Videos

Caleb Jones presents Mormon theology through the lens of fractal geometry, proposing that the relationship between humanity and God can be understood as a fractal progression. Drawing on Joseph Smith’s teachings about the eternal nature of intelligence and Lorenzo Snow’s couplet—“As man now is, God once was; as God is now, man may be”—Jones argues that Mormonism’s ontology exhibits key fractal properties: self-similarity between humans and God, continuous line-upon-line progress, recursive self-referential laws, and infinite aesthetic variety. He suggests that fractal mathematics, pioneered by Benoit Mandelbrot, provides a richer symbolic framework than Joseph Smith’s original ring metaphor for understanding eternal progression, the temple ritual’s transgenerational symbolism, and the simulation hypothesis’s intersection with Mormon cosmology.

Carl Youngblood addresses the challenges and opportunities facing religious transhumanists, who often find themselves caught between secular technologists who dismiss religion and religious communities suspicious of their framing. He argues that both camps need each other: Mormonism offers transhumanism a respectful attitude toward tradition, exceptional organizational capacity, and a theology remarkably compatible with naturalism—including the belief that all phenomena, even miracles, must have natural explanations. Conversely, transhumanism challenges religion to move beyond distant, comfortable redemption narratives. Responding to concerns that mere immortality would only amplify human brokenness, Youngblood distinguishes between overcoming death and achieving “eternal life”—a state of godlike compassion that Mormon transhumanists pursue using every tool at their disposal, including science and technology.

This presentation critiques the standard top-down model of divine authority in Mormonism—where God delegates power downward and refuses to recognize unauthorized rituals—and proposes an alternative bottom-up model rooted in Mormon scripture. Drawing on Doctrine and Covenants 29 and 121, the speaker argues that God’s power derives from honor freely given by those who trust in divine love, not from coercive imposition. Using analogies from computer science, including certificate authorities and distributed systems, the talk reframes authority as emerging from community consent and ritual as aspirational rather than mechanically efficacious—a projection of faith toward a future divine community that will ultimately validate the covenants made in hope.

Don Bradley analyzes Alma 32 as a post-biblical, post-Enlightenment reformulation of faith that draws on Jesus’s parables while transforming their meaning through scientific language. He argues that whereas the New Testament presents “taking no thought” favorably as trust in God’s providence, the Book of Mormon redeploys this phrase negatively—faith requires actively “arousing faculties” and conducting “experiments” rather than passive belief. Bradley identifies distinctly scientific vocabulary throughout Alma’s discourse (experiment, dormant, particle, discernible) and proposes a working definition: “faith is experimental hope that initiates and sustains the processes of discovery, achievement, and growth.” He suggests Latter-day Saints should learn to engage scripture through midrash—the Jewish tradition of creatively rewriting narratives to apply them to contemporary life.

This presentation invites technologists, philanthropists, and community organizers to partner with the Mormon Transhumanist Association in shaping the social and cultural context emerging from artificial intelligence. The speaker argues that AI algorithms could be designed to facilitate collaboration rather than competition, and warns that without intervention, technological advancement will exponentially increase existing societal flaws. Drawing on the MTA’s emphasis on kindness, compassion, and charity as transformational practices of nonviolence, the talk calls for the best innovators to work in the social sphere—addressing economic inequality, bias in AI systems, the digital divide, and the need for human-centered design that values subjective experience over mere profit.

James Carroll’s presentation, “The End of Religious Anxiety: Towards Religious Universalism,” challenges the traditional concept of a wrathful God, particularly as exemplified in Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Carroll critiques Pascal’s Wager, which argues for belief in God as a risk-averse strategy, pointing out the inherent problem of choosing which religion to embrace. He suggests that a more universalist approach to religion can alleviate the anxiety induced by exclusive doctrines of salvation and damnation, implicitly advocating for a broader, more inclusive spiritual perspective.

Jordan Harmon explores why the human capacity for problem-solving—so effective for external challenges—often compounds psychological suffering. Drawing on relational frame theory and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), he distinguishes between the primitive fight-or-flight response and the prefrontal cortex’s tendency to ruminate on emotional pain. Harmon outlines six processes of psychological flexibility—defusion, acceptance, present-moment awareness, values clarification, committed action, and self-as-context—and speculates on how these principles might apply at macro scales to technology, religion, and social systems.

Joseph West applies social movement theory to analyze the MTA’s position within the broader landscape of Mormon collective action. Drawing on subcultural identity theory, he argues that strong symbolic boundaries—not universalism—enable movements to thrive, pointing to early Christianity’s simultaneous opposition to both Jews and Greeks as an example. West critiques both the ex-Mormon discourse of shame and the Protestant assimilation of contemporary LDS culture, urging the MTA to define itself more sharply against these trends while maintaining its authentic Mormon identity.

Kathy Wilson reports on her experiences traveling to India over twenty years, describing how the country’s explosive population growth—from 800 million to over a billion—has intensified problems of poverty, corruption, and gender inequality while simultaneously expanding her understanding of what is possible on Earth. She shares observations from Delhi slums housing millions of people and discusses her work with NGOs supporting marginalized widows and children. Wilson connects these global humanitarian challenges to transhumanist themes, arguing that as the planet shrinks into a global society, those with technology and education have a responsibility to address problems in developing countries rather than ignore them.

This keynote speech explores the tension between artistic form and emotional excess, drawing on examples from Baroque music, German Romanticism, and Mormon history. The speaker argues that human feeling constantly overflows the containers we create for it—whether musical forms, literary genres, or religious systems—and that this “life’s hunger to abound” is essential to both artistic and spiritual experience. Through Joseph Smith’s weeping at his father’s baptism and other moments of transcendent emotion, she suggests that transhumanism should embrace this paradigm of abundance rather than fear of scarcity, asking whether we pursue longer, better lives because we fear death or because we believe love can cast out that fear.