^TagCulture

Back view of man looking at alien invasion, UFO flying in the sky, concept of evidence and sighting, retro illustration. Generative AI

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post

Author
Gary Varner
Date
September 9, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
aliens, Amy Adams, Arrival, Culture, Extraterrestrial life, Jeremy Renner, Language, Movies and TV, science, The Walking Dead}

Arrival Review, Part 1

_{Nobody behaves like they should for the first ten minutes. They act, dare I say, alien.} _{Gary Varner

September 9, 2023

6

Arts & Culture}

Arrival is an interesting movie. It’s well-shot, well-acted, and well-written. The trouble is the script makes some strange choices in the beginning and I just wasn’t persuaded by the movie’s twist at the end. The story starts out with a montage where Louise is raising her daughter, but the child tragically dies of some unknown illness, presumably cancer. The viewer is led to conclude that this is a flashback, but if one listens to the monologue Louise delivers, she says plainly that she’s explaining when the child’s story begins, if there are beginning at all, which is something she no longer believes. This basically means that the entire movie is a flashback, but the viewer is not supposed to notice Read More ›

the young guy playing an acoustic guitar. Shooting backlit

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 8, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, art, Culture, DC, Jordan Peterson, music, Oliver Anthony, Politics, Robots, YouTube}

Oliver Anthony, Music, and Human Exceptionalism

_{Honest music speaks to the heart and brings us closer together.} _{Peter Biles

September 8, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

If you’ve been online at all for the last few weeks, chances are you’ve come across headlines about the folk/country singer Oliver Anthony, whose song “Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral in August. The song, a broad critique of elite power in Washington D.C., (Democrat and Republican) has gained both applause and fierce critique, but for the most part, seems to have deeply resonated with the general American public. Psychologist Jordan B. Peterson recently had Anthony on his podcast, discussing music, entrepreneurship, and virality. One thing is clear about Anthony’s songs: they’re honest, and people are attracted to that. Peterson noted in their conversation that authenticity is a sign of brilliance in artists, and how that sort of honesty Read More ›

Shelves with books in a bookstore. Education and development. Blurred. Horizontal photo. A great background for your design.

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Author
Peter Biles
Date
August 6, 2023

Categorized
Education

Tagged
academia, Arts and Culture, Conservativism, Culture, History, John Locke, Joseph Loconte, Liberalism, National Review, Politics, religion, The King's College, The Left, The West, Western literature}

Don’t Censor Western Books

_{For thousands of men and women, the Western canon served as a lifeline} _{Peter Biles

August 6, 2023

3

Education}

The King’s College, a longstanding evangelical Christian college in Manhattan’s financial district, announced financial shortcomings in February, and as of this month, canceled fall classes and laid off a majority of its faculty members. King’s is small, but its students have historically been driven, smart, and ambitious. With a goal of transmitting the spiritual riches of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the next generation, the college saw students go on to elite graduate schools and take influential roles in journalism, law, academia, and the arts. While the details of King’s seemingly ultimate demise is complicated, Joseph Loconte, a former history professor at King’s, writes that its death spiral is reflective of something deeper and endemic in the West. For so many Read More ›

industrial pollution at sunset with smokestacks emitting smoke. Generative AI

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post

Author
News
Date
June 19, 2023

Categorized
Transhumanism

Tagged
AI, Consciousness, Culture, machine, Mary Harrington, Paul Kingsnorth, religion, The West, transhumanism, UnHerd, YouTube}

Two Writers on Transhumanist Trends

_{Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington discuss the modern urge to throw off all natural limits} _{News

June 19, 2023

1

Transhumanism}

This is a conversation from a year ago but nevertheless remains radically pertinent today. Paul Kingsnorth and Mary Harrington, both who have written on various modern trends to try and transcend bodily limits, sat down on the Rebel Wisdom YouTube channel to have a chat. Both have written for the online magazine UnHerd, but up until this point, had never interacted with each other. Kingsnorth is a former environmentalist who became disillusioned with the movement and eventually converted to Orthodox Christianity. He is also a novelist and currently lives a simple life in Ireland. Harrington is a contributing editor of UnHerd and writes on feminism, politics, and other pressing cultural issues. Both believe that the urge to throw off human Read More ›

instagram filter Himalaya mountains nepal

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post

Author
News
Date
May 12, 2023

Categorized
Addiction, Environment

Tagged
Boy Scouts, Culture, Digital media, Lawsuit, Mountains, Nature, Robert J. Marks, Technology, Trail Life, Wilderness}

Boy Scouts and Tech Addiction

_{You can't mimic the reality compared to what you see on the screen} _{News

May 12, 2023

2

Addiction, Environment}

The Boy Scouts of America once enjoyed a booming membership. But over the last decade especially, due to some policy changes, abuse scandals, and a giant lawsuit, the once great organization has seen a colossal decline. In last week’s podcast, Robert J. Marks sat down with former Boy Scout leader and his cousin Kent Marks. Together they talked about the tragic decline in the Boy Scouts program, which coincides with the enduring need to help boys navigate the many distractions and difficulties of growing up in a digitally mediated world. Today, Kent continues to lead boys on wilderness expeditions and believes that getting guys away from the screens and into the beauty of the outdoors is a key to their Read More ›

Back view of businessman suit standing at office looking at night city through panoramic window. Generative AI

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Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 15, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
AI, Arts and Culture, Culture, Gary Varner, Movies, Relationship, Science fiction, society, Technology, tv}

Her, Part One

_{The 2013 dystopian film proposes an intriguing "what if"} _{Gary Varner

April 15, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

When I was reviewing the Orville, Season Three, I spent a lot of time complaining about the robot-love subplot which consumed far too much of the series. I will probably always find the idea of such a relationship ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean the concept can’t be explored in a thoughtful way. One such thoughtful exploration is the movie Her, where a man falls in love with his AI operating system. Unlike the Orville, which demands that the viewer take the relationship seriously, almost going so far as to call the viewer a bigot if they don’t get on board with the fantasy, Her leaves everything open-ended, treating the whole idea of a man and robot falling in love as Read More ›

beautiful bunch cordyceps,mushrooms in neon light. The last of us style. Generative AI.

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Author
Gary Varner
Date
April 8, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Science Fiction

Tagged
Culture, Gary Varner, HBO Max, Science fiction, television, The Last of Us, TV shows, Video games}

The Last of Us: Final Thoughts

_{The HBO series is a mixed bag but is still worth the watch} _{Gary Varner

April 8, 2023

6

Arts & Culture, Science Fiction}

The Last of Us HBO series is a mixed bag. There are parts of this show I really liked and other parts I despised. The main trouble is that there are two full episodes which are completely irrelevant to the plot. Frankly, you could skip episodes three and seven and not miss a thing. These episodes are just fanfare for the critics and add nothing to the story. Particularly episode three. I’ve never seen such a random addition to a series. What’s so astounding is that the flashback in episode three keeps going. About halfway through, the viewer realizes that they really are going to have to watch these two old men live and die, all so Joel and Ellie Read More ›

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Author
Gary Varner
Date
March 15, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Apocalypticism, Arts & Culture, Bait and Switch, Culture, Gary Varner, Nick Offerman, Science fiction, The Last of Us, TV shows}

The Last of Us, Episode 3 (Part 2)

_{Why were we subjected to this episode if it wasn’t going to contribute to the narrative?} _{Gary Varner

March 15, 2023

6

Arts & Culture}

Last time, we discussed how episode three started out relatively strong then unexpectedly shifted to another story altogether. It’s important to note that we are not watching a ten-minute flashback or some b-plot involving a couple of supporting characters. Almost all of the episode is devoted to Bill and Frank, and frankly, their story goes nowhere. As I mentioned before, the subject of this random entry into the series is Bill and Frank’s romantic relationship, and given the fact that this little deviation from the source material contributes nothing to the plot as a whole, it is strongly suspected that the only reason the writers chose to tell this story was to gain the admiration of critics who share their Read More ›

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Author
Peter Biles
Date
March 10, 2023

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, art, Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, ChatGPT, Consciousness, Culture, Dall-E, Gary Smith, Midjourney, mind, OpenAI}

Observing and Communing

_{What human art and literature do that AI can't} _{Peter Biles

March 10, 2023

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture}

AI image generators like Midjourney or DALL-E are generally adept at capturing the accuracy of the human form. The concerns over copyright, job infringement, and general degradation of the visual arts via such AI are ongoing concerns for many artists and practitioners. However, a new New Yorker article by Kyle Chayka identifies a noticeable flaw in AI artwork: human hands. Missing the Big Picture Chayka begins by recalling an art class where he was asked to draw his own hand. It’s an assignment for beginners, and as behooves a novice, tempts the artist to focus more on the specific contours of the hand instead of the overall structure and form. The forest gets lost in the trees, so to speak. Read More ›

Cyber relationships on the Internet. Connected people. People and microchips. Cybernetic society. Alone in the net.

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post

Author
News
Date
March 2, 2023

Categorized
Technology

Tagged
Culture, Jacques Ellul, OBU, Salvo, Self, society, Technique, Technology, Western}

The Technological Society We Live In

_{In today's world, we think we can solve everything through technique. How's that going for us?} _{News

March 2, 2023

2

Technology}

In a blog post this week from Salvo, Joshua Pauling cites the influential thinker Jacques Ellul on the development of a “technological society” in Western culture. Pauling writes, Even in the mid-20th century, Ellul, a French philosopher and theologian, saw technique and efficiency coming to consume every aspect of life and society. As he defined it in The Technological Society (originally entitled La Technique in French), technique is the “totality of methods rationally arrived at and having absolute efficiency in every field of human activity” (xxv). Just as the factories of the industrial world were optimized according to new standards of efficiency, now everything is measured, recorded, analyzed through a lens of efficiency, and then submitted to a technique to maximize outcomes according to Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
March 1, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Arts & Culture, Culture, Dean Koontz, fiction, Modernity, transhumanism, Wesley J. Smith}

Wesley J. Smith on Why You Should Read Dean Koontz

_{The bestselling novelist's work is both entertaining and profoundly insightful into our cultural moment} _{News

March 1, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

Wesley J. Smith, Chair of Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, wrote an article praising the prolific literature of his friend Dean Koontz, whose books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide. Smith finds Koontz both a unique writer and a remarkable person with a powerful story of redemption. Born in poverty in Pennsylvania under the hand of an abusive father, Koontz persevered and pursued novel writing with the help of his wife’s encouragement. The rest is history. Through daily discipline, keen research, and profound imagination, Koontz has written dozens of bestsellers. First and foremost, his books entertain and delight. In addition, however, they deliver their fair share of social commentary and critique. Much of his work explores the Read More ›

Military artificial intelligence arms race to produce an AI enabled army with autonomous robot soldiers and weapon systems, conceptual illustration

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Author
Peter Biles
Date
October 27, 2022

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence

Tagged
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous drones, Culture, military technology, Robots, Technology, warfare}

Robots, Drones, and Modern Warfare

_{Robots might not take over the world like the sci-fi movies depict, but AI in modern warfare threatens much destruction} _{Peter Biles

October 27, 2022

4

Artificial Intelligence}

You might remember the blockbuster movie I, Robot (2004) starring Will Smith, who plays a tough-minded homicide detective named Del Spooner in Chicago in the year 2035. Humanoid robots serve humanity and have become incorporated into society. Still, ever since a robot saved Del at the expense of a little girl, he hates them and thinks they will eventually overrun the world. I, Robot imagines a society in which AI could physically overtake humanity. The technology we’ve created for our own use ends up using us, unto our own destruction. Movies like I, Robot, Terminator, and others envision sentient, human-like robots that threaten to jeopardize the meaning of being human. But is that the real danger of AI, or does Read More ›

Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego,Ushuaia

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Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 17, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Creativity

Tagged
Culture, Dialogue in Rings of Power, Donald Williams, Galadriel in Rings of Power, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Modern Audiences, Rings of Power (Amazon film series 2022-), Story, television}

Amazon’s Rings of Power and Where the Conflict Really Lies

_{If Peter Jackson gave the LOTR cast unnecessary internal conflicts, then the Rings of Power writers have done it on steroids.} _{Peter Biles

September 17, 2022

5

Arts & Culture, Creativity}

The third and fourth episodes of Rings of Power have aired as of September 16th. Thousands of reviews have fountained across the internet over the last couple of weeks, some from rankled fans, others from satisfied enthusiasts, and others with both good and bad things to report. The show, as we all anticipated, has not gone without its fair share of controversy and pushback, but for this review, I want to lay those conversations aside and instead focus on some pros and cons of the recent episodes from my own perspective. To begin on a positive note, I enjoyed these last couple of episodes much more than the first two. The storyline seems to be getting somewhere. Galadriel is being Read More ›

boy standing on the opened book and looking at other books floating in the air, digital art style, illustration painting

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post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
September 14, 2022

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Books, Creativity, Culture, Dean Koontz, entertainment. media, Politics, Propoganda, Science fiction, society}

Art, Propaganda, and the Role of the Novelist

_{Bestselling author Dean Koontz talks fiction, human exceptionalism, and transhumanism with Wesley J. Smith in new podcast episode (Part I)} _{Peter Biles

September 14, 2022

4

Arts & Culture}

Dean Koontz is a renowned novelist, known for books such as Devoted, The Big Dark Sky, and Odd Thomas. His books have topped the charts as New York Times bestsellers, and at age 77, he doesn’t plan on quitting the craft of fiction any time soon. He is also a longtime proponent of intelligent design and human exceptionalism, both of which find their footing in his many writings. On September 12th, Koontz was featured on the Humanize Podcast, where he and Wesley J. Smith, Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute’s Center for Human Exceptionalism, discussed Koontz’s career as a writer as well as some of the central themes that pervade Koontz’s work. For Part I of this two-part discussion on the Read More ›

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post

Author
William A. Dembski
Date
December 12, 2021

Categorized
Religion

Tagged
Culture, Ghetto culture, truth, Worldview}

How Does Worldview Differ From Cultural Environment?

