Playing God? Religionization of Big Tech (RELTEC)

Description of the granted funding

The project analyses the religionization of US Big Tech, the acts of locating cutting-edge technology in the discursive proximity to religion. The religionization of technology often occurs when themes such as immortality (e.g., cryonics), surpassing other human limits (e.g., transhumanism), predictions of the future, highly revered figures, or the meaning of life are discussed in the context of technology. The research combines quantitative and qualitative methods and various types of data, including journalistic media, archived company websites, key figures' biographies and authored works, and published materials from technology conferences. The project focuses on the mass internet era, from 1993 to the present day. As its key contribution, the project will generate a new, empirically based theoretical framework for researching religion and technology.
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Starting year

2026

End year

2030

Granted funding

Tuomas Äystö Orcid -palvelun logo
553 495 €

Funder

Research Council of Finland

Funding instrument

Academy research fellows

Decision maker

Scientific Council for Social Sciences and Humanities
11.06.2026

Other information

Funding decision number

376157

Fields of science

Theology

Research fields

Uskontotiede

Identified topics

humanities