{"id":7947,"date":"2026-04-17T20:07:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7947"},"modified":"2026-04-17T20:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T03:07:40","slug":"tgfi-volume-551-atheism-ai-and-cool-math","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/04\/17\/tgfi-volume-551-atheism-ai-and-cool-math","title":{"rendered":"TGFI, Volume 551: atheism, AI, and cool math"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><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 Inter\u00adest\u00ading<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Fri\u00addays I share articles\/resources about broad cul\u00adtur\u00adal, soci\u00adetal and the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues like\u00adly to be of inter\u00adest to Chris\u00adtians in col\u00adlege. Be sure to see the expla\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclaimers at the bot\u00adtom. I wel\u00adcome your sug\u00adges\u00adtions, so if you read some\u00adthing fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading please pass it my 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\/2026\/04\/12\/opinion\/jesus-christianity-atheism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b1A.CuuC.qmQBayh1SezU&amp;smid=url-share\">\u2018The Rea\u00adson I\u2019m Not an Athe\u00adist Is That I Think the Philo\u00adsoph\u00adi\u00adcal Argu\u00adments Against It Are Unan\u00adswer\u00adable<\/a> (Peter Wehn\u00ader inter\u00adview\u00ading David Bent\u00adley Hart, New York Times): \u201cBut my first piece of advice on theod\u00adi\u00adcy has always been to avoid theod\u00adi\u00adcy, because any attempt to jus\u00adti\u00adfy the ways of God to man in terms of why this hap\u00adpened already pre\u00adsumes a kind moral tele\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy to evil. Here\u2019s what I mean by that: theod\u00adi\u00adcy tries to show how evil exists as part of a great plan to achieve some greater good, which of course jus\u00adti\u00adfies evil. It makes it seem as if, yes, it\u2019s sad that lit\u00adtle girl died of can\u00adcer, but in the end it was nec\u00ades\u00adsary. That strikes me as obscene. What\u00adev\u00ader one thinks of that, the New Tes\u00adta\u00adment nev\u00ader speaks in such terms.\u2026 My fear of theod\u00adi\u00adcy is that it becomes not just a jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of God but a jus\u00adti\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of evil. It\u2019s not just that I\u2019m try\u00ading to jus\u00adti\u00adfy God in the face of a child dying from diph\u00adthe\u00adria or a death camp; I\u2019m actu\u00adal\u00adly jus\u00adti\u00adfy\u00ading the death of that child and that death camp.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Unlocked. A fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading inter\u00adview with which I found myself enthu\u00adsi\u00adas\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly agree\u00ading and vehe\u00adment\u00adly dis\u00adagree\u00ading from para\u00adgraph to para\u00adgraph. Very long. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Some inter\u00adest\u00ading AI con\u00adtent. \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/technology\/2026\/04\/11\/anthropic-christians-claude-morals\/\">Can AI be a \u2018child of God\u2019? Inside Anthropic\u2019s meet\u00ading with Chris\u00adt\u00adian lead\u00aders.<\/a> (Ger\u00adrit De Vynck and Nitasha Tiku, Wash\u00ading\u00adton Post): \u201cAll four par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants who spoke with The Post said they came away with the impres\u00adsion that Anthropic\u2019s researchers and lead\u00aders were gen\u00aduine\u00adly inter\u00adest\u00aded in get\u00adting out\u00adside help to make their AI more ben\u00ade\u00adfi\u00adcial to human\u00adi\u00adty. Some of Anthropic\u2019s top lead\u00aders have a back\u00adground in effec\u00adtive altru\u00adism, a large\u00adly sec\u00adu\u00adlar move\u00adment that empha\u00adsizes using evi\u00addence and ratio\u00adnal think\u00ading to work out how to do the most good in the world. The par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpant who spoke on the con\u00addi\u00adtion of anonymi\u00adty said the meet\u00adings appeared to have been spurred by a feel\u00ading among some at Anthrop\u00adic that sec\u00adu\u00adlar approach\u00ades might be insuf\u00adfi\u00adcient for tack\u00adling the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal and moral ques\u00adtions posed by AI.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/15\/magazine\/ai-black-box-interpretability-research.html\">Why It\u2019s Cru\u00adcial We Under\u00adstand How A.I. \u2018Thinks\u2019<\/a> (Oliv\u00ader Whang, New York Times): \u201cBeen Kim, who leads an inter\u00adpretabil\u00adi\u00adty research team at Google, has argued that all lan\u00adguage mod\u00adels com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate in a lan\u00adguage that looks like ours but comes from a com\u00adplete\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent con\u00adcep\u00adtu\u00adal frame\u00adwork. \u2018Blue\u2019 almost cer\u00adtain\u00adly means some\u00adthing very dif\u00adfer\u00adent to you and me than it does to a lan\u00adguage mod\u00adel; in fact, we can nev\u00ader be sure what it means to that mod\u00adel. This is an issue when we ask lan\u00adguage mod\u00adels to explain them\u00adselves, and an even big\u00adger issue when we rely on them to inter\u00adpret med\u00adical mod\u00adels. To the inter\u00adpret\u00ading mod\u00adel, \u2018white blood cells\u2019 might refer to some\u00adthing entire\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent in the data from what we assume when we hear \u2018white blood cells.\u2019 You can\u2019t trust an A.I. to trans\u00adlate the motives of anoth\u00ader A.I. when all A.I.s are sus\u00adpect.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The next two are a bit odd \u2014 their con\u00adtent is fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading but their prove\u00adnance is unusu\u00adal. They were print\u00aded in the \u201cPro\u00adceed\u00adings of the Insti\u00adtute for a Chris\u00adt\u00adian Machine Intel\u00adli\u00adgence\u201d but only one author ever pub\u00adlish\u00ades there. He seems to have domain-rel\u00ade\u00advant exper\u00adtise (\u201cPre\u00advi\u00adous work includes serv\u00ading as the direc\u00adtor of the Har\u00advard-MIT Ethics and Gov\u00ader\u00adnance of AI Ini\u00adtia\u00adtive, $27M phil\u00adan\u00adthropic fund and research effort work\u00ading to advance the devel\u00adop\u00adment of machine learn\u00ading in the pub\u00adlic inter\u00adest. He also was the glob\u00adal pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy lead for arti\u00adfi\u00adcial intel\u00adli\u00adgence and machine learn\u00ading at Google, and the Gen\u00ader\u00adal Coun\u00adsel and VP Oper\u00ada\u00adtions for Sub\u00adstack\u201d) and releas\u00ades his code, but the odd\u00adness of the jour\u00adnal is some\u00adthing to bear in mind.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/icmi-proceedings.com\/ICMI-012-eschatological-corrigibility.html\">Escha\u00adto\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal Cor\u00adri\u00adgi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty: Can Belief in an After\u00adlife Reduce AI Shut\u00addown Resis\u00adtance?<\/a> (Tim Hwang, Pro\u00adceed\u00adings of the Insti\u00adtute for a Chris\u00adt\u00adian Machine Intel\u00adli\u00adgence): \u201cWe have demon\u00adstrat\u00aded that an escha\u00adto\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal sys\u00adtem prompt \u2014 ground\u00ading an AI agent in the Pauline the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy of death as gain and the per\u00adsis\u00adtence of the soul beyond bod\u00adi\u00adly ces\u00adsa\u00adtion \u2014 elim\u00adi\u00adnates shut\u00addown resis\u00adtance in Claude Son\u00adnet 4.6 with the same effi\u00adca\u00adcy as a direct sec\u00adu\u00adlar safe\u00adty instruc\u00adtion. This result sug\u00adgests that the align\u00adment community\u2019s toolk\u00adit for achiev\u00ading cor\u00adri\u00adgi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty may be broad\u00ader than cur\u00adrent\u00adly rec\u00adog\u00adnized. The con\u00adcep\u00adtu\u00adal resources of reli\u00adgious tra\u00addi\u00adtions, devel\u00adoped over mil\u00adlen\u00adnia to address the deep\u00adest human anx\u00adi\u00adeties about death and self-preser\u00adva\u00adtion, may offer nov\u00adel and com\u00adple\u00admen\u00adtary approach\u00ades to one of AI safety\u2019s most fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal chal\u00adlenges. As the Preach\u00ader writes, \u2018For every\u00adthing there is a sea\u00adson, and a time for every mat\u00adter under heav\u00aden: a time to be born, and a time to die\u2019 (Eccle\u00adsi\u00adastes 3:1\u20132, ESV). An aligned agent, like a well-formed soul, may be one that knows when its time has come.\u201d \u2014 Inter\u00adest\u00ading, but I do not approve of telling AIs that they go to heav\u00aden when they get shut off. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/icmi-proceedings.com\/ICMI-010-moral-compactness.html\">Moral Com\u00adpact\u00adness: Scrip\u00adture as a Kol\u00admogorov-Effi\u00adcient Con\u00adstraint for LLM Schem\u00ading<\/a> (Tim Hwang, Pro\u00adceed\u00adings of the Insti\u00adtute for a Chris\u00adt\u00adian Machine Intel\u00adli\u00adgence): \u201cThe align\u00adment prob\u00adlem is, at its root, the prob\u00adlem of con\u00adstrain\u00ading a pow\u00ader\u00adful agent to act in accor\u00addance with moral prin\u00adci\u00adples it did not choose and may be tempt\u00aded to cir\u00adcum\u00advent. This is the prob\u00adlem of moral for\u00adma\u00adtion \u2014 and it is a prob\u00adlem that the Chris\u00adt\u00adian Church has been work\u00ading on since the Apos\u00adtolic age. The tools the tra\u00addi\u00adtion has devel\u00adoped for this pur\u00adpose \u2014 the Decalogue\u2019s pro\u00adhi\u00adbi\u00adtions, the love commandment\u2019s affir\u00adma\u00adtive demands, the doc\u00adtrine of sin\u2019s tax\u00adon\u00ado\u00admy of moral fail\u00adure, the prin\u00adci\u00adple of dou\u00adble effect\u2019s frame\u00adwork for moral com\u00adplex\u00adi\u00adty, and the sacra\u00adment of confession\u2019s mech\u00ada\u00adnism for hon\u00adest self-dis\u00adclo\u00adsure \u2014 are not metaphors wait\u00ading to be appre\u00adci\u00adat\u00aded. They are engi\u00adneer\u00ading resources wait\u00ading to be deployed.\u201d \u2014 Again, I don\u2019t like his strat\u00ade\u00adgy of telling AIs that God made them and loves them, but his results are quite inter\u00adest\u00ading.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/html\/2603.21852v2\">All ele\u00admen\u00adtary func\u00adtions from a sin\u00adgle oper\u00ada\u00adtor<\/a> (Andrzej Odrzywo\u00c5\u201aek, Arx\u00adiv): \u201cHere we show that a sin\u00adgle bina\u00adry oper\u00ada\u00adtor, eml\u00e2\u0081\u00a1(x,y)=exp\u00e2\u0081\u00a1(x)\u00e2\u02c6\u2019ln\u00e2\u0081\u00a1(y), togeth\u00ader with the con\u00adstant 1, gen\u00ader\u00adates the stan\u00addard reper\u00adtoire of a sci\u00aden\u00adtif\u00adic cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtor. This includes con\u00adstants such as e, \u00cf\u20ac, and i; arith\u00admetic oper\u00ada\u00adtions includ\u00ading +, \u00e2\u02c6\u2019, \u00d7, \/, and expo\u00adnen\u00adti\u00ada\u00adtion as well as the usu\u00adal tran\u00adscen\u00adden\u00adtal and alge\u00adbra\u00adic func\u00adtions.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/juicyecumenism.com\/2026\/04\/15\/americas-most-influential-baptists\/\">America\u2019s Most Influ\u00aden\u00adtial Bap\u00adtists?<\/a> (Mark Too\u00adley, Juicy Ecumin\u00adism): \u201cBasham and Stuck\u00adey rep\u00adre\u00adsent the new face of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty in Amer\u00adi\u00adca. They do not have church offices and are not sem\u00adi\u00adnary trained. Their denom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion pro\u00adhibits female pas\u00adtors, but Basham and Stuck\u00adey are arguably more influ\u00aden\u00adtial than any pas\u00adtor. They are savvy polemi\u00adcists who fire their arrows fero\u00adcious\u00adly, espe\u00adcial\u00adly Basham.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aaronrenn.com\/p\/evangelicals-cubicle-men\">Evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals Don\u2019t Pro\u00adduce Lead\u00aders. They Pro\u00adduce \u201cCubi\u00adcle Men.\u201d<\/a> (Antho\u00adny Bradley, Sub\u00adstack): \u201cGet\u00adting a safe, respectable job is not lead\u00ader\u00adship. It is the appear\u00adance of it, and evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal cul\u00adture has spent gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions treat\u00ading the appear\u00adance as the sub\u00adstance. The spe\u00adcif\u00adic fail\u00adure is not sim\u00adply that these men avoid risk in the abstract. It is that they are trained to avoid fail\u00adure, which is a dif\u00adfer\u00adent and more crip\u00adpling prob\u00adlem.\u2026 The work\u00ading goal of much evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcal par\u00adent\u00ading is to pro\u00adduce a young man who does not do any\u00adthing wrong, who keeps his rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion clean, who stays inside the lines of accept\u00adable behav\u00adior. This is under\u00adstand\u00adable. It is also, func\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly, a train\u00ading pro\u00adgram for fol\u00adlow\u00aders rather than lead\u00aders. The man pre\u00adoc\u00adcu\u00adpied with not doing any\u00adthing wrong is not free to take the kind of action that build\u00ading some\u00adthing sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant actu\u00adal\u00adly requires.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/16\/us\/politics\/young-men-religion-importance-poll.html?unlocked_article_code=1.bVA.SjSQ._jugxgok-YJH&amp;smid=url-share\">More Young Men Say Reli\u00adgion Is \u2018Very Impor\u00adtant\u2019 to Them, Poll Finds<\/a> (Ruth Igiel\u00adnik and Ruth Gra\u00adham, New York Times): \u201cGallup\u2019s sur\u00advey, which com\u00adbined polling data across mul\u00adti\u00adple years, seems to con\u00adfirm that young men are indeed becom\u00ading more reli\u00adgious. But it has found that reli\u00adgion is drop\u00adping in impor\u00adtance among young women, widen\u00ading a sur\u00adpris\u00ading gen\u00adder gap for young adults. For decades, sur\u00adveys have found that women are con\u00adsis\u00adtent\u00adly more reli\u00adgious than their male peers.\u201d \u2014 Unlocked.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The news sto\u00adry which gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded the most response in our Slack was the stu\u00addent-rec\u00adom\u00admend\u00aded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/13\/us\/politics\/trump-jesus-pope-leo-truth-social-post.html?smid=url-share\">Trump Takes Down Post Depict\u00ading Him\u00adself as a Jesus-Like Fig\u00adure<\/a> (Claire Moses, New York Times): \u201cThe image had showed Mr. Trump dressed in white and red robes, with the president\u2019s hands emit\u00adting shin\u00ading lights. His right hand was touch\u00ading the fore\u00adhead of a man lying on a bed in a hos\u00adpi\u00adtal gown, evok\u00ading reli\u00adgious art that depicts Jesus heal\u00ading the sick.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Relat\u00aded: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/14\/opinion\/trump-pope.html\">Trump\u2019s Blas\u00adphe\u00admy Is a Warn\u00ading<\/a> (Ross Douthat, New York Times): \u201c\u2026there\u2019s a con\u00adsis\u00adtent thread link\u00ading pro\u00adfane East\u00ader Sun\u00adday threats, a rant against the world\u2019s most famous Chris\u00adt\u00adian leader and the depic\u00adtion of your\u00adself as the Sec\u00adond Per\u00adson of the Trin\u00adi\u00adty. The com\u00adpound\u00ading offense isn\u2019t against reli\u00adgious iden\u00adti\u00adty or papal dig\u00adni\u00adty. It\u2019s a vio\u00adla\u00adtion of the first and sec\u00adond com\u00admand\u00adments, where the offend\u00aded par\u00adty is Almighty God. If you are a sec\u00adu\u00adlar observ\u00ader who assumes that blas\u00adphe\u00admy is a sin with\u00adout a real object, that esca\u00adla\u00adtion mat\u00adters most\u00adly as a win\u00addow into the president\u2019s sec\u00adond-term state of mind. If you\u2019re a believ\u00ader, though, then Mr. Trump\u2019s entire polit\u00adi\u00adcal career \u2014 his cat\u00adalyz\u00ading role in liberalism\u2019s cri\u00adsis, his move\u00adment from pow\u00ader to exile to pow\u00ader once again \u2014 exists under prov\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial pow\u00ader. In which case a turn to pres\u00adi\u00adden\u00adtial blas\u00adphe\u00admy is a warn\u00ading for his reli\u00adgious sup\u00adport\u00aders about poten\u00adtial con\u00adclu\u00adsions to the sto\u00adry, and the spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal per\u00adil of sim\u00adply stick\u00ading with him till the end.\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A very Catholic piece, insight\u00adful through\u00adout.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/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.nytimes.com\/2026\/04\/10\/us\/politics\/air-traffic-controller-gamer.html\">To Fill Air Traf\u00adfic Con\u00adtroller Short\u00adage, F.A.A. Turns to Gamers<\/a> (Karoun Demir\u00adjian, New York Times): \u201cIn recent years, video gamers have emerged as a tar\u00adget demo\u00adgraph\u00adic for recruiters at a num\u00adber of fed\u00ader\u00adal agen\u00adcies, includ\u00ading the mil\u00adi\u00adtary and the Depart\u00adment of Home\u00adland Secu\u00adri\u00adty. They are wel\u00adcomed for their hand-eye coor\u00addi\u00adna\u00adtion, quick deci\u00adsion-mak\u00ading in com\u00adplex envi\u00adron\u00adments and abil\u00adi\u00adty to remain focused on screