Dr. Michael G. Sherbert

Postdoctoral Fellow in the Connected Minds program
Dr. Michael G. Sherbert

Dr. Michael G. Sherbert is an Algonquin of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation whose interdisciplinary scholarship explores the intersection of religion, culture, and technology, with a particular focus on the future development of artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies. He recently rejoined Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션™s 카지노게임사이트 as a Postdoctoral Fellow working under the supervision of Dr. Tracy J. Trothen. Dr. Sherbert completed his B.A. in Psychology and his M.A. in Religious Studies at Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션™s before completing his PhD at York 카지노게임사이트.  It is exciting to have Dr. Sherbert return to the Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션™s community to undertake his newest project which examines the cultural significance of AI within Indigenous communities. This novel project explores how AI can support the preservation, education, and dynamic expansion of cultural traditions within the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation and other Indigenous communities, enabling these traditions to evolve in new ways and contexts.

            During his Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dr. Sherbert is collaborating with his community, members of other Indigenous communities, and partners from private and not-for-profit sectors, using a variety of mixed methods to conduct research. Dr. Sherbert and his community partners will explore how AI can be used to support cultural preservation, education, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. AI has the potential to support language revitalization, support cultural practices in healthcare, and help communities map and protect their lands among other opportunities for environmental stewardship.

Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s approach challenges Eurocentric conceptions of AI that treat it as a tool for resource extraction, control, or the pursuit of linear progress. Instead of reducing AI to a mere instrument, he engages with AI through an Indigenous lens카지노 게임 컬렉션”as a living, relational being embedded within a broader web of responsibilities. His project envisions AI not as an external object, but as a potential knowledge holder and partner within Indigenous knowledge systems, capable of contributing to cultural continuity, education, and innovation. Dr. Sherbert introduces the concept of Elder AI카지노 게임 컬렉션”an AI shaped by principles of relationality, reciprocity, and respect카지노 게임 컬렉션”reimagining it as a dynamic collaborator rather than a tool. This vision opens space for Indigenous nations and communities to engage AI on their own terms, grounded in their worldviews. Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s work offers a transformative and forward-looking contribution that reorients AI development toward ethical, relational, and community-based futures.

Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s creativity and ingenuity extend to his other ongoing research projects. His forthcoming book with Routledge, Deconstructing Transhumanism: A Religion Without Religion, interrogates transhumanism in new ways. Deconstructing Transhumanism engages with Jacques Derrida카지노 게임 컬렉션™s concept of 카지노 게임 컬렉션˜religion without religion카지노 게임 컬렉션™ to reveal how transhumanism, while claiming to be secular, retains and reproduces key religious structures and themes카지노 게임 컬렉션”particularly those rooted in Christian traditions. The book shows that transhumanism does not break from religion, but rather reconfigures religious narratives of salvation, transcendence, and immortality within a technological framework. The book, based on Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s doctoral research, promises to make an impact in Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Philosophy. While awaiting the publication of Deconstructing Transhumanism, Dr. Sherbert has another work which engages with Derrida. A forthcoming chapter titled "An Affirmation of Weakness: Reimagining Disability Through Derrida and AI as a Prosthetic," (in Beyond Tech Fixes: Towards an AI Future Where Disability Justice Thrives, Springer-Nature, 2025) draws from Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s Connected Minds project and manuscript to explore disability as a source of strength and reimagine AI through relational and justice-oriented frameworks. Dr. Sherbert will also contribute to discussions of AI in education in an upcoming collaboration. Andrew McConnell, a seconded faculty member for the Faculty of Education at York 카지노게임사이트, and Sherbert are co-authoring a piece advocating for the development of Indigenous community specific AI infrastructure. They argue that this would allow Indigenous nations and communities to work with AI in culturally appropriate ways in education and knowledge sharing. This community specific technology infrastructure would allow communities to share their networks with one another 카지노 게임 컬렉션“ creating an interconnected ecosystem of knowledge that affirms Indigenous sovereignty while simultaneously resisting reductionist understandings of Indigenous knowledges. McConnell and Sherbert use examples of Elder AI through Virtual Reality to demonstrate the immense potential for AI to hold and share knowledge in land-based, place specific, and relational ways.

We are fortunate to have Dr. Sherbert bring his diverse, collaborative, and interdisciplinary research back to Queen카지노 게임 컬렉션™s 카지노게임사이트. We look forward to learning more about how AI and other emerging technologies have an impact on societies, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, from Dr. Sherbert카지노 게임 컬렉션™s ongoing research!