Technology

November 19, 2019

Guarding our hearts in an age of mass and social media

I try to guard my attention closely for, as King Solomon admonishes, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23). I don’t always succeed, but on my best days I focus on things I truly wish to understand through diligent study and things which I am able to do something about. Continue Reading...

November 19, 2019

Musk vs. Ma on AI: Why the future of work is bright

Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss and human obsolescence are taking increasing space in the cultural imagination. The question looms: What is the future of human work in a technological age? Continue Reading...

November 07, 2019

Should social media companies be treated like publishers and broadcasters?

We can count on seeing certain stories in the news as part of a pool of general interest that changes over time. Consider the endless stories questioning the value of college education, pronouncing the harms of artificial sweeteners, describing storms in the Atlantic, or detailing various crises at the border. Continue Reading...

October 25, 2019

On being wrapped up in books

Last night I gave an address at The Grand Castle in Grandville, Michigan on the occasioning of its library opening. I spoke on the importance of books and libraries. As the Librarian and a Research Associate at the Acton Institute it is a topic of professional interest but is also an abiding private passion. Continue Reading...

September 27, 2019

St. Nikolai Velimirovic: How Christians should view technology

Like Americans today, St. Nikolai Velimirovic witnessed dizzying technological changes between his birth in 1881 and the day he died in 1956 in a rural Pennsylvanian monastery. The former bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who spent time in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, shared how Christians should view technology – something equally important in our day, as everyone from parents to legislators offers their own solutions. Continue Reading...

September 11, 2019

Can a big bad state deliver us from evil?

Thirty five years ago the American novelist Thomas Pynchon asked the question, “Is It O.K. To Be A Luddite?” The occasion was the then 25th anniversary of C.P. Snow’s Rede Lecture, “The Two Cultures of the Scientific Revolution,” which argued, way back in 1959, that our culture was increasingly polarized into “literary” and “scientific” factions unable to understand each other. Continue Reading...

July 01, 2019

Is social media the source of our social problems?

The British economist John Kay made a powerful argument in his 2011 book Obliquity: Why our goals are best achieved indirectly that the best way to achieve any complex of broadly defined goal is indirectly through a gradual process of risk taking and discovery. Continue Reading...

June 04, 2019

HBO’s ‘Chernobyl‘: A scathing rebuke of Soviet secrecy

In case you missed it, the final episode of the highly acclaimed five-part HBO miniseries “Chernobyl” aired last night. When the credits rolled, I let out a pent-up breath that I didn’t know that I was holding in and slumped back in my seat, finally able to relax. Continue Reading...

June 03, 2019

Are rising education and healthcare costs our own fault?

Alex Tabarrok, professor of Economics at George Mason University and co-author of the Marginal Revolution blog, has co-authored a new book with Eric Helland exploring why prices have risen so sharply in healthcare and education. Continue Reading...

May 29, 2019

Aldi and the virtues of ‘brutal efficiency’

In recent years, we’ve witnessed a food revolution of sorts, leading to expansive consumer choice and an increasing emphasis on healthy or specialty foods that are locally and ethically sourced. In turn, a flurry of grocery chains have capitalized on such trends, with some stuffing their aisles with countless brands as others focus on “socially conscious” goods at luxury prices. Continue Reading...

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