God works in mysterious ways — including through chatbots. At least, that’s what many people seem to think.
Why Critical Thinking Is Disappearing and The Rise of Collective Stupidity
In a time filled with information but lacking wisdom, the video titled “The Disappearance of Critical Thinking and the Rise of Collective Stupidity” serves as a timely reminder to awaken our minds. It draws on philosophical ideas and psychological analysis to show how today’s society, through digital overload, educational conformity, and emotional manipulation, has weakened the habit of deep inquiry.
Explainer Podcast Mark Twain’s What is Man?
In Mark Twain’s philosophical dialogue, “What Is Man?” an Old Man presents a deterministic view of humanity to a Young Man. The Old Man asserts that human beings are complex machines whose every action and thought are dictated by their innate temperament and external influences rather than free will.
On AI, Jewish Thought Has Something Distinct to Say
The world’s religious thinkers are currently trying to figure out what to do about AI—albeit in fits and starts. Conferences are being convened. Books and articles are being commissioned. Google “Muslim approaches to AI” or “Catholic approaches to AI” and real substance will pop up. Most of this has happened in the last five years. The wheels are really turning.
World News in Brief: Cholera strikes Sudan and beyond, humanitarian needs grown for returning Afghans, rising insecurity in DR Congo
So far this year, cholera has killed more than 4,300 people across 31 countries. These figures are underestimates and there is particular concern for those impacted by war in Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Yemen.
Teaching With Heart
Growing up in a Marine Corps family during the ’50s and the ’60s, I attended six different elementary schools and three different high schools. By the time I graduated from Stuttgart American High School in Ludwigsburg, Germany, I was a
Special Prosecutor Kim Kun-hee summons Unification Church district leader for questioning … Investigation into illegal political funding
The special prosecutors’ team, which is investigating various allegations surrounding Ms. Kim Kun-hee, has reportedly summoned and questioned five regional chapter leaders within the Unification Church (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) in 2022. The special prosecutors reportedly questioned them about whether missionary funds within the church were used for illegal political funding.
At least 100 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza, health ministry says
The United Kingdom released a statement with 27 of its allies, many of them European, condemning the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and calling on Israel to take immediate steps to alleviate humanitarian suffering.
Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward and the Apophatic Tradition: Same Goal, Different Means
Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward is a book that speaks to those who sense a hollowness in outward success, whose carefully constructed identities or personas no longer hold the same weight or function as they once did. Rohr offers a language for thinking and talking about this transition, which becomes a descent into a spiritual depth that embraces paradox and uncertainty over self-determined linear progress and achievement in the world. In contrast, there is another path, ancient and austere that can complement Rohr’s presentation: the apophatic tradition. Rooted in the earliest centuries of Christian mysticism, it calls not for building or refining the self, the container we imaginatively construct and fill, but for letting it go entirely. These two approaches, though distinct in their means, converge on the same mystery: union with God.
Perspectives of Traditional Religions on Positive AI Futures
Most of the global population participates in a traditional religion. Yet the perspectives of these religions are largely absent from strategic AI discussions. This initiative aims to support religious groups to voice their faith-specific concerns and hopes for a world with AI, and work with them to resist the harms and realise the benefits.