When Madelaine began a PhD on “responsible” robots for retail at TU Delft, she tried to be a helpful philosopher and make design recommendations to ease workers’ discomforts. Halfway through the four-year project, she realized that this approach served corporate growth rather than human and planetary wellbeing.

She went on to ask the essential questions that’d been skipped over, but should be included on every technology project, namely: should we make this? Who does it really benefit? Does this create a world of caring or contribute to the current catastrophe of loneliness?

Paradoxically, stepping back meant looking more closely at how technologies shape our day-to-day. There’s a lot to be gleaned from the seemingly mundane. Madelaine’s teaching and research has since challenged the dominating narrative that we must adopt new technologies. She encourages students, industry partners, and governments to discern the multitude of options vying for our attention, if we’d only dare to feel them.This requires more than our minds, no matter how clever.

In addition to her academic training, Madelaine is trained in spiritual care through a ten-year mentorship with Rev. Rodger Hunter, as well as a lifetime with her mystic-poet-theologian mother, dr. Rev. Candice Bist. Under their tutelage, Madelaine learned the sacred art of creative loitering and agenda-free presence. Beyond her research, she puts these skills to work when designing experiential learning. In addition to leading university courses on digital citizenship, robot-ethics, and responsible AI, she also hosted Sacred Sessions in one of the Netherlands most historic churches, Delft’s Oude Kerk, which wove together philosophy, science, art, collective reflection, and contemplative practices for a multi-faith and secular audience.