was founding director of the Civil Islam Initiative at University of Chicago, founding director of the Central Asia and International Development Initiative at Michigan State, and Associate Director at The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s Center for the Study of American Muslims. Her fieldwork covers voluntarism, migrant labor, gender-equity, and food security in Muslim societies. Dr. Jamal consults on gender, race, and religion for the UN, State Department, Department of Justice, Aspen Institute, Aga Khan Development Network, and private corporations. She has published with Duke University Press, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and The Hill, and appeared on BBC World News. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in cultural anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard, double B.A. in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and in Slavic Studies from Rice, and is a Certified Diversity Professional.

Rev. Jack Amick, Director of Global Migration, United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR).  He directs UMCOR’s Global Migration portfolio and represents the global migration work of the General Board of Global Ministries.  In his coordination of Global Migration work, Amick serves on the United Methodist Immigration Task Force, on advisory committees for Church World Service, the board of NJFON, the ACT Alliance Migration and Displacement Reference Group, and maintains relations with several migration/refugee organizations. He has been serving at UMCOR for over seven years, 4 years of which involved the direction of disaster response programs. Amick served as pastor at local United Methodist Churches for seven years. Prior to being ordained as a United Methodist elder, Amick served two years with the Refugee Admissions Office of the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration at the U.S. Department of State and two years as Vice-Consul for Economic Affairs at the US Consulate in Mumbai, India.  As Desk Officer for Eastern Europe at the Peace Corps, Amick designed crisis responses to flooding in Central Europe and post-war recovery in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  In 1985, he volunteered for one year as director of Christian education for the seven Methodist Churches in the Caribbean nation of Grenada.  He has led the response to disasters in different contexts, including managing disaster damage assessments and family services with the American Red Cross.  Amick spent one year working with homeless individuals in the suburbs of Washington, DC.  He has been part of UMVIM teams that responded to needs in Grenada and Liberia as well as in the United States.  Amick has a Bachelor of Arts in International Service and Economics from The American University in Washington, DC, a Master of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona, and a Master of Divinity from the Boston University School of Theology.  Amick enjoys the outdoors, playing bagpipes, and writing liturgical prayers and poetry.  He is the father of two young adults and the husband of Rev. Susan Amick, United Methodist Deacon, who serves as Chaplain with Wesley Woods Senior Living in Atlanta.

A Houston native dedicated to the causes of diversity and women’s empowerment, Manpreet K. Singh is a supervising attorney that has tried over 50 cases.  Currently a Chapter representative for the American Board of Trial Attorneys, she also is serving as a director and trustee with the Sikh Coalition. Recognized in 2018 & 2013 as a recipient for the Diversity First Award.  And in 2011 by the Houston Young Lawyers Association, Manpreet has also been a very active member of a variety of Houston and South Asian community organizations.  She has completed the Harvard Leadership Program and the American Bar Association Leadership Academy.In 2009, Manpreet testified in front of the Texas Board of Education to include Sikhism (the world’s fifth largest religion) in school textbooks, which was then implemented by the Board for 6th and 10th grade levels. Manpreet continues to support this achievement by teaching many of these classes throughout Houston schools. She also conducts outreach sessions for Interfaith Ministries, for law enforcement, and for the Boniuk Center, where she is also served on the Board.  Manpreet also completed the FBI citizen’s diversity academy.Nationally, Manpreet travels to Washington, DC annually to lobby for passage of the Safe Schools Act to ensure the safety and inclusion of all children in their schools, to advocate for increased diversity and inclusiveness in the US Army, and to have the FBI track hate crimes against the Sikh community, which was accomplished in 2013.  Locally Manpreet testified before Houston City Counsel in support of the Equal Rights Ordinance and was able to bring the Sikh Project displaying portraits of Sikhs across America, in the City Hall Rotunda for six weeks.Manpreet has also frequently appeared in media to educate about diversity, including being interviewed by several news affiliates and writing op/ed pieces in print media about the effects of the 2012 shooting at the Wisconsin Sikh Gurdwara (place of worship).In her free time, Manpreet enjoys traveling with her husband, reading, shopping and dancing in public to embarrass her two soccer stars.

Bishop Kelly is a native of Iowa and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He studied for the priesthood in Holy Trinity Seminary at the University of Dallas here in Irving and was ordained to the priesthood in 1982. He served in several parishes in the Dallas area since then and has served as the Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Dallas since 2016. He has lived in Irving since 2008. Bishop Kelly has been involved with:Dallas Area InterfaithCatholic Charities of DallasThe Diocesan Immigration Taskforceand is on the Board of Trustees at University of Dallas

Debra Boudreaux is a senior volunteer with the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation. She has more than 31 years of experience working on major projects related to charity, medical care, education, and humanitarian aid. Debra was previously the CEO of Tzu Chi Medical Foundation. She leads Buddhist and Catholic interfaith dialogues and serves as a member of the UN Multi-Faith Advisory Council. She serves as the Board Secretary for Global NGO Executive Committee within the UN DGC NGO venue. She also serves as Board of Trustees of Parliament of the World's Religions.Debra has visited Thailand Refugee Center, Turkey Refugee School, Malaysia Refugee Health Clinic and TJ Refugee Shelter. She has engaged with Climate Urgency and Climate Refugees, Internal Displacement Population crisis both domestic and International.Debra graduated from University of Columbia Missouri. She engages in COVID-19 PPE distribution and Vaccination as well experiencing the medical racism at this pandemic crisis.Debra Boudreaux patterns her daily life under the teaching of Venerable Master Shih Cheng Yen, Respect, gratitude and love to all sentient beings whenever and wherever we can.

Anwar Khan President of Islamic Relief USA.  He has more than twenty five years of experience working in the field of humanitarian and development assistance. Mr. Khan has extensive experience in the field: he has traveled to five continents visiting more than 20 countries that have been affected by human conflict or natural disaster zones. Before becoming President, Anwar held a variety of leadership roles at Islamic Relief USA, directing Islamic Relief USA’s program efforts; managing its fundraising offices and operations; overseeing its fund development work; and leading the organization as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Khan is the longest serving staff members in the organization.Mr. Khan has also served on several boards such as Interaction, and was an advisor for U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA), and the U.S. State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group. Currently, he serves on the board of World Food Program USA, Joint Learning Initiative and the Alliance to End Hunger. He is also on the advisory Council with the City of Alexandria Police and the Advisory Council for Muslim Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University. 

Julie Rayman, Senior Director of Policy and Political Affairs of the American Jewish Committee helps us understand how Jews relate through their history to migrants and immigrants, and what this means today. Since January 2012, Julie Rayman, Senior Director of Policy and Political Affairs, has served as the lead legislative advocate for AJC’s policy priorities. On behalf of AJC, she has supported the launch of congressional caucuses such as the Bipartisan Taskforce for Antisemitism, the Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations, and the Congressional Hellenic-Israel Alliance. Regularly on Capitol Hill to advocate for AJC priority legislation, she has helped position AJC as a thought and policy leader in combating global antisemitism and hate, promoting Israel’s place in the world, promoting pluralism, and advocating for strong, principled American global leadership. In addition to spearheading AJC’s outreach on Capitol Hill, Rayman also fulfills a variety of senior political liaison responsibilities for AJC, engaging with candidates and elected officials, crafting and promulgating policy position papers and Party platform suggestions, and spearheading AJC’s events on the sidelines of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. Before coming to AJC, she was senior advisor to Congressman Heath Shuler, covering foreign policy, human rights, defense, and homeland security. Rayman holds a B.A. from American University as well as a Master’s from the National Defense University in Strategic Security Studies, with a concentration in counterterrorism. She also holds an M.A. from Georgetown University in Religious Studies.

This episode explores more deeply what it means to be authentic humans in an AI age. A video version is found at http://www.youtube.com/@InterfaithEncounters or http://interfaith-encounters.org.

This episode explores more deeply what it means for humans to think about themselves. What does it mean to be conscious? Self conscious? Can an AI be self-conscious? A video version is found at http://www.youtube.com/@InterfaithEncounters or http://interfaith-encounters.org.