_{Confusion about the difference between worldview and cultural environment has been a stumbling block for Christian apologetics} _{William A. Dembski

December 12, 2021

7

Religion}

5 Worldview vs. Cultural Environment By now it will be apparent that a cultural environment differs from a worldview. Let’s say a bit more about that difference, because it is important. A cultural environment applies corporately to the group or community in which one resides. On the other hand, a worldview is, in the first instance, held individually, though it can be shared and therefore held corporately. Thus we may speak of “the Christian worldview.” One’s worldview is the set of beliefs that one holds about what the world is like. As such, it doesn’t distinguish between beliefs that are held intensely and those that are held more lightly. It doesn’t distinguish between beliefs that are non-negotiable and those to Read More ›

Bangkok, Thailand 25 AUG 2020. Men hand using digital tablet for search information on Google. Wireless Smartphone technology with intelligence search engine.

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Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
December 8, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Work

Tagged
Conscious computers, Culture, Emily M. Bender, fake news, Google, Google whistleblowers, Jeff Dean, Karen Hao, large language models, Timnit Gebru, Whistleblowers}

Google’s Leading AI Ethics Researcher Fired, Amid Controversy

_{Her research team targeted Google’s “cash cow”: advertising} _{Denyse O'Leary

December 8, 2020

6

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, Work}

Timnit Gebru, a leading AI ethics researcher, was fired from Google early this month under circumstances that have raised suspicions across the industry: On December 2, the AI research community was shocked to learn that Timnit Gebru had been fired from her post at Google. Gebru, one of the leading voices in responsible AI research, is known among other things for coauthoring groundbreaking work that revealed the discriminatory nature of facial recognition, cofounding the Black in AI affinity group, and relentlessly advocating for diversity in the tech industry. But on Wednesday evening, she announced on Twitter that she had been terminated from her position as Google’s ethical AI co-lead. “Apparently my manager’s manager sent an email [to] my direct reports Read More ›

sunset on a yurt , in the grassland of Mongolia

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Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
September 28, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Bainuu, China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Cultural genocide, Culture, education, Featured, Inner Mongolia, Language, Mongolia, Schools, Southern Mongolia, Xi Jinping}

High-Tech Suppression of China’s Mongol Region Provokes Protests

_{But Mongolian protesters against Chinese-dominated schools are threatened with loss of social credit, which means no jobs or loans} _{Heather Zeiger

September 28, 2020

8

Artificial Intelligence, Education, Global Technology, Social Media, Surveillance, Technocracy}

China is removing the Mongolian language and culture from the curriculum and textbooks in Inner Mongolia (see outline map), an autonomous region in China. In August, leaked government documents showed that language and literature, civics, and history will be taught in Mandarin rather than Mongolian in schools where Mongolian is the primary language. Additionally, the new textbooks replace stories about historic Mongolian heroes with Chinese ballads and expunge a popular folk verse that expresses pride in the Mongolian culture and language. In response, many parents in Inner Mongolia (called Southern Mongolia locally) have been keeping their children from attending school on September 1. In retaliation, state authorities threaten their jobs and social credit status: Southern Mongolia has quickly become a Read More ›

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Author
Brendan Dixon
Date
August 22, 2019

Categorized
Ethics, Global Technology, Machine Learning

Tagged
Culture, self-driving cars}

Does a Western Bias Affect Self-Driving Cars?

_{How a driver is expected to act varies by culture} _{Brendan Dixon

August 22, 2019

5

Ethics, Global Technology, Machine Learning}

Self-driving cars (autonomous vehicles) will need to adapt to different rules and we will, very likely, need to change those rules to make the vehicles work. Read More ›

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post

Author
News
Date
February 10, 2019

Categorized
Ethics, Machine Learning

Tagged
Culture, ethics, Featured, John McDermid, self-driving cars}

Can We Program Morality into a Self-Driving Car?

_{A software engineering professor tells us why that’s not a realistic goal} _{News

February 10, 2019

4

Ethics, Machine Learning}

Any discussion of the morality of the self-driving car should touch on the fact that the industry as a whole thrives on hype that skirts honesty.