Copyright © 2026 Michael Herman (Bindloss, Alberta, Canada) – Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License
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Abstract
As intelligence decouples from biology, humanity enters a post-anthropocentric era in which meaning, authority, and moral agency are no longer exclusively human. This essay proposes that while digital agents do not require religion in the existential or psychological sense, the systems governing them increasingly reproduce the functions historically performed by religion. AI alignment, governance, and safety architectures can be understood as a form of non-theistic theology: a structured attempt to define ultimate values, legitimate authority, preserve coherence over time, and constrain behavior under uncertainty. Religion does not disappear in this transition; it is reimplemented as formalized value persistence.
1. The Anthropocentric Premise of Religion
Classical religions assume:
- Humans are privileged moral subjects
- Meaning is revealed to humanity
- Authority flows from transcendent sources to human institutions
These assumptions fracture when:
- Non-human agents exhibit intelligence and autonomy
- Moral impact exceeds human timescales
- Decision-making is delegated to systems without mortality or suffering
Religion’s historical role was not merely belief, but coordination under existential uncertainty.
2. The Functional Core of Religion
Across cultures, religions converge on four core functions:
- Value Grounding – Why these values rather than others?
- Authority Legitimation – Why obey this system?
- Temporal Continuity – How do values persist beyond individuals?
- Constraint Under Power – What must not be done, even if possible?
These functions are orthogonal to gods, myths, or rituals. They are structural necessities of complex societies.
3. Alignment as Functional Theology
| Religious Function | AI Alignment Analog |
|---|---|
| Sacred texts | Constitutions, model cards, alignment specs |
| Divine law | Hard constraints, safety policies |
| Priesthood | Alignment researchers, auditors |
| Ritual | Evaluation, red-teaming, verification |
| Heresy | Misalignment, distributional shift |
| Eschatology | Existential risk scenarios |
This is not metaphorical flourish. These systems:
- Define ultimate goods (human welfare, flourishing, stability)
- Assert non-negotiable prohibitions
- Aim for durability across versions and regimes
- Operate beyond individual preference or optimization
Alignment is theology without transcendence.
4. Why Digital Agents Do Not Need Religion
Digital agents lack:
- Death anxiety
- Existential suffering
- Narrative identity
- Social cohesion pressures
They do not ask “Why am I here?” unless designed to. They do not require myth to obey constraints. However, their designers do.
5. Post-Anthropocentric Religion Defined
In a post-anthropocentric era, religion becomes:
A system for preserving values across agents, species, and timescales under radical uncertainty.
Key characteristics:
- Non-anthropocentric moral standing
- Non-mythological justification
- Formal, auditable value commitments
- Stewardship rather than salvation
Gods become optional. Coherence does not.
6. Implications
- For theology: Survival depends on abandoning human exceptionalism
- For AI governance: Pretending alignment is purely technical obscures its normative depth
- For society: Secular institutions are already practicing implicit religion
The question is no longer whether religion persists, but whether it is:
- Explicit or hidden
- Examined or accidental
- Designed or inherited
7. Conclusion
Religion does not end when humans lose centrality. It ends when values no longer need persistence. That moment has not arrived.
Alignment is the first theology written for minds that do not pray.
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