Synthetic Rituals

Synthetic Rituals studies the small ways generative systems are beginning to enter prayer, contemplation and ritual. Rather than asking whether a machine can believe, the project looks at what people actually do with systems that compose prayers, suggest readings, remember intentions and respond to uncertainty.

Fieldwork follows clergy, contemplative practitioners and designers experimenting with conversational systems. We are especially interested in moments when a generated response feels unexpectedly apt — and in the equally revealing moments when it feels hollow, intrusive or absurd.

The project treats these systems as strange new devotional objects: part book, part companion, part service. Our aim is not to decide whether artificial spirituality is authentic, but to develop a vocabulary for describing where meaning seems to arise and where it disappears.