{"id":7072,"date":"2022-12-02T19:57:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-03T03:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7072"},"modified":"2022-12-02T19:57:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-03T03:57:49","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-379","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2022\/12\/02\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-379","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 379"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>     On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is volume 379, the 75<sup>th<\/sup> prime number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"simple-list wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/samueldjames.substack.com\/p\/the-holy-spirit-is-a-political-liability\" target=\"_blank\">The Holy Spirit is a Political Liability<\/a> (Samuel D. James, Substack): \u201cIt does not mean we have to accept that we simply cannot win. It means the opposite: accepting that we have already won. When Christ emerged from that tomb, all the gender insanity, all the religious persecution, all the abandonment of first principles in the universe were given a death sentence. Christ himself is truth. Truth was killed, then got back up, and will never die again. This is not just piety. It\u2019s a reality that must go down deep in our methods, our speech, our attitudes.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mereorthodoxy.com\/tolkien-was-right-notes-on-the-respect-for-marriage-act-and-the-post-boomer-church\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tolkien Was Right: Notes on the Respect for Marriage Act and the Post-Boomer Church<\/a> (Jake Meador, Mere Orthodoxy): \u201cSome time after his death, an editor was going through the papers and books in J. R. R. Tolkien\u2019s library when he came across an old copy of C. S. Lewis\u2019s pamphlet \u2018Christian Behavior,\u2019 which would later be re-published as one section in Lewis\u2019s classic <em>Mere Christianity<\/em>. Folded inside the book was a letter Tolkien had written but apparently never sent to his long-time friend and fellow Oxford don. In it, Tolkien took issue with Lewis\u2019s treatment of divorce in the pamphlet.\u201d Recommended by an alumnus.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/currentpub.com\/2022\/11\/28\/forum-the-new-shape-of-christian-public-discourse\/\" target=\"_blank\">FORUM: The New Shape of Christian Public Discourse<\/a> (Jay Green, Current): \u201c&nbsp;\u2018Left\u2019 and \u2018Right\u2019 do not have self-explanatory or stable meanings. The old labels tend to obscure at least as much as they reveal. The terminology is handy in a fight as long we aren\u2019t asked to define exactly what we mean by them. But especially during the past seven years some of the most acrimonious disagreements among Christians about public life go well beyond the issues identified by Hunter in the 1990s. Our public fights have become far more than basic disagreements over \u2018issues.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recommended by an alumnus. The author is a history professor at Covenant College. I think he is on to something, but his framing is not quite&nbsp;right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Check out ChatGPT \u2014 it\u2019s free to play with and extremely impressive. You can sign up at<a href=\"https:\/\/chat.openai.com\/auth\/login\"> https:\/\/beta.openai.com\/playground<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I had it write a worship song: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.openai.com\/playground\/p\/iWbGQyANHXhdXGw2fM0AGQQJ\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/beta.openai.com\/playground\/p\/iWbGQyANHXhdXGw2fM0AGQQJ<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Andy Crouch, a shrewd Christian thinker, believes this represents the end of a lot of homework. <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ahc\/status\/1598323606303424512\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/ahc\/status\/1598323606303424512<\/a> \u2014 this simple tool can do college-level homework pretty easily.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thezvi.substack.com\/p\/jailbreaking-the-chatgpt-on-release?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">Jailbreaking ChatGPT on Release Day<\/a> (Zvi Mowshowitz, Substack): \u201cOne of the things it attempts to do to be \u2018safe.\u2019 It does this by refusing to answer questions that call upon it to do or help you do something illegal or otherwise outside its bounds. Makes sense. As is the default with such things, those safeguards were broken through almost immediately. By the end of the day, several prompt engineering methods had been&nbsp;found.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In another bit of AI news, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/thezvi.substack.com\/p\/on-the-diplomacy-ai\" target=\"_blank\">On the Diplomacy AI<\/a> (Zvi Mowshwitz, Substack): \u201cWhen people say the AI \u2018solved\u2019 Diplomacy, it <em>really really didn\u2019t. <\/em>What it did, which is still impressive, is <em>get a handle on the basics <\/em>of Diplomacy, in this particular context where bots cannot be identified and are in the minority, and in particular where message detail is sufficiently limited that it can use an LLM to be able to communicate with humans reasonably and not be identified.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some Stanford news:&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2022\/11\/29\/stanford-presidents-research-under-investigation-for-scientific-misconduct-university-admits-mistakes\/\" target=\"_blank\">Stanford president\u2019s research under investigation<\/a> (Theo Baker, Stanford Daily): There\u2019s a lot happening in this article and what follows is not the main point, but this paragraph caught my attention: \u201cPrior to taking on Stanford\u2019s presidency in early 2016, Tessier-Lavigne directed more than a thousand scientists at biotechnology companies Genentech as well as Regeneron. Tessier-Lavigne\u2019s salary at Regeneron in 2014 was $1,764,032, according to a previously-unreported class action lawsuit alleging excessive compensation for members of the Compensation Committee, which included Tessier-Lavigne. It was later settled. He earned $1,555,296 from Stanford in 2021 with an additional $700,000 annually as a board director for Regeneron.