Author: Peter Biles | Page 12

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Peter Biles
Date
June 29, 2023

Categorized
Economics

Tagged
Acton Institute, AI, banks, capitalism, Centralization, COVID-19, Creativity, economics, George Gilder, Human exceptionalism, Innovation, Life After Capitalism (book), Samuel Gregg, Technology}

New Review of “Life After Capitalism” Amplifies Book’s Core Themes

_{Returning to the "mind-centered economy" where knowledge is wealth} _{Peter Biles
June 29, 2023

3

Economics}

A new review of George Gilder’s latest book Life After Capitalism from Samuel Gregg highlights the need for the return of the “mind-centered economy,” in which governmental bureaucracies no longer hamper human creativity and imagination. When capitalistic, democratic societies fall for materialistic presuppositions of the world, they end up resembling socialist contexts in which the state is everything and individual men and women are squelched. Gregg writes at the Acton power blog, [Gilder]takes this notion of the free human mind as the decisive factor in driving economic growth and applies it across the board to economic theory, technology, and our understanding of money. Looking at the question of incentives, for example, Gilder points out that they would yield nothing in Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
June 25, 2023

Categorized
Mathematics, Science

Tagged
Charles Darwin, Cormac McCarthy, Evolution, fiction, Lawrence Krauss, Materialism, Mathematics, novels, Physics, Santa Fe Institute, science, Stella Maris, The Passenger}

Is Mathematics an Illusion? Lawrence Krauss and Cormac McCarthy Discuss

_{McCarthy asked, "Would mathematics be here if we weren't?"} _{Peter Biles
June 25, 2023

3

Mathematics, Science}

In December, physicist and author Lawrence Krauss interviewed the late American novelist Cormac McCarthy, who died on June 13th at the age of 89 in Santa Fe, N.M. McCarthy is famous for his remarkable fictional works like The Road and Blood Meridian, but he was also deeply fascinated with mathematics and science. Apparently, he enjoyed reading science more than he did fiction! He moved to Santa Fe from El Paso to be closer to the Santa Fe Institute, a science think tank where McCarthy would spend time speaking with various physicists, scientists, and mathematicians. His latest two novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, are about a brother and sister who are both brilliant mathematicians. Towards the beginning of the interview, Read More ›

Post-Human Dystopia - A Cybernetic Future in Neon

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Peter Biles
Date
June 24, 2023

Categorized
Technocracy

Tagged
censorship, COVID-19 (misinformation issue), Facebook, George Orwell, George Orwell on total surveillance, Jacques Ellul, Robert J. Marks, Technology, totalitarianism, Twitter, Walter Bradley}

Jacques Ellul and the Technocratic Society

_{Unhappy is the society dominated by "technique"} _{Peter Biles
June 24, 2023

4

Technocracy}

Jacques Ellul was a twentieth-century writer and philosopher who left us an abundance of riches on the impact of technology on our modern world, or what he called the “technological society.” I’ve been working through his book The Technological Society for a while now. It’s dense, slow reading, but is jam packed with insights. Aside from merely the proliferation and growth of technology in the West over the last century, Ellul notes that we’ve become a culture obsessed with “technique,” performing tasks for efficiency instead of intrinsic purpose, and training ourselves to relate to other people in like manner. What matters under technique’s domination is not morals or human dignity but about outcome and “results,” being bigger, better, and faster. Read More ›

View from space of orbiting mother earth; view of China, South East Asia, India

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Peter Biles
Date
June 18, 2023

Categorized
Economics

Tagged
Cato Institute, Climate change, Creativity, Discovery Institute, Human exceptionalism, New York Times, Population growth, superabundance, Wired}

You Can’t Have Infinite Growth on a Finite Planet…or Can You?

_{Busting the myths of population growth and economic scarcity} _{Peter Biles
June 18, 2023

3

Economics}

Wired recently came out with an interview with economics data analyst Gaya Herrington proclaiming the doom of humanity if we don’t “shift the paradigm” NOW. Herrington said, Very succinctly, we are at a now-or-never moment. What we do in the next five to 10 years will determine the welfare levels of humanity for the rest of the century. There are so many tipping points approaching, in terms of climate, in terms of biodiversity. So—change our current paradigm, or our welfare must decline. The Planet Can’t Sustain Rapid Growth Much Longer | WIRED Population alarmism is not a new chipmunk at the park. It’s been burrowing its nose into the popular imagination for decades now. But is the hype merited? Are we really Read More ›

Forest in fog with mist. Fairy spooky looking woods in a misty day. Cold foggy morning in horror forest with trees

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Peter Biles
Date
June 17, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, C.S. Lewis, ChatGPT, Creativity, Dystopian, internet, J.R.R. Tolkien, mind matters, Oxford, Paul Kingsnorth, Science fiction, Technology, That Hideous Strength}

That Hideous Strength, A.K.A. Transhumanism

_{C.S. Lewis's classic science fiction tale is about the temptation to reject being human} _{Peter Biles
June 17, 2023

7

Arts & Culture, Transhumanism}

C.S. Lewis’s 1946 science fiction novel That Hideous Strength is almost eighty years old now. Written during the throes of World War II, the novel is the culmination of Lewis’s cosmic trilogy, preluded by Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra. There are hosts of other articles attending to the prescience of Lewis’s terrifying novel, and for good reason; That Hideous Strength is a warning against using technology to dehumanize people and ultimately cripple the world into submission. It’s a great book as a novel, but it seems especially appropriate to revisit in lieu of the growing interest in transhumanism and the rapid acceleration of AI development. It feels like much of the talk on AI in recent months involves Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
June 14, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
AI, AI Church, Associated Press, ChatGPT, Church, Climate change, Fox News, OpenAI, Ukraine}

AI Plays the Reverend

_{An AI chatbot gave a sermon at a church in Germany, allegedly telling congregants "not to fear death."} _{Peter Biles
June 14, 2023

2

Artificial Intelligence}

An AI chatbot gave a sermon at a church in Germany, allegedly telling congregants “not to fear death.” University of Vienna theologian and philosopher Jonas Simmerlein was responsible for the service and for giving the ChatGPT bot its prompts. Talk about eerie. Even churches are starting to incorporate AI into their homilies. Simmerlein noted that overall the chatbot gave “a pretty solid service,” and included psalms, prayers, and also mentions of climate change and Ukraine. Not all the congregants got the same impression. Per the report from Fox News, in conjunction with the Associated Press, some church attendants felt put off by the chatbot’s mechanical and impersonal delivery. One woman expressed, “There was no heart and no soul,” Heiderose Schmidt, Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
June 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Consciousness, Cormac McCarthy, New York Times, Santa Fe Institute}

Cormac McCarthy, Author of “The Road” & “Blood Meridian,” Dead at 89

_{McCarthy thought that if the book didn't deal staunchly with matters of life and death, it was best left unwritten} _{Peter Biles
June 13, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

American author Cormac McCarthy, who was known for his dark and often macabre novels, died on June 13th at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 89. McCarthy was one of America’s most formidable and talented authors. He began his career in Tennessee, writing novels primarily about Appalachia. He moved to El Paso in 1976, where, thanks to funding from the MacArthur Foundation, he wrote Blood Meridian, a ruthless tale of vagabond outlaws wandering Texas and Mexico on scalping expeditions. Many critics find this to be his best work. McCarthy went on to write The Road, a post-apocalyptic novel published in 2006, which he dedicated to his son, John. The Road tells the story of a father and his Read More ›

Dark knight illustration, medieval era wizard, fantasy concept. Generative AI

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Peter Biles
Date
June 11, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Arts and Culture, Astronomy, C.S. Lewis, Fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, science, Science fiction, The Lord of the Rings}

J.R.R. Tolkien on Science Fiction

_{The master storyteller was more open to sci-fi and tech than the stereotype lets on} _{Peter Biles
June 11, 2023

5

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

In early 2021, literary scholar Holly Ordway published a deep dive into J.R.R. Tolkien’s reading habits. The celebrated author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit was a linguist and medievalist at Oxford for decades until his death in 1973. Based on his immersion in ancient literature, people often assume that Tolkien despised all things modern – including modern books. Even C.S. Lewis is quoted as saying, “No one ever influenced Tolkien–you might as well try to influence a Bandersnatch.” Today’s conception of Tolkien stereotypically portrays him as a curmudgeon who refused to engage with modernity. Ordway, however, pushes back against such an image and lays out a comprehensive case for Tolkien’s interest in contemporary literature, including the Read More ›

Colorful Pop Art Comic Book Explosion with Radiant Radial Lines Background for an Action packed Design AI Generated

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Peter Biles
Date
June 10, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts and Culture, hollywood, Multiverse, New York City, Sony, Spider-Man, Tom Holland}

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

_{The new Spider-Man multiverse movie is a riot of cartoonish color and adventure} _{Peter Biles
June 10, 2023

4

Arts & Culture}

The sequel to the 2018 animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrived in theaters last Friday and scored over 120 million dollars over its first weekend. Actor Tom Holland, who played the web-slinger in the latest live-action interpretation, called Into the Spider-Verse the best Spider-Man movie ever made in a recent interview. And that’s coming from Spider-Man himself! I saw the movie over the weekend, and wow, I can say that it’s one of the most visually interesting movies I’ve yet to witness. Like its precursor, Across the Spider-Verse is like watching a live-action comic book; the animators never shied away from the overtly cartoonish. It’s a non-stop riot of color, action, and adolescent angst, and I’m totally here for it. Read More ›

Mental health and business. Silhouette of young adult businesswoman

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Peter Biles
Date
June 4, 2023

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Anxiety, Depression (mental health), social media, Teenagers (suicide and social media), TikTok}

You Are Not Your Brain

_{Does the current discourse on mental health need to change?} _{Peter Biles
June 4, 2023

4

Social Media}

Mental health has been a “hot topic” for a number of years now, especially in relation to social media use and in light of rising suicide rates in the U.S. We recently covered General Surgeon Vivek Murthy’s comments on the dangers of children using social media. It’s increasingly apparent that excessive screen time is linked to poorer mental health, low self-esteem, and negative self-assessment among teenagers. More broadly, the terms “anxiety” and “depression” are used in common parlance. The mental language has become basically ubiquitous. While depression and anxiety are certainly rising, and the issue should be treated with great care and compassion, writer Lucy Foulkes thinks that some teens experience feelings of being left out if they don’t suffer Read More ›

Catch the star. A person is standing next to the Milky Way galaxy pointing on a bright star.

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Peter Biles
Date
June 3, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Human exceptionalism, J.P. Moreland, Materialism, mind-body dualism, Philosophy, Progress, Reality, science, Technology, theology}

A Return to the Reality of the Soul

_{Materialism has depersonalized the universe, but the evidence for the soul remains} _{Peter Biles
June 3, 2023

5

Philosophy}

Contemporary Western culture is disillusioned. Under the mainstream narrative of materialism, moderns struggle to connect their lives with a transcendent meaning beyond the self. In the United States, we enjoy a level of privilege and wealth foreign to the majority of prior generations, and yet we see “deaths of despair,” frightening rates of anxiety and depression, and heightened political tensions. None of this is news to you, I’m guessing. I’ve personally written a variation of that paragraph in other articles a number of times. The question behind our collective disillusionment is, frankly, why? Why do we struggle to make something of our lives? Why do we enjoy technological and scientific progress but lack the moral and cultural means to enjoy Read More ›

The beam of light in the path of the magic forest

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Peter Biles
Date
May 28, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy, Religion

Tagged
AI, Christianity, Magic, Materialism, Morality, Peter Biles, religion, The New Atlantis, transhumanism}

The Rational Magicians

_{Can real meaning be experienced in a godless world? The postrationalists are trying} _{Peter Biles
May 28, 2023

4

Philosophy, Religion}

In the era of scientific enlightenment, progress, and technological sophistication, “magic” might be the last word one might use to describe the activity of modern Western culture. We live in an age of reason, not superstition. Right? The old world of myth, mystery, and religion is holed away in museums and cathedrals; these are relics of an admirable but outdated generation. After Reason In a fascinating new article from The New Atlantis, writer Tara Isabella Burton writes about the “postrationalists,” an Internet subculture disillusioned with the technocratic rationalism of Silicon Valley and in search of a sense of the mystical and divine. “Reason,” or the modern conception of it, has left the postrationalists disappointed. Neither, however, are they flocking to Read More ›

man walking in the night toward the light

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Peter Biles
Date
May 27, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, chatbots, Futurism, Movies and TV, sex robots, Snapchat, social media}

Here Come the AI Companions

_{The Internet ushered in a wave of virtual living and connectivity. Is this the next inevitable step?} _{Peter Biles
May 27, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

The popular social media influencer Caryn Marjorie recently launched “CarynAI,” an artificially intelligent companion that her millions of followers can interact with every day. Marjorie told the Washington Post that she doesn’t have the bandwidth to respond to all the requests she gets from her predominantly male fanbase, however much she wishes to. She furthermore wants to cure them all of their loneliness. She’s on track to make 5 million dollars a month from CarynAI. The bot makes it possible for fans to have a “relationship” with a simulated version of Caryn. Conversations are designed to “wind down” after an hour, but there’s no time limit. One of Caryn’s reps said users are spending hours interacting with CarynAI. The project Read More ›

schreibmaschine alt jahrgang retro schriftsteller

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Peter Biles
Date
May 25, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, film, Futurism, Movies and TV, NPR, Strike, Vox, Writers Guild of America, Writing}

Hollywood Writers vs. AI

_{The Writers Guild of America doesn't want AI stealing their jobs} _{Peter Biles
May 25, 2023

3

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

I smell something rotten in the heart of Hollywood. So do a lot of screenwriters, actors, and directors. And you probably already have seen the headlines about the Writers Guild of America (WGA) going on strike, largely due to Hollywood studios’ apparent openness to using AI to generate scripts. It feels inevitable looking back, with the introduction and consequent explosion of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, that we would quickly arrive at a place where people like screenwriters are demanding job security. New AI systems have challenged a lot of different sectors, from visual art to journalism, but right now, the WGA strike is at the forefront of the conversation and continues to rage. Maggie Harrison of Futurism reports that a good many Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
May 23, 2023

Categorized
Philosophy

Tagged
Book, J.P. Moreland, Materialism, Mind-Brain Distinction, Philosophy of Mind, substance dualism}

The Ultimate Defense of Substance Dualism

_{Philosopher J.P. Moreland is the co-author of an upcoming tome in defense of the soul} _{Peter Biles
May 23, 2023

3

Philosophy}

For decades, materialism has dominated the philosophical conversation. Before the 19th and 20th centuries, however, such a worldview was largely untenable. Most thinkers accepted the reality of both the body and the soul, the physical and the immaterial. What happened? And why do we see the resurgence of a fascination with consciousness and panpsychism, and a renewal of belief in the soul? Philosopher J. P. Moreland, a Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and the author of dozens of books, has an upcoming book dealing with exactly these questions. It is The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism (Oxford: Wiley Blackwell, 2023). Dr. Moreland, a professor at Biola University, is co-author with Brandon Rickabaugh, who is Read More ›

Office building top view background in retro style colors. Manhattan buildings of New York City center - Wall street

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Peter Biles
Date
May 21, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Transhumanism

Tagged
Arts & Culture, capitalism, HBO Max, immortality, media, New York, transhumanism, TV shows, Wall Street}

HBO’s “Succession” Goes Transhumanist

_{The popular show about a family owned media empire hints at the desire to live forever} _{Peter Biles
May 21, 2023

3

Arts & Culture, Transhumanism}

[Warning: Spoilers Ahead] The highly-watched HBO show “Succession” tells the story of a media empire ruled by a cantankerous, manipulative businessman, Logan Roy, and his three children who are hardly any better. Most of the show is a commentary on the corrupting effects of wealth and the power dynamics involved in the media empire’s core leadership. In the dramatic fourth season, Logan Roy dies from what seems to be a stroke while he’s flying to Norway to discuss a giant merger deal with another media mogul. From there, the three Roy children, Kendall, Roman, and Shiv (along with a half-brother Connor who doesn’t care as much about his place in the kingdom) scramble to figure out the leadership, direction, and Read More ›

Manhattan project, development of nuclear weapons, history of science of the 20th century. Art collage with a nuclear explosion

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Peter Biles
Date
May 20, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Technology

Tagged
Atomic bomb, film, Movies and TV, Oppenheimer, Technology, World War II}

“I Can Perform This Miracle”

_{The new "Oppenheimer" trailer gives a chilling hint of the atom bomb race} _{Peter Biles
May 20, 2023

1

Arts & Culture, Technology}

Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar, is breaking ground in the historical film genre with his upcoming film Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt. The film, currently slated for release in July, has a chilling new trailer that gives a larger sense of the movie’s scope, and the profound moral dilemma at the heart of the creation of the atomic bomb. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the theoretical physicist largely responsible for the develop of the bomb in World War II. The new trailer emphasizes the United States’ fierce “arms race” with Germany. In the trailer, Oppenheimer says, “We’re in a race against the Nazis. And I know what it means Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
May 14, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Artists and AI art, Arts & Culture, Authors, ChatGPT, novels, OpenAI, Writers}

Make Literature Human Again

_{Should the AI novel be embraced or avoided?} _{Peter Biles
May 14, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

I’ve been writing avidly since the first grade. Thumbing through a children’s nature magazine in the classroom one day, I discovered a crisp image of a red fox standing in the snow. I’d seen pictures of foxes before, but something stood out to me about this one to the point that I felt like I needed to write about it. If you’re looking for advice on owning foxes as pets, see my manual on the topic. (Full disclosure: my first-grade self was absolutely convinced having a fox for a pet is out of the question.) Years later, that fundamental impulse hasn’t left. Writing stories, novels, essays, news reports, and poetry has always been a fundamental way to try to do Read More ›

3D rendering of abstract blocks of mathematical formulas located in the virtual space

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Peter Biles
Date
May 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Mathematics

Tagged
AI, C.S. Lewis, Euclid, Intelligent design theory, J.R.R. Tolkien, Literature, Mathematics, New York Times, novels}

Math, Mind, and Matter

_{The surprising similarities between mathematics and literature} _{Peter Biles
May 13, 2023

4

Arts & Culture, Mathematics}

Last October, legendary American author Cormac McCarthy, who wrote Blood Meridian and The Road, released a pair of interconnected novels called The Passenger and Stella Maris. The books arrived after a sixteen-year silence from the desk of McCarthy. The books deal, per usual, with themes of mortality, fate, and the “God question,” and are predictably lyrical, vivid, and dark. But McCarthy plows new ground in these sibling novels. The books are about mathematicians. It’s fiction about math. The story revolves around the complex relationship between a brother and sister: Bobby and Alicia Western. Bobby is a deep-sea diver with some history in the field of mathematics, while Alicia is a once-in-a-generation math prodigy. Not Estranged, but Akin After reading these books myself, I marveled at McCarthy’s ability to Read More ›

Aerial view of Tokyo cityscape with Fuji mountain in Japan.

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Peter Biles
Date
May 4, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Communication, fiction, Human exceptionalism, Japan, Literature, Microsoft, Personality}

Novelist Haruki Murakami: Writing Involves Trust

_{Writing powerful literature is a human endeavor written for a human audience} _{Peter Biles
May 4, 2023

4

Arts & Culture}

I just finished a book by the renowned Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami called Novelist as a Vocation. Murakami is the author of 1Q84, Norwegian Wood, and Kafka on the Shore, among many others. As a young novelist myself, I wanted to learn a professional’s thoughts on the trade and also get a sense of his philosophy of writing, which in the age of AI, feels increasingly valuable. Most of the book was composed during or before 2015 but was just published last year, and is basically a compendium of essays on the novel-writing process, how Murakami got started, and the broader literary landscape. Connecting With Readers Murakami’s thoughts on his readership and audience particularly stood out to me. He confesses Read More ›