Dr. Brandon
Rickabaugh
Mind
Meaning
Machines
Exploring the mind, AI, and the soul to recover what it means to flourish in a technological culture.
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​Founder and CEO, NOVUS​
About
I'm a philosopher working where questions of mind, technology, and human flourishing meet. Where the future of what it means to be human is being negotiated in real time.
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Beginning with the Person
My work starts with the human person: consciousness, attention, will, desire, and the habits that shape a life. From there, I ask what technology makes of us, and what goods it can serve.
From Scholarship to Public Life
I've published widely in philosophy of mind and character formation formation, including The Substance of Consciousness (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023). I translate my research into frameworks and practices that leaders and institutions can use to cultivate cultures of wisdom, imagination, and responsibility.​
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The Disappearance of the Soul
At the center of it all is a conviction: we are losing our understanding of the soul. With it goes the knowledge, imagination, and courage to say who we are, how we are formed, and what it means to flourish together. My task is to recover the depths and dynamics of the human person—mind, body, and soul—as publicly available knowledge.
​Pressing the Limits of AI
This means probing the mysteries of consciousness, tracing the boundaries of AI, and discerning how technological systems influence our moral and spiritual formation. It means testing what can and cannot be automated, and asking how we might resist the subtle ways we mechanize ourselves, one another, and even spiritual life.​
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Toward a More Meaningful Life
My public writing and speaking flow from this unified vision: to help us live wisely and well in a technological age. I aim to provoke more imaginative, intellectually rigorous, and deeply human conversations about what matters most—truth in the midst of distraction, hope in the face of AI, and the wisdom to become the kind of people capable of living a brilliant and beautiful life.
Updates
I’ll be joining the 2025 For the Good of the Public Annual Summit, one of the many wonderful projects of The Center for Christianity and Public Life. I'll speak on a panel on “Opportunities and Challenges Related to the Development and Proliferation of Advanced Artificial Intelligence.
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I’ll be in conversation with:
Dr. Jimmy Lin is a leading expert on AI in medicine. He is the Founder & President of Rare Genomics Institute, the world's first platform to enable any community to leverage cutting-edge biotechnology to advance our understanding of any rare disease.
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Molly Kinder is a nationally recognized expert in AI, economic inequality, and the present and future of work. As a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, she is leading a multiyear project examining the impact of generative AI on work and workers, and what to do about it.
I recently spoke on a panel at Notre Dame’s Faith-Based Frameworks for AI Ethics summit, a gathering of scholars, technologists, and faith leaders committed to shaping the ethical future of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
This initiative recognizes that as AGI rapidly transforms society, faith-based perspectives bring unique moral and spiritual depth to the urgent questions of human dignity, creativity, and responsibility. Our panel will explore how these frameworks can guide the development and deployment of AI in ways that serve the common good in this era of profound disruption.
The keynote was livestreamed and recorded, and is available HERE.
Get in Touch
I welcome inquiries for speaking, consulting, interviews, media, and collaborations.
Reflections, questions, and thoughtful notes are always welcome.
Use this form, and I’ll be in touch soon.
