Weekend A La Carte (March 14)

Welcome to this Weekend edition of A La Carte. I am attempting to focus these weekend editions on thinkpieces and longer-form articles. I’m sure you’ll find something here that interests you.

My gratitude goes to P&R for sponsoring the blog this week. They wanted to be certain you know about their excellent new devotional studies for women.

Today’s Kindle deals include a variety of good books, some of which are newer and some of which are older. In either case, we are spoiled to have access to so many great deals.

(Yesterday on the blog: Sex, Self-Forgetfulness, and the Joy of Serving Your Spouse)

The West’s Strange Genius

Michael Jensen argues that “the most distinct and important contribution of the West is the tradition of moral self-critique, which was deeply shaped by Christianity. The West is not defined by moral superiority but by the capacity to recognise its own sins.” He defends this position briefly but compellingly.

Healing the Ways Women Hurt Each Other

“There’s something about groups of women that can be incredibly empowering, but on the other side, deeply destructive. I’ve experienced both. Some groups are healthy and life-giving; others are toxic and draining. And for women, I think this issue begins young. The stereotype of the “mean girl” didn’t appear out of nowhere—cultural pressures and psychological factors shape how girls, and later women, relate to one another. Exploring all of that would take a collaborative effort far bigger than one woman can unpack alone.” Randi Singleton applies this to women’s ministry in the local church.

Articles about AI

There has been a tremendous amount of writing about AI in recent weeks. This makes sense, of course, as it becomes increasingly clear that AI will be a world-changing technology. Here are a few that I found especially interesting.

I’ll lead with Aaron Renn’s interview with Dean Ball, AI Skeptics Are About to Be Left Behind. You can either listen to it or read a transcript. Essentially, they insist that AI is such a powerful technology that we simply need to familiarize ourselves with it and begin to use it, lest we be left behind. Renn followed up a few days later with a simple explanation of how he has begun to use AI.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal explained that last week was The Week the Dreaded AI Jobs Wipeout Got Real. This was based on the company Block laying off a substantial portion of their workforce, at least ostensibly because their jobs will be replaced by AI. (Some are claiming that it’s more likely the company was simply bloated and that AI provided a ready excuse to thin the ranks.)

Brad Littlejohn has been writing lots on the subject lately, including this look at Agency in an Age of Agents. “To the typical citizen, the techno-optimist narrative of AI is scarcely distinguishable from the ‘doomer’ narrative it seeks to combat, one in which all-powerful agents that promised to work for us instead turn on us, defy our control, and take over society. After all, isn’t that what has already happened?”

Brad also wrote The World After Reading, which is an alarming look at what we may lose as AI begins to do our reading for us. “As reading comprehension declined and reading became vastly more effortful, we gravitated still more to the comfort of the screen, further rewiring our neural circuits until, for most of us, reading a novel had been transformed from a delight to a chore to an impossibility. Having thus deprived ourselves of the capacity to read, our technologists eagerly hurried forward with a patent medicine to cure their own disease: AI. Don’t worry if you can’t read anymore! The bot will do that for you.”

Ian Harber covered AI this week, and technology in general, in Life with the Machines. He expressed some of his disagreements with Paul Kingsnorth’s much-lauded Against The Machine and considered the space between avoiding new technologies and embracing them all.

What About the Children? The Disaster & Consequences of Obergefell (Audio/Video)

I enjoyed this discussion between Albert Mohler and Katy Faust as they consider the victims of Obergefell.

8 Things Caregivers Should Know About Dementia

The statistics about dementia are such that most of us will need to deal with it at some point, perhaps when we ourselves are struck with it or perhaps as we care for loved ones. This article by Gaye Clark offers eight brief pointers on better understanding dementia and better responding to it. “It’s important to remember dementia is a physical disease that causes psychological symptoms. Dementia patients can’t always control their behavior. But for the more than 11 million U.S. adults caring for someone with dementia, it can be hard to remember that when a parent lashes out, empties every kitchen cabinet, or wanders outside at 3:00 a.m. It can be hard for me to remember, and I’ve spent my career in the medical field.”

Parenting Children to Love Christ (Video)

Finally, I appreciated Hershael York giving attention to the matter of parenting children to love Christ. While he speaks first for pastors, there’s something for every parent to gain from it.