Michael Matheson Miller

Michael Matheson Miller is a Senior Research Fellow at the Acton Institute

Posts by Michael Matheson Miller

May 29, 2019

Pope Francis on ‘fake charity’

At the recent Vatican meeting of Catholic Charities Pope Francis praised the participants for their concern for the poor and marginalized, but warned them of the danger of “fake charity.” Carol Glatz writes in Catholic Herald: Charity is not a sterile service or a simple donation to hand over to put our conscience at ease,” he said. Continue Reading...
May 24, 2019

How to think like a Christian

Here is a podcast interview I did recently with my friend Matt Leonard, host of The Art of Catholic and Next Level Catholic Academy. Matt and I talked about some of the foundational ideas of Christian thinking in contrast with the dominant secular way of seeing the world.  Continue Reading...
May 07, 2019

Is behavioral economics blind to its blindness?

I find some of the work of behavioral economists, especially that of Daniel Kahneman to be very interesting and important. Thinking Fast and Slow is essential reading. His distinctions between what he calls Type I and Type II thinking is very insightful, and the broad critique that human beings don’t always act like rational maximizers is a correct. Continue Reading...
April 24, 2019

Joshua Berman on whether the Exodus happened

This is the season of Jewish Passover and Christian Easter (or Pascha.)  This is the time when Jews recall how God passed over their homes and spared their first born, led them dry shod across the Red Sea and saved them from slavery in Egypt.  Continue Reading...
April 12, 2019

Does capitalism always become crony?

Mark Zuckerberg has finally admitted he needs help. From the government. After years of shady dealing, data collection, and intentionally designing addictive technologies, Zuckerberg has asked the government to regulate tech. Continue Reading...
April 03, 2019

AOC and the New Eugenics

Here is a piece I wrote for the Stream on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her comments on climate change and whether “it is still ok to have children.” When an American politician asks if it is still okay to have children, this is something to notice. Continue Reading...
March 22, 2019

Emerging tech trends

  NYU Stern professor Amy Webb gave her annual Emerging Tech Trends this week at the South by Southwest conference. (Hat tip to Dan Churchwell for the recommendation.) She highlighted a number of trends from food grown in warehouses and 4D printing to genome editing. Continue Reading...
February 26, 2019

Google and surveillance capitalism

Business Insider reported last week that Google failed to disclose the existence of a microphone in their home security system, NestSecure. This came as a surprise to many Nest customers who complained that they were not informed that the security system even had a microphone. Continue Reading...