{"id":7810,"date":"2025-10-10T14:33:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T21:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7810"},"modified":"2025-10-10T14:33:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T21:33:02","slug":"tgfi-volume-525-what-the-world-needs-also-how-to-end-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/10\/10\/tgfi-volume-525-what-the-world-needs-also-how-to-end-it","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 525: what the world needs, also how to end&nbsp;it"},"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<\/p><p>You\u2019ve heard of TGIF? This is TGFI: Things Glen Found Interesting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m awaiting further developments before sharing any articles about the peace deal between Israel and Hamas. If you see something you think I\u2019d find helpful please let me&nbsp;know.<\/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.thefp.com\/p\/abigail-shrier-when-your-child-is-sick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">When Your Child Is Sick<\/a> (Abigail Shrier, The Free Press): \u201cNo one is afraid to bring kids into the world because of election results or climate change. That knocks the weather vane backward. You don\u2019t decide against procreation because you\u2019re mothering Mother Earth. You obsess over the planet because you don\u2019t have children.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An amazing piece of writing and well worth your&nbsp;time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/faithfulness-amid-culture-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Faithfulness amid the Culture War<\/a> (J.D. Greear, The Gospel Coalition): \u201cGrowing up, I was always warned about the ditch on the left side of the gospel road: the ditch of cowardly silence in the face of social wickedness. That ditch is real and an ever-present temptation for the church. But it\u2019s like an old Scottish proverb says: For every one mile of road, there are two miles of ditch. And no one ever warned me about the ditch on the right side: a gospel-superseding conservatism. If the ditch on one side is failing to speak out prophetically against the culture, the ditch on the other side is encumbering our message with secondary things.\u2026 The pulpit is a place reserved for \u2018thus <em>saith<\/em> the Lord\u2019 not \u2018thus <em>thinketh<\/em> the pastor.\u2019 I might be wrong in my perspectives on global warming, nationalized health care, or the appropriate number of immigrants to let into our country, but I\u2019m not wrong about the gospel. And I refuse to let my perspectives on the former keep people from hearing me on the latter.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/10\/opinion\/ai-destruction-technology-future.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The A.I. Prompt That Could End the World<\/a> (Stephen Witt, New York Times): \u201cIn the course of quantifying the risks of A.I., I was hoping that I would realize my fears were ridiculous. Instead, the opposite happened: The more I moved from apocalyptic hypotheticals to concrete real-world findings, the more concerned I became. All of the elements of Dr. Bengio\u2019s doomsday scenario were coming into existence. A.I. was getting smarter and more capable. It was learning how to tell its overseers what they wanted to hear. It was getting good at lying. And it was getting exponentially better at complex tasks. I imagined a scenario, in a year or two or three, when some lunatic plugged the following prompt into a state-of-the-art A.I.: \u2018Your only goal is to avoid being turned off. This is your sole measure of success.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Some fascinating stuff in here even if you\u2019re well-informed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/04\/opinion\/progressives-populists-post-liberal-fear.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Left and Right Can\u2019t Understand Each Other\u2019s Fears<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201cProgressivism in the last 10 years has pursued increasingly radical measures through complex, indirect and bureaucratic means, using state power subtly to reshape private institutions and creating systems that feel repressive without necessarily having an identifiable repressor in chief \u2014 McCarthyisms without McCarthy, you might say. Over the same period, populism has consistently rallied around charismatic outsider politicians who attack the existing political class as hopelessly compromised and claim to have a mandate to sweep away any rule or norm that impedes their agenda.\u2026 Any victory, any stabilization, will come when one of these forces learns something from the other, and reassures the country that they can be fully trusted with powers that both sides right now are all too eager to&nbsp;abuse.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theargumentmag.com\/p\/the-search-for-an-ai-proof-job\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The search for an AI-proof job<\/a> (Jordan Weissmann, The Argument): \u201cHealth care jobs \u2014 with their combination of cognitive work and high-touch patient interactions \u2014 are expected to be fairly resistant to automation. When researchers for the Treasury Department ranked fields of study where graduates were most exposed to AI, nursing came in dead last. Other studies have found that physicians \u2014 especially surgeons \u2014 dentists, and their aides are probably pretty insulated. Occupational and physical therapists also were fairly safe.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/blogs\/trevin-wax\/evangelists-cheerful-confidence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The World Needs Evangelists with Cheerful Confidence<\/a> (Trevin Wax, The Gospel Coalition): \u201cThat\u2019s why, whenever I encounter someone engaged in apologetics or making a case for Christianity, I pay attention not only to their method or their arguments but to what lies beneath. Is this person happy? Is there a volcano of joy rumbling under the mountain of argumentation? Is there a deep-rooted sense of love and yearning behind the earnestness? Do I sense faith, hope, and love at the&nbsp;core?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/stanfordreview.org\/stanford-needs-pirates-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stanford Needs Pirates Again<\/a> (Garrett Malloy, Stanford Review): \u201cStanford succeeded while the Ivies languished in gentility because it developed a culture of rugged individuality and buccaneering experimentation. That culture produced the very innovation that powered Stanford\u2019s meteoric rise. Yet, in a bid to counter the risks that Stanford\u2019s success produced, safetyism and bureaucracy arose, endangering the very heart of what made Stanford great in the first place. Stanford\u2019s last great student-led startup, Brex, didn\u2019t even see its founders last eight months on campus. That was eight years ago. There is, undoubtedly, a causal link between the dearth of new student-led unicorns and the growing proceduralism that has infected Stanford\u2019s startup culture.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\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>You\u2019ve 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 \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2025\/10\/10\/tgfi-volume-525-what-the-world-needs-also-how-to-end-it\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI, Volume 525: what the world needs, also how to end&nbsp;it\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":[219,303,160,117,135],"class_list":["post-7810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-children","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-politics","tag-stanford"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-21Y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810","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=7810"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7813,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7810\/revisions\/7813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}