You’ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting
On Fridays I share articles/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues likely to be of interest to Christians in college. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions, so if you read something fascinating please pass it my way.
Things Glen Found Interesting
- AI and research papers (Arnold Kling, Substack): “PubMed and Google Scholar are indexes of documents. What we actually want is an indexed, queryable map of _claims_ with their evidence and confidence levels. The paper is the provenance trail; the claim is the searchable unit. AI is already reasonably good at extracting claims from papers; in 3–4 years it should be good enough to maintain these databases reliably. A researcher asking ‘what do we know about X’ should get a structured confidence-weighted answer, not a list of PDFs to read.”
- The bit I excerpted is from Claude answering a question from the author.
- How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve The Housing Shortage (HennyGe Wichers, Noema): “Traditional game theory assumes that the rules are fixed — the chessboard is set, the laws codified — and asks how rational people will behave within them. It predicts outcomes based on existing incentives. Mechanism design turns that question around: It asks, for example, what rules should we write to get a different outcome — say, preservation and housing?”
- Recommended by a reader.
- What Does it Mean to Be a Christian on the Bench? (Matthew J. Kacsmaryk and James C. Ho, Journal of Law and Civil Governance at Texas A&M): “Many judges shy away from talking openly about their faith— and even think such discussions violate the judicial canons. That’s why I thought this discussion was so valuable. What’s your answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Christian and a judge?”
- A fascinating conversation. Recommended by an alumnus. Link is to a PDF.
- The Women Who Believe Women Should Lose the Right to Vote (Vivian Yee, New York Times): “On social media, the pastor has attracted a following by posting incendiary commentary: railing against feminists, Catholics and gay people, describing immigration as ‘national suicide,’ and labeling Islam and Hinduism ‘demonic.’ He also calls for erasing women’s suffrage, which he lists as one reason ‘the world is falling apart.’ The 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, the landmark legislative achievement of the movement to make women equal citizens, made it possible for women across America to vote. But for Mr. Partridge and a growing number of like-minded Christians, it drove America into national decline. Instead, they support ‘household voting.’ One household, one vote — the husband’s.”
- It’s Cool to Keep Calm (Rob K. Henderson, Wall Street Journal): “How you react during a conflict doesn’t only change how others see _you_. Your reaction also changes how observers see the person with whom you’re arguing. Making someone cry makes you look cold or insensitive. So tears can damage the other side’s reputation. There’s a catch, though. The person who cries is also seen as less competent, less professional and less desirable as a friend or colleague. This creates a trade-off. Crying can hurt your opponent’s reputation, but it hurts yours as well. Behavioral stoicism—maintaining a calm outward demeanor during a conflict—does the opposite. It protects your own reputation, but does little to diminish the other person.” — Remember you have free access through Stanford.
- In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater (Lisa Grossman, Science News): “The crater is 225 meters wide and formed in April or May 2024, Robinson said. According to predictions based on other lunar landmarks, a crater that big should form only once in 139 years. The discovery can help highlight the risks impacts pose to future astronauts.”
- 9 things you (probably) didn’t know were invented at Stanford (Rebecca Beyer, Stanford Report): “Long before the start-up era took hold, Stanford faculty and students were dreaming up inventions that transformed (and in some cases established) domains as far-ranging as genetic engineering, nanotechnology, organ transplantation – even the internet itself.” — Heart transplants, the one-handed basketball shot, the computer mouse, and recombinant DNA stood out to me.
Less Serious Things Which Also Interested/Amused Glen
- I Was Not Ready for the DMV (Greg Warren, YouTube): eight and a half minutes. Paula and I were so tickled by this that we searched up one of his specials and were equally pleased.
Why Do You Send This Email?
In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors “who understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.
Disclaimer
Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey’s agenda and we are not about the elephant’s agenda — we are about the Lamb’s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass the ideological Turing test and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say “I agree” or “I disagree” until I can say “I understand”) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I’ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent. Also, remember that I’m not reporting news — I’m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There’s a lot happening in the world that’s not making an appearance here because I haven’t found stimulating articles written about it. If this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up here. You can also view the archives.