{"id":7533,"date":"2024-10-25T20:16:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7533"},"modified":"2024-10-25T20:16:45","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T03:16:45","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-475","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/10\/25\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-475","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 475"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" 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 width=\"300\" height=\"300\" 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>\n\n    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<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/19\/opinion\/religion-atheism-books.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Is the World Ready for a Religious Comeback?<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to get nonbelievers to offer kind words for \u2018cultural\u2019 Christianity or endorse the sociological utility of churchgoing. The challenge is to go further, to persuade anxious moderns that religion is more than merely pragmatically useful, more than just a wistful hope \u2014 that a religious framework actually makes much more sense of reality than the allegedly hardheaded materialist alternative.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Discusses three books Douthat thinks are helpful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/16\/magazine\/dei-university-michigan.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The University of Michigan Doubled Down on D.E.I. What Went Wrong<\/a>? (Nicholas Confessore, New York Times): \u201cStriving to touch \u2018every individual on campus,\u2019 as the school puts it, Michigan has poured roughly a quarter of a billion dollars into D.E.I. since 2016, according to an internal presentation I obtained.\u2026 Michigan\u2019s own data suggests that in striving to become more diverse and equitable, the school has also become less inclusive: In a survey released in late 2022, students and faculty members reported a less positive campus climate than at the program\u2019s start and less of a sense of belonging. Students were less likely to interact with people of a different race or religion or with different politics \u2014 the exact kind of engagement D.E.I. programs, in theory, are meant to foster.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/20\/opinion\/michigan-diversity-equity-inclusion.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I Don\u2019t Want to Live in a Monoculture, and Neither Do You<\/a> (David French, New York Times): \u201cIn my experience, the more ideologically or theologically \u2018pure\u2019 an institution becomes, the more wrong it is likely to be, especially if it takes on a difficult or complex task. Ideological monocultures aren\u2019t just bad for the minority that\u2019s silenced, harassed or canceled whenever its members raise their voices in dissent. It\u2019s terrible for the confident majority \u2014 and for the confident majority\u2019s cause.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/23\/science\/puberty-blockers-olson-kennedy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">U.S. Study on Puberty Blockers Goes Unpublished Because of Politics, Doctor Says<\/a> (Azeen Ghorayshi, New York Times): \u201cAn influential doctor and advocate of adolescent gender treatments said she had not published a long-awaited study of puberty-blocking drugs because of the charged American political environment.\u2026 She said she was concerned the study\u2019s results could be used in court to argue that \u2018we shouldn\u2019t use blockers because it doesn\u2019t impact them,\u2019 referring to transgender adolescents.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>JK Rowling <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jk_rowling\/status\/1849207760463757564\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jk_rowling\/status\/1849207760463757564\">summarized the story<\/a> well: \u2018We must not publish a study that says we\u2019re harming children because people who say we\u2019re harming children will use the study as evidence that we\u2019re harming children, which might make it difficult for us to continue harming children.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/10\/25\/opinion\/robot-artificial-intelligence.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Our Robot Stories Haven\u2019t Prepared Us for A.I.<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201cIn most of these stories, the defining aspects of humanity are some combination of free will, strong emotion and morality. The robot begins as a being following its programming and mystified by human emotionality, and over time it begins to choose, to act freely, to cut its strings and ultimately to love.\u2026 We have been trained for a future in which robots think like us but don\u2019t feel like us, and therefore need to be guided out of merely intellectual self-consciousness into a deeper awareness of emotionality, of heart as well as head. We are getting a reality where our bots seem so deeply emotional \u2014 loving, caring, heartfelt \u2014 that it\u2019s hard to distinguish them from human beings, and indeed, some of us find their apparent warmth a refuge from a difficult or cruel&nbsp;world.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persuasion.community\/p\/how-i-learned-to-stop-criticizing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How I Learned To Stop Criticizing Everything<\/a> (Eboo Patel, Persuasion): \u201cI\u2019m not sad that I read those critical theorists. I think it\u2019s a useful perspective to have. My problem is that I deformed the world to fit a narrow worldview, and I let it direct my life. The bigger problem is that this paradigm has become a regime in certain quarters of higher education. You are coerced into holding that worldview and punished if you utter ideas outside of its scope. Critical theory is like a sharp kitchen knife: very useful for some things, like cutting meat, but if you eat your cereal with it, you\u2019ll hurt yourself. And if you point it at someone else, then it\u2019s a weapon. In some circles, on some campuses, every other utensil has been removed from the intellectual cutlery drawer, replaced with sharp kitchen knives.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.experimental-history.com\/p\/ideological-turing-test\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Both Democrats and Republicans can pass the Ideological Turing Test<\/a> (Adam Mastroianni, Substack): \u201cWe first challenged each side to pretend to be the other side, and then we had both sides try to distinguish between the truth-tellers and the fakers. If partisans have no idea who the other side is or what they believe, it should be hard for people to do a convincing impression of the opposite party. So let\u2019s&nbsp;see!\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Interesting study. In the footnotes he mentioned he gathered the data in 2019 but never got around to publishing it. Just&nbsp;FYI<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/jessesingal.substack.com\/p\/its-rational-and-humane-to-lack-strong?utm_source=post-email-title&amp;publication_id=4833&amp;post_id=150662557&amp;utm_campaign=email-post-title&amp;isFreemail=true&amp;r=48w4l4&amp;triedRedirect=true&amp;utm_medium=email\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">It\u2019s Rational And Humane To Lack Strong Political Beliefs<\/a> (Jesse Singal, Substack): \u201cWe don\u2019t need the average person to have strong beliefs about what the right anti-poverty policy is, and I would argue it\u2019s a waste of time to devote too many hours to something like that, because it\u2019s hopelessly complex and even experts who devote their lives to that subject disagree on the basics. Plus, many of the experts \u2014 on this and every other subject \u2014 are themselves incompetent, ideologically captured, or otherwise unlikely to help lead you closer to useful insights.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recommended by a student. This post is a bit odd in that it\u2019s unlocked but to read the whole thing you have to read it in the Substack app. You can read the first part for free and that\u2019s enough to get the gist and tell whether you want to read the rest of&nbsp;it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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 simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=D5PBu0GbToo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">I\u2019m Currently On Jury Duty<\/a> (Gastor Almonte, YouTube): ten amusing minutes \u2014 the opening bit is about jury duty and the closing bit is about oatmeal.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/king-solomon-in-deep-trouble-after-forgetting-9-anniversaries-in-one-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">King Solomon In Deep Trouble After Forgetting 9 Anniversaries In One Day<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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. Things Glen Found Interesting Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email? In the time \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/10\/25\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-475\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 475\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":"","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":[124,219,113,318,172],"class_list":["post-7533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-lgbtq","tag-politcs","tag-racism"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1Xv","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533","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=7533"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7534,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7533\/revisions\/7534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}