Wesley J. Wildman

About

Wesley J. Wildman is a Professor of Philosophy, Theology, and Ethics, and of Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University. His primary research and teaching interests encompass philosophical theology, philosophy of religion, philosophical ethics, religious and spiritual leadership, nonprofit entrepreneurship, religion and science, and the scientific study of religion. His PhD is in philosophy of religion, and he considers complex human systems, including their existential, moral, and spiritual dimensions, as his fundamental object of study. In addition to his role at the School of Theology, he is a Professor of Computing and Data Sciences and Duan Family Faculty Fellow, where he trains graduate students in computational social science and computational humanities, and teaches AI ethics to undergraduates and masters students. Dr. Wildman's scholarly work spans a wide range of topics, from multidisciplinary approaches in philosophy of religion to computational policy analysis addressing social problems. He is the author of a six-volume systematic series on religious philosophy, which addresses methods in philosophy of religion, models of ultimacy, implications of physics and biology for theology, theological anthropology, religious and spiritual experiences, and religious language. Wildman is a founding member of the International Society for Science and Religion, served as president of the American Theological Society, and is involved in various scholarly organizations.…

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Management science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Engineering
• Medicine
• Environmental ethics
• Pathology
• Operations research

Selected publications

• Religion and the COVID-19 pandemic

  Religion Brain & Behavior · 2020 · 162 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  What does a virus have to do with religion? Well, more than you might think, and we are not referring to the transmission of religious ideas, which some have described using epidemiological models....

  DOI

• Minding morality: ethical artificial societies for public policy modeling

  AI & Society · 2020 · 44 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Public policies are designed to have an impact on particular societies, yet policy-oriented computer models and simulations often focus more on articulating the policies to be applied than on realistically rendering the cultural dynamics of the target society. This approach can lead to policy assessments that ignore crucial social contextual factors. For example, by leaving out distinctive moral and normative dimensions of cultural contexts in artificial societies, estimations of downstream poli…

  DOI

• Human Simulation and Sustainability: Ontological, Epistemological, and Ethical Reflections

  Sustainability · 2020 · 22 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  This article begins with a brief outline of recent advances in the application of computer modeling to sustainability research, identifying important gaps in coverage and associated limits in methodological capability, particularly in regard to taking account of the tangled human factors that are often impediments to a sustainable future. It then describes some of the ways in which a new transdisciplinary approach within “human simulation” can contribute to the further development of sustainabil…

  DOI

• The Artificial University: Decision Support for Universities in the COVID-19 Era

  Complexity · 2020 · 12 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Operating universities under pandemic conditions is a complex undertaking. The Artificial University (TAU) responds to this need. TAU is a configurable, open-source computer simulation of a university using a contact network based on publicly available information about university classes, residences, and activities. This study evaluates health outcomes for an array of interventions and testing protocols in an artificial university of 6,500 students, faculty, and staff. Findings suggest that phy…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Role of Values in Pandemic Management: An Agent-Based Model

  Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation · 2024-01-01 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has made abundantly evident that human behavior is a critical factor in determining whether interventions intended to manage infection spread are effective. Human behavior is driven by decision processes about whether to comply with advice from public-health experts and instructions from officials charged with managing pandemic response within organizations and governmental regions. And guiding those decisions are personal values, often shared with others, which are under…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• F. LeRon Shults

  University of Agder

  65 shared

• Richard Sosis

  43 shared

• Joseph Bulbulia

  Victoria University of Wellington

  26 shared

• Patrick McNamara

  VA Boston Healthcare System

  19 shared

• Saikou Y. Diallo

  Old Dominion University

  16 shared

• David Voas

  University College London

  13 shared

• Justin E. Lane

  12 shared

• Ivan Puga‐Gonzalez

  12 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Philosophy

  Boston University

  1990

• M.A., Religious Studies

  Harvard University

  1985

• B.A., Philosophy

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  1982

Awards & honors

• A festschrift on Wildman's work was published by SUNY Press…
• A special journal issue dedicated to his work was published…
• Wildman is President and Chief Scientist of Just Horizons Al…

Similar researchers at Boston University

• Laurel C. Schneiderh-82
• Peng Yinh-72
• Steven J. Sandageh-37