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2022\/11\/30\/stanford-president-altered-images\/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=twitter_organic\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018This actually changes everything\u2019: Altered image in 1999 paper raises potential peril for Stanford president<\/a> (Olivia Goldhill&nbsp; <em>&amp; <\/em>Megan Molteni, Stat News): \u201cThe newly identified apparent manipulation in Cell is especially serious as it seems to alter the results and appears to be intentional, said Bik. \u2018I would testify in court that\u2019s been digitally altered,\u201d she told STAT. \u201cThis actually changes everything. \u2026 It\u2019s a more severe level of digital altering.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Most damning \u2014 later in the article they explain that similar problems have occurred at multiple institutions with varying sets of coauthors with MTL being the only constant presence. Eep!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2022\/12\/01\/department-of-education-opens-investigation-into-stanford-for-bias-against-male-students\/\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Education opens investigation into Stanford for bias against male students<\/a> (Judy Liu, Stanford Daily): \u201cThe complaint, which was filed by University of Southern California emeritus professor James Moore and Kursat Pekgoz, CEO of Turkish real estate company Doruk, alleges that multiple Stanford programs violate Title IX, a federal civil rights law that protects people from sex-based discrimination in education programs that receive federal funds.\u201d An inevitable development in our identity-obsessed culture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsense.news\/p\/its-the-first-time-ive-seen-this?utm_source=%2Finbox&amp;utm_medium=reader2\" target=\"_blank\">\u2018It\u2019s The First Time I\u2019ve Seen This in China\u2019<\/a> (Simon Lepl\u00e2tre, Bari Weiss\u2019s Substack): \u201cWhen someone shouted, \u2018Xi Jinping, resign,\u2019 the crowd exploded, and soon other people were saying it, and it was as if the shouter had broken a taboo in a country where people usually lowered their voice when mentioning the name of their leader.&nbsp; Then someone else in the crowd shouted, \u2018Down with the Communist Party,\u2019 which was a big no-no\u2014the Chinese generally broadcast their ideological fervor\u2014and the crowd loved that, too. It was like toppling the statue of a dictator. I told a colleague we were probably witnessing something important that might become very important.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecrimson.com\/article\/2022\/11\/29\/anderson-bureaucratic-bloat-harvard\/\" target=\"_blank\">Fire Them All; God Will Know His Own<\/a> (Brooks B. Anderson, Harvard Crimson): \u201cAcross the University, for every academic employee there are approximately 1.45 administrators. When only considering faculty, this ratio jumps to 3.09. Harvard employs 7,024 total full-time administrators, only slightly fewer than the undergraduate population. What do they all do?\u201d The situation is similar at Stanford.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5_KcQt0z-eE\" target=\"_blank\">Dani DaOrtiz at Fool US 2022<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): ten and a half mind-blowing minutes. Actually insane.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TfitzehSRGc\" target=\"_blank\">A Money Trick<\/a> (Penn &amp; Teller Fool Us, YouTube): nine minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/sinfest.xyz\/view.php?date=2022-11-26\" target=\"_blank\">Balenciaga<\/a> (Sinfest) \u2014 actually, tho<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-63800674\" target=\"_blank\">French baguette gets Unesco heritage status<\/a> (Flora Drury, BBC): \u201cThe body announced it had added \u2018artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread\u2019 to its list of 600 other items, joining things like traditional tea making in China and a Korean mask dance known as \u2018talchum\u2019 \u2014 both also included for the first time in 2022.\u201d Recommended by an alumnus<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/stanforddaily.com\/2022\/11\/30\/humor-mtl-only-used-photoshop-because-it-was-week-10-and-he-was-burnt-out\/\" target=\"_blank\">MTL only used photoshop because \u201cit was Week 10 and he was burnt out\u201d<\/a> (Uche Ochuba, Stanford Daily)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting A While&nbsp;Ago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every week I\u2019ll highlight an older link still worth your consideration. This week we have <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2020\/05\/religious-services-may-lower-risk-of-deaths-of-despair\/\" target=\"_blank\">Religious services may lower risk of \u2018deaths of despair\u2019<\/a> (Chris Sweeney, Harvard Gazette): \u201cAfter adjusting for numerous variables, the study showed that women who attended services at least once per week had a 68 percent lower risk of death from despair compared to those never attending services. Men who attended services at least once per week had a 33 percent lower risk of death from despair.\u201d Those are HUGE reductions! From <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2020\/05\/22\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-251\" target=\"_blank\">volume 251<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) 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\u2019ll 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.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way. This is volume 379, the 75th prime number. Things Glen Found Interesting Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2022\/12\/02\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-379\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 379\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Lotta thoughts on Christian cultural engagement, more on artificial intelligence than I would have expected, and some sad Stanford news.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[131,219,125,117,135,162],"class_list":["post-7072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-academia","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-china","tag-politics","tag-stanford","tag-theology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Q4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7072"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7075,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7072\/revisions\/7075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}