Panel: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND (IN)EQUALITIES: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THEOLOGY AND RELIGION



511.1 - DIGITAL COLONIALISM AND EMBODIED INTELLIGENCE: RETHINKING A(G)I THROUGH THE INCARNATIONAL FRAMEWORK

AUTHORS:
Van Emmerik M. (University of Cambridge ~ Cambridge ~ United Kingdom)
Text:
The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence and the global pursuit of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) have brought to the forefront critical questions about digital colonialism and epistemic justice. Digital colonialism—characterised by concentration of technological power within the Global North—perpetuates historical patterns of inequality through control over digital infrastructure, data flows, and algorithmic decision-making systems. At its heart lies an "epistemic monoculture" in A(G)I development: a uniform approach to knowledge that privileges Western scientific rationalism while marginalising alternative ways of knowing, particularly threatening indigenous knowledge systems and epistemologies from the Global South. This paper proposes an innovative theological and cognitive scientific response by integrating the Christian doctrine of incarnation with embodied cognition theory. The incarnational principle—divine embodiment in human form—offers a framework for rethinking the relationship between materiality and intelligence, between universality and particularity, emphasising that intelligence requires physical embodiment within specific cultural, historical, and material contexts. This integrated framework suggests practical responses to AI-generated inequalities: (1) epistemological pluralism that incorporates diverse cultural knowledge systems into A(G)I development; (2) localised development models creating contextually-appropriate forms of artificial intelligence; and (3) embodied ethics emerging from concrete situations rather than abstract principles. Rather than pursuing universal A(G)I models that replicate colonial patterns, an incarnational approach calls for multiple contextually embedded forms of artificial intelligence that respect and integrate diverse epistemologies and lived experiences. Embodied cognition strengthens this critique by demonstrating how cognitive processes are fundamentally rooted in bodily interactions with the world.