Michael Ferguson

Michael Ferguson introduces the Religious Brain Project, a collaborative research initiative at the University of Utah using functional MRI to study Mormon spirituality. He traces the philosophical history from Descartes’ dualism through Joseph Smith’s “queering” of the material-spiritual binary, positioning the project within William James’s pragmatist tradition of assessing religion by its fruits. Ferguson describes the study’s methodology—behavioral questionnaires measuring religiosity, empathy, and moral cognition alongside neuroimaging of participants watching General Conference, praying, and pressing a button when they “feel the Spirit”—aiming to map the neural correlates of Mormon spiritual experience and explore questions of neuroplasticity, such as how missionary service might reshape brain connectivity.

Michael Ferguson explores how Trinitarian theological archetypes—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—can serve as a framework for understanding humanity’s biological, cultural, and technological evolution. He argues that humans are uniquely driven by narrative and story, and that transhumanism can draw on existing religious symbolism to articulate its vision. Ferguson draws parallels between Christ’s transfiguration and the future moment when human essence radiates through technological form, suggesting that the Christian story of Pentecost—when the Spirit enabled understanding across languages—foreshadows a future where technology amplifies our capacity for empathy and love.

Michael Ferguson surveys emerging neuroscience technologies that enable researchers to decode thoughts, emotions, and visual experiences directly from brain activity patterns. He describes work at Carnegie Mellon on word recognition, Tor Wager’s emotional decoding research, and Jack Gallant’s visual reconstruction experiments at UC Berkeley. Ferguson proposes that these technologies could eventually be applied to understanding spiritual, religious, and mystical experiences—not to confirm or deny theology, but to enrich our understanding of human nature. He suggests this represents a potential bridge between humanities and physical sciences, where scientific investigation of spiritual experiences could help mediate fundamentalisms while reinvigorating societal discourse on transcendence and wisdom.