Opinion | Anthropic Wants Claude to Be Moral. Is Religion Really the Answer? A.I. cannot meditate, fast or prostrate itself in prayer.

“Drawing on religion to cultivate the ethical behavior of Claude (or any other chatbot) is likely to fail,” writes the research psychologist David DeSteno.

Opinion | Anthropic Wants Claude to Be Moral. Is Religion Really the Answer?

Anthropic is looking to religion to improve its AI Chatbot Claude's moral (and maybe even spiritual) development. While well-intentioned, it's not likely to work, as Claude is missing a central mechanism by which spiritual practices work: a body. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/o...

Doubt (Part I) Podcast Episode · How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality · April 12 · 39m

Click below for full episode. 2/2

Is doubt the death of faith? To the contrary,
@yaledivinityschool.bsky.social professor Christian Wiman thinks it's a possible route to revelation and renewal. Link to full conversation in the following post. 1/2

Is doubt the death of faith, or a way to grow spiritually? In part 1 of our 2 part series on doubt, we talk with poet &
@yaledivinityschool.bsky.social prof. Christian Wiman and
UVA psychologist Julie Exline about the promise and peril of religious doubt. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

The Evidence That God Exists Searching for scientific proof for faith misunderstands faith.

I often say the question “Does God exist?” is a useless one from a scientific perspective. Elizabeth Bruenig eloquently captures why in this beautiful essay. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

What Women Want Podcast Episode · How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality · March 29 · 43m

In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re exploring how religious women around the world are defining what liberation looks like on their own terms, and asking what we can all learn from their efforts, regardless of our own beliefs.
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Many people are adopting a bespoke spirituality - like combining a ritual from Hinduism with a Buddhist meditation, and adding in a trip to an Amazonian psychedelic retreat. But what's lost when spirituality goes DYI? This week, I talk with Liz Bucar. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

How God Works is back with a new season starting March 15th. From exploring whether doubt is the death of faith or a path to spiritual growth, to whether an AI God is on the horizon, we'll look at the science behind some of the biggest questions surrounding religion today. 1/2

How God Works In How God Works, professor Dave DeSteno takes us on a journey to find out why people who take part in spiritual practices tend to live longer, healthier, and happier lives. The podcast combines cutti...

Find us here, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. www.howgodworks.org

How God Works is back with a new season starting March 15th. From exploring whether doubt is the death of faith or a path to spiritual growth, to whether an AI God is on the horizon, we'll look at the science behind some of the biggest questions surrounding religion today. 1/2

How God Works will be back with an all new season on March 15th. Until then, you can check out episodes from our past season exploring science-backed spiritual wisdom on how to be a good friend, how to feel you matter, how to control your dreams, & more. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Paul and I just talked a little about this today as part of recording a new ep on AI and religion. It’ll be out in late April.

Is religion a source of division, or can it offer a way to bring us together during these fractious times? Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, @dianabutlerbass, @simran, @kurtjgray and I take a deep dive on the question in one of our favorites from the archives podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Out now on @aspenideas.bsky.social podcast. Listen here podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Proving God's Existence With Science (w/ Dave Desteno) | Soul Boom YouTube video by Soul Boom w/ Rainn Wilson

I enjoyed speaking with Rainn Wilson about the science behind spiritual practices, why it’s a mistake for the secular left to ignore religion, and what an agnostic scientist has come to learn about religious wisdom. @templetonfdn.bsky.social @prx.org

With political violence, social division, & despair on the rise, the US has clearly lost its way. I talked with Krista Tippett & @chrismurphyct.bsky.social about why the country is facing a spiritual, not just political, crisis and how to find our way back. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

How to Have a ‘Don’t-Know Mind’ My quest to understand consciousness took me to a cave in New Mexico and then deep into the cosmos.

An essay as beautiful as it is insightful from @michaelpollan.bsky.social on the self & consciousness. The Buddhists figured out a good deal about how the mind works centuries ago, and there are few better guides than @joanhalifax.bsky.social, as Michael discovered.

We all have an innate need to feel like we matter. But as author Jennifer Wallace notes, that need often goes unmet. We talk about how to solve this mattering deficit. I also chat with Duke's Patty Van Cappellen about the wisdom spiritual traditions offer to help podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

We all have an innate need to feel like we matter. But as author Jennifer Wallace notes, that need often goes unmet. We talk about how to solve this mattering deficit. I also chat with Duke's Patty Van Cappellen about the wisdom spiritual traditions offer to help podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Proud How God Works is a finalist for best personal growth/spirituality pod for the Ambies! Join me, an agnostic psychologist, to explore the science behind how & why spiritual practices help people flourish, whatever their beliefs. howgodworks.org @podcastacademy.bsky.social @prx.org

If you're looking to improve life in 2026, you might want to think about...sin. Not in the fire & brimstone sense, but as @elizabetholdfield.bsky.social notes, as something that separates us from others or, simply put, just F's things up. Join us as we rethink sin. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

Opinion | For 2026, There’s a Better Way to Be Hopeful

If we embrace hope as a practice -- as a continual movement toward the good without expectation -- despair falls away. Hope is an act of resistance. It's not about what any one of us can control. It's a way to live our values. 2/2 @nytimes.com

Opinion | Venezuela, Renee Good and Trump’s ‘Assault on Hope’

As @ezraklein.bsky.social points out, all of this is an assault on hope. The point is to wear people out -- to give them a sense they have no control to stop it and thereby remove hope & the will to act. But there is a way to overcome that despair... 1/2 @nytimes.com

We’ve primarily stuck with that method in my lab, but it has been a challenge, as it is definitely slower work.

It’s back to lab research for many topics, my friends! That doesn’t need to mean reaction times or surveys, it’s actually an opportunity for real social psychology. Create immersive social situations with actors. Measure actual behavior. It’s slow science but good science.

By “right” I mean the people with whom you want to share ideas for future growth opportunities. Being in the metaphorical “room where it happens” is often more important for success and growth than having the biggest megaphone to the masses. You just need to know what that “room”
Is for you.

The trick is to value your product, not its reach. Hard if you have financial incentives tied in to online activity. But if you’re lucky enough not to, NEVER chase an audience. Be proud of what you produce. And often it’s more important to be speaking to the “right” people than just more people. 1/2

Why you’re wise on Tuesday and foolish on Sunday: Practising wisdom in uncertain times Wisdom fluctuates. New longitudinal evidence suggests wise reasoning is a trainable toolkit —not a trait — and repeated distanced self-reflection can strengthen it in daily life.

Why you’re wise on Tuesday and foolish on Sunday: Practising #wisdom in uncertain times - a brief sunday read & a mild rant against "one trick" gurus & substakers. theconversation.com/why-youre-wi... @theconversation.com

We need friends who challenge us to be better, not friends who are sycophantic. But with attention being the new coin of the realm, that will require some intentional & ethical rebalancing by the lords of Silicon Valley. 2/2