Reading Time: 9 minutes The year is 1973. In January, Richard Nixon is sworn in for his second term as president, the US officially withdraws from its conflict in Vietnam, and an investigation into the Watergate break-ins expands from the burglars to the statesmen. In the coming months, Nixon will orchestrate a cover-up of a cover-up, trying to hold […]
Social Issues
Posted inArtificial Intelligence
Strange course changes in Replika AI have users upset and confused
Reading Time: 17 minutes The AI chatbot Replika has always been an inconsistent app, but its latest changes have upset and confused its many fans. I can see why. Constant course changes inevitably upset any product’s userbase, but these are particularly poorly considered. Over time, people have subtly but irrevocably shifted how they engage with AI products. And Replika […]
Posted inEthics and Morality
What makes a ‘bad’ human being?
Reading Time: 7 minutes On Wednesday night, I was robbed at gunpoint—an efficient affair, and my second time since moving to Colombia in 2018. Both times, I’d made the mistake of relaxing my guard because there were others around me; this time, I was on my home turf, a block from my building, with neighbours strolling ahead of and […]
Posted inFilm/TV
‘My Mister’: Kind of a love story about something else
Reading Time: 4 minutes Long before I experienced the beguilingly and sometimes joltingly offbeat South Korean drama Parasite, which so deservedly won the Academy Award for best picture in 2020—the first-ever Korean winner—I’ve been a huge fan of that country’s ever-enthralling movies and TV series. Thank goodness for mega-streamer Netflix, which stocks a massive archive of new and older […]
Posted inUncategorized
Can a Moral Person Eat Meat?
Reading Time: 4 minutes One moral problem that I seem to be on the wrong side of is eating meat. How can I justify it? (And how can you?)
Posted inUncategorized
Jesus vs. Slavery: Tom Gilson Responds (3 of 3)
Reading Time: 4 minutes We’ll conclude my response to Tom Gilson’s critique of my Jesus ’n slavery posts. He exposes my logical errors for all to see. (Well, he tries to, anyway.)
Posted inUncategorized
Jesus vs. Slavery: Tom Gilson Responds (2 of 3)
Reading Time: 4 minutes We’ll continue with my response to Tom Gilson’s critique of my Jesus ’n slavery posts. He criticizes my fundamentalist approach and gets confused about a simile.
Posted inGeneral
Jesus vs. Slavery: Tom Gilson Responds
Reading Time: 4 minutes I critiqued Tom Gilson’s claim that Jesus made a bold anti-slavery message (he didn’t). Gilson has now responded. Take a look.
Posted inUncategorized
How Good Was Jesus if He Didn’t Eliminate Slavery? (4 of 4)
Reading Time: 4 minutes In this final post for this series, consider how the American Civil War tested the Bible’s pro- and anti-slavery messages. And let’s finally understand why Jesus didn’t reject slavery.
Posted inUncategorized
How Good Was Jesus if He Didn’t Eliminate Slavery? (3 of 4)
Reading Time: 6 minutes Now we’re told that biblical slavery was not at all like American slavery, slavery was entrenched in society (so cut Jesus some slack), and Jesus actually *did* end slavery . . . just not immediately. Let the critique begin.