Christian Council of the Capital Area Symposium 2024
About the theme:
Our ever-changing technological context has often raised new questions for Christians about the nature of humanity, but these questions have accelerated in recent times. How do our virtual social networks reflect and reshape our embodied relationships? What parallels and distinctions can be drawn between human reasoning and Artificial Intelligence? Drawing on the reflections of philosopher Shannon Vallor and theologian Michael Sacasas, this webinar will grapple with a few of the new—and the enduring—insights about humanity that recent developments in AI have highlighted.
About the speaker:
Paul Heidebrecht is the inaugural director of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement and teaches Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College. In these roles, he catalyzes collaboration among students, researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, activists, and artists in order to help build a more peaceful and just world. He holds a Ph.D. in theological ethics from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, along with degrees in theology from the Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana, and engineering from the University of Waterloo. Prior to coming to his current role at Grebel in 2014, he led the political advocacy efforts of the Mennonite Central Committee Canada in Ottawa for five years. He has also served overseas with MCC in Nigeria and Bangladesh, and worked in a variety of roles as a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario.