Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Human flourishing

August 18, 2020

The futility of artificial intelligence economics

Salesforce, an American cloud-based software company, earlier this year announced an initiative to develop an artificial intelligence economist. Stephan Zheng, the lead research scientist at Salesforce Research, describes the moonshot goal of this project as to “build a reinforcement learning framework that will recommend economic policies that drive social outcomes in the real world, such as improving sustainability, productivity, and equality.” Continue Reading...
August 12, 2020

Cuba loosens restrictions on private businesses to battle COVID-19

Over the past decade, Cuba’s private sector has experienced slow-but-steady growth thanks to a mix of entrepreneurial grit and incremental policy changes. Although the Communist government continues to waffle on the scope and duration of various restrictions, the number of self-employed Cubans has risen from 150,000 to 600,000 since 2010 – that is, until the outbreak of the global health pandemic. Continue Reading...
June 17, 2020

Justice needs a face

In the wake of George Floyd’s tragic death and the subsequent swell of protests, we are surrounded by resounding cries for justice—both in this particular case and across the issues of over-policing, over-criminalization, and systemic racism. Continue Reading...
March 30, 2020

How to learn new skills in a challenging economy

People all around the world have embraced new responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some continue to work providing needed goods and services, while others are discovering new ways their work can meet those needs while they are physically distant from their colleagues and those whom they serve. Continue Reading...
February 26, 2020

Reviving civil society: Formative vs. performative institutions

In the wake of modernity, we’ve seen plenty of disruption across American life—political, social, economic, and otherwise. Alongside the glorious expansion of freedom and prosperity, we’ve also seen new waves of fragmentation, isolation, and materialism—a “liberal paradox,” as Gaylen Byker once described it, “a hunger for meaning and values in an age of freedom and plenty.” Continue Reading...