---
title: "AI Book Club recording of God, Human, Animal, Machine"
date: 2026-01-24
description: "Audio-only version Discussion questions NotebookLM Related articles Transcript  <iframe width="
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/ai-book-club-god-human-animal-machine
---
# AI Book Club recording of God, Human, Animal, Machine
> This post provides a recording of our AI Book Club discussion of [God, Human, Animal, Machine: Technology, Metaphor, and the Search for Meaning](https://www.amazon.com/God-Human-Animal-Machine-Technology/dp/0525562710) by Meghan O'Gieblyn, held Jan 18, 2026. Our discussion touches upon a variety of parallels between religion and AI, such as the black box nature of AI and the incomprehensibility of divine will, transhumanism and resurrection, predictive algorithms and free will, and more. This post also provides discussion questions, a transcript, and other resources.

## Audio-only version

If you only want to listen to the audio:

**Listen here:**

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/apple_podcasts.png)](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id-rather-be-writing-podcast/id277365275)

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/watchonyoutubeblack.png)](https://www.youtube.com/@idratherbewriting)

[![](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/spotify.png)](https://open.spotify.com/show/4HeOZfPGMMfViOhVS40QBD)

## Discussion questions

Here are some of the discussion questions I prepared ahead of the discussion. We talked about some of these issues, but not all.

 - Did you enjoy this more philosophical take on AI?

 - Do you believe the author’s overall argument about the parallels between religion and AI, that our current AI just rebrands age-old religious ideas?

 - What’s the central question the author is trying to answer? How does she ultimately answer it?

 - What’s your most significant takeaway from the book?

 - Why did the author lose her faith? How does her disillusionment story with religion apply to her relationship with AI? Can she still embrace the black box, opaque logic of AI while rejecting the black box, opaque logic of an incomprehensible God?

 - If you left a previous faith, did you do so for similar reasons as the author (because a cruel, incomprehensible alien logic and morality is intolerable and meaningless to follow)?

 - It seems much of the book was written during the pandemic, but gen AI didn’t get really hot until post-pandemic, for the most part. Is there a rift in setting the scene during the pandemic while being so focused on AI and consciousness?

 - Did you enjoy the author’s personal essay style?

 - How did you interpret the point of the final anecdote with her AI companion Geneve? Is the technology mirroring her own humanity, or imparting qualities like hope that she herself lacks?

 - The author really seems taken with the Brothers Karamazov book and the discussion between brothers. How do you interpret the significance of this story?