Around Roman tables
At (m)otherboard, we believe the table is our most valuable technology. Last week, we got to practice that quite literally, around common tables and stately salons at the American Academy in Rome where Mara has been in residence as a fellow traveler and Sara got to visit while in Europe for MozFest (more reflections on that soon…).
Following the publishing of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical Magnifica humanitas, there’s been a lot of interesting emergent work looking to theology for guidance on governance, ethics, and safeguards for AI. In parallel to the Builders AI Forum gathering church leaders, technologists, investors, and policymakers at the Collegium Maximum, we took the opportunity to host a (m)otherboard AI and religion potluck of sorts. Joining our intimate group of local scholars, engineers, and entrepreneurs, we were pleased to welcome two special guests to present alongside our Mr Jesus screening.
Starting with the past, Donna Romer provided historical context to the many forms AI has taken over the decades, drawing on her 2010’s work at IBM Watson (before LLMs became synonymous with AI). She also shared a bit about her fictional work in progress, a pivot from her storied career as a serial entrepreneur towards shaping the narratives about how AI could serve human flourishing rather than corporate interests.
After our screening, Dr. Melanie Riebeck bridged past and future, sharing her work in post-growth entrepreneurship exploring steward ownership models, separating profit rights from voting rights, as well as non-extractive venture funds for open-source sovereign European technology companies. She also shared some of the tools she is developing to calculate and quantify financial extraction in contracts and fund models as informed by Catholic principles of usury—ie using money to breed more money.
It was a mind-expanding discussion, fit for the high-ceiling salon rooms, a stone’s throw from the site where Galileo first publicly demonstrated his telescope to observe the moon. We all felt lucky to find fellow travelers who are taking seriously the discursive claims of tech leaders comparing companies and religion. And we were energized by looking to historical precedents for alternative governance models instead of reinventing the wheel.
Though it’s difficult to imagine overhauling VC culture toward less extractive terms and capping returns, we were buoyed by the imaginative space these experiments open up as alternative examples to the current status quo. We are reminded, as Ursula K. Le Guin said, “We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable—but then, so did the divine right of kings.”
Around the dinner table we were also reminded of the power of intergenerational gathering, sharing tales of success and woe as women in enterprise tech and corporate strategy throughout the decades. Interestingly, two among our group were recent converts to Catholicism. They described finding love in theology, and still these women ask, “what is the role of women in the modern church?”—especially as we imagine a future where women play a part in writing a different future.
More AI and religion programming this week at the Future of Life Institute's “AI and Personhood: A Catholic Response” the examined whether AI systems merit personhood and how human responsibility, dignity, and legal accountability should guide their treatment. We found the most compelling arguments against AI personhood rest in the idea that personhood and human knowledge requires embodiment and experience through the senses.
We were especially moved by the closing remarks from Thomas Williams: “Human knowledge is unique, wholly embodied and experiential. Drawing on Aristotle, Aquinas famously asserted that nihil est in intellectu quod prius non fuerit in sensu (De Veritate). All our knowledge passes through the senses.” Williams points to everyday expressions to illustrate the point: “I see what you mean.” “I’m not sure I can grasp that.” “Give me a minute to digest what you just said.” “I smell trouble ahead.”
“Aquinas, again, notes that the Latin word for wisdom—sapientia—is directly related to taste, from ‘sapida scientia,’ like the Psalmist’s injunction to taste and see the goodness of the Lord. It is knowledge and understanding in relation to embodied existence that are savored and relished. Wisdom is not abstract or rationalistic; it is directly related to human existence.”
The rest of the week in Rome and at the Academy was just as inspiring, with fellows talks about the collective governance and its expression in the built environment through courtyards, stairwells, and shared walls; what it means to be a Neighbor; and what it meant to be considered family in ancient Roman households.
Mara and Sara also got up to some quintessential Aquarian shenanigans in our shared time together—though we’ve collaborated for a few years now, we’ve only spent extended time IRL twice! Interstitionary ecosystem mapping over pizza in Trastevere! Experimental moon phases spread readings with Sara’s Aquarian tarot deck! A little late night Academy bibliomancy surfacing the concept of flagitatio, or “folk justice” when idle moneylenders fail in their fiduciary responsibilities in Plautus’ Roman comedy Mostellaria, or “The Haunted House.” What would a modern flagitatio ritual look like if we were to collectively show up with a clamourous, public spectacle to demand justice for AI’s extractive harms? Mara and Sara wondered—how might we resuscitate the practice of expressing collective grievance with practical support and repair, rather than relying on shame alone. And we were curious how hyper-local accountability can be effective without becoming punitive or resulting in vigilante justice.
Meanwhile, back in the States, Emily was screening Mr Jesus in Rome, GA, and Aden screened Mr Jesus and hosted a wide-ranging conversation at Commonweal in the Bay Area. The folks at Commonweal brainstormed fresh ideas about how Mr Jesus can be a Trojan horse for communities to convene and reclaim their sense of agency. We are also scheming up multiday interfaith gatherings with some heavy hitting partners in the coming months. More on that soon.
The synergies across conversations and connections throughout the week were undeniable—as Mara suggested, like Vonnegut’s concept of a Karass, a group of people linked doing the universe’s work together, whether they know it or not.
And in case you were wondering, the Queen of Swords was pulled as the sun or source of power in our moon phases spread on the eve of this blue tsunami. We have to imagine that feminine governance strategy is our source of power and guiding light in this moment and into the future!
With collective effervescence and millennial optimism,
— The god(m)others
