Mind Matters Natural and Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis
Photo courtesy of Peter Biles

Peter Biles

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Woman freelancer female hands with pen writing on notebook at home or office

Writing Isn’t Important?

A New York Times op-ed claims writing isn't as essential as we might assume

There’s a common phrase in many freshman composition classrooms that goes: “To write is to think.” The notion here is simple: The more you organize your thoughts through writing, the more refined, exact, and fully developed your thoughts become. George Orwell, the great British novelist and essayist, wrote to this effect in his great 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language.” Orwell points out how poor thinking leads to bad writing, which in turn leads to worse forms of thinking. And on and on it goes. I’ve personally found this statement to prove true in my own work, and I know so many other writers will say the same thing. Oftentimes, we don’t even really know what we think until Read More ›

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Teenager using a smartphone lying in bed late at night, playing games, watching videos online, and scrolling the screen. Children's screen addiction. Screen Addiction in Youth

Meta to Pay Billions to Several States

People like Jonathan Haidt have been warning the public of social media's dangerous algorithmic power over young people for years

29 states sued Meta, alleging that its platforms were designed to be addictive and users were misled about the risks.

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Empty podcast studio set

Douthat Exits New York Times, Final Podcast Hosts Biohacker Bryan Johnson

Should all writers be podcasters, too?

He documented the chaos and drama of our political life from the rare perspective of a conservative addressing a largely liberal audience.

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Cute, retro robot with glowing eyes reads a book

More Books for the Bots

AI companies are buying (and destroying) rare books

AI companies are using physical books to train them for their large language models since these texts aren’t already ridden with AI-generated writing.

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books in colored covers swirl on a blue background, copy space

Horowitch and Harrington Chime in on the “Post-literate Society”

Is the age of longform reading truly over?

Despite good reasons to be optimistic about reading’s ultimate survival, Horowitch and Harrington are putting their fingers on something real and concerning. Even for someone like me, who grew up reading books, the allure of digital distraction is often overpowering.

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ON THE BIG SCREEN

George Washington Beats Supergirl at the Box Office

Maybe American audiences are ready for more optimistic and patriotic stories

Box office failures are a staple in the film industry, but every so often, a movie tanks so badly that it causes one to wonder whether Hollywood is drastically misjudging the country’s pulse and interests.

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A robot is reading a book in a church. The robot is white and has a book in its hand. The church is empty and the robot is standing in the middle of the room

New Study Finds Many Pastors Use AI in Various Ways

It's not just schools. AI is in the churches, too

The way AI is creeping into our cultural and religious institutions is worth keeping an eye on, especially since so many of us look to these places to understand what it means to be human in the first place.

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Silhouette of a person trapped inside a giant smartphone screen symbolizing digital addiction 19887577 1

Smartphones Have Contributed to the Declining Fertility Rate, Says New Study

It's easier these days to stay inside and on a screen instead of going outside and trying to meet people

It’s at the point now, nearly twenty years later, that many colleges and universities are seeing significant drops in enrollment simply because there aren’t enough college-aged students in the application pool.

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Gradution Cap with Confetti Background, Graduation Day Concept. Generative Ai

AI Got Booed Off the Stage 

Graduating seniors don't all approve of the technology's growing presence in society 

Many graduating students may just want a simpler life where they can work, afford to live, and enter life-giving relationships.

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Abstract Human Head Infographic Illustration

Does Mental Health Awareness Actually Help People?

A new study and a forthcoming book argue that hyperawareness of mental health and illness can harm more than help

Matthew Loftus has a new book coming out on this topic later in 2026 called Resisting Therapy Culture: The Dangers of Pop Psychology and How the Church Can Respond.

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A vibrant and dynamic university campus during autumn, with students walking, chatting, and studying, capturing the essence of academic life and the pursuit of knowledge

College Closures Are Getting More Common

What’s the state of higher education halfway through the 2020s?

If the demographic problem fails to get any better in the coming years, then it seems clear that higher education will continue to see these kinds of financial challenges.

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Colorful art abstract from piles of books

Longform Nonfiction in Decline?

We still need to read long books about complicated topics

Perhaps it isn’t coincidental that this kind of longform writing is having trouble at the same time that the online news cycle gets ever more ephemeral.

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Businesspeople meet in the metaverse for a project presentation using VR 360 goggles - Combining business and technology in the virtual world

Meta Retreats from the Metaverse

While Meta is scaling back on the metaverse, it is reportedly switching focus to artificial intelligence.

The ambitious project never paid its expected dividends. Consumers simply weren’t as interested in these VR headsets as Zuckerberg thought they would be.

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Two Small Robots Interact in a Garden Setting

What is Meta Up To? Big Tech Turns to AI Investment

The social media giant bought a social media site made up of bots.

Maybe AI will force us to reckon with the reality of the soul, which I also wager that no computer system can generate.

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A young person engages with a virtual reality headset, interacting with an AI chatbot interface, set against a vibrant blue background, showcasing technology potential. XDMCP

Are Young People Getting Tired of AI?

A new article suggests teens are not universally excited about the blossoming technology

Julie Jargon wrote an interesting piece for The Wall Street Journal about teen attitudes towards AI and found that their view of it isn’t so optimistic as many might assume.

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Female hands with newspapers on color background

Washington Post Fires Hundreds of Journalists

The Post has struggled in recent years and even saw a major dip in subscriptions back in 2024

Owner Jeff Bezos has not yet succeeded in making the company financially viable in a time when so much media and journalism is now being independently created.

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Woman reading book at evening at home close up

The Decline of K-12 Literacy and What Might Help

An emphasis on storytelling might at least partially serve as a solution in K-12.

High school students struggle in places afflicted with poverty, family breakdown, and other social woes. However, it doesn’t necessarily follow that students from wealthier regions are demonstrating academic excellence.

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Robotic hand pressing a keyboard on a laptop 3D rendering

Grok’s Deepfake Capacities Modified Following Pushback

Deepfakes and AI-generated content are only becoming more prevalent on sites like X.

Grok, X’s AI program, came under fire when its users began creating explicit images and videos of real people. AI-generated deepfakes began to abound until finally, X took action to modify the AI bot’s capabilities. According to X’s Safety account: We have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers. Additionally, image creation and the ability to edit images via the Grok account on the X platform are now only available to paid subscribers. This adds an extra layer of protection by helping to ensure that individuals who attempt to abuse the Grok account to violate Read More ›