Four Questions for...
David Schmidt
PhD Student in Communication and Media Research in the project "Strengthening Resilience and Well-Being in Adolescents through Religion-Related AI and Digital Resources".
1. ChatGPT has an answer for everything – what do you ask it?
Mainly things like "how do I repair my washing machine" or "how often do I need to water my plants."
2. The (research) question you torment everyone with?
I torment myself with the question of how to operationalize resilience, especially in the absence of adversity.
3. If you were an app, you’d be… And why?
The NYT Games app. I’m a problem solver with varied interests (and also, I like playing games).
4. So tell us, how do you feel about (digital) religion?
Religion is (at least in part) concerned with metaphysical matters: the nature of the world beyond the material. The digital is "meta-physical" in another sense: we are building a reality one step removed from the physical world. Both seem to be of great importance to many people, so it should be interesting to study their intersections.