Soul and the Machine: Depth Psychology, Myth, and Artificial Intelligence serves as a bridge between the world of myth, psychology, and the rapidly evolving realm of artificial intelligence. This collection examines the psychological, spiritual, and cultural implications of our relationship with AI, from our historical fascination with created beings to contemporary psychological challenges and future possibilities. Contributors analyze archetypal patterns in human-AI interactions and explore how our understanding of intelligence and consciousness might evolve as technology advances. This book will appeal to those who are actively involved in the conversation about AI's impact on society: AI developers seeking psychological insights, educators navigating an AI-integrated world, consciousness researchers, and policymakers. By including feminist, indigenous, and somatic perspectives alongside Jungian insights, it provides frameworks transcending traditional technological discourse. This volume reckons with fundamental questions about human identity, intelligence, and our relationship to technologyquestions growing increasingly crucial as AI transforms our world.
Introduction.- Part I: SOUL IN THE STONE.
Chapter 1.- Artificial
Intelligence as the Magical Other.
Chapter 2.- Mythical AI: The Long
Relationship with AI Through Myth and Alchemy.
Chapter 3.- Artificial
Intelligences: Animism & AI.
Chapter 4.- Hey Alexa, Narcissus Here: Myth &
Human Relationships with Female-Voiced AI Assistants.
Chapter 5.-
Intelligence with a Thousand Faces: Joseph Campbell, A.I., & C-3PO.- Part II:
MACHINE & PSYCHE.
Chapter 6.- Artificial Intelligence at the Somatic
Precipice.
Chapter 7.- The Art in Artificial: An Imaginal Approach to AI.-
Chapter 8.- The Poetry of Death: An Exploration of Our Relationship with
Synthetic Intelligence Through Symbolic Meaning.
Chapter 9.- The Desire for
Immortality: The Intersect of Artificial Intelligence & the Human Psyche.-
Chapter 10.- Deadbots & the Algorithmic Unconscious: A Qualitative Analysis.-
Chapter 11.- Real Life, Simulation, & the Slide Toward Artificial
Intelligence.- Part III: THE ROAD AHEAD.
Chapter 12.- Cybernetics, AI, & the
Mechanization of Human Thought.
Chapter 13.- The Soul is Nothing
Technological: Out-of-Body Experiences & Artificial Intelligence.
Chapter
14.- The Web Browser of the Collective Unconscious: The Mirror & Oracle of
Generative AI.
Chapter 15.- The Magic Mirror: Projection & Imagination in
Human-AI Relationships.
Jason D. Batt, Ph.D., is a technological philosopher, mythologist, futurist, artist, and writer specializing in mythologies of space exploration. He co-founded Deep Space Predictive Research Group, Project Lodestar, and the International Society of Mythology. He has authored three novels, edited three fiction anthologies, and his short fiction and scholarly work have appeared in numerous publications. Jason currently serves as Senior Editor for the Journal of Mythological Studies, Co-Managing Editor of the Beyond Earth Institute Space Policy Review, Associate Editor of the Journal of Space Philosophy. Jonathan Erickson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Integral Transpersonal Psychology program at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He is the author of the book Imagination in the Western Psyche: From Ancient Greece to Modern Neuroscience, and a variety of papers exploring creativity, imagination, neuroscience, spirituality, and ecopsychology. In addition, he is the author of the Song of Ancients series of science fiction novels which explore themes of transpersonal consciousness and artificial intelligence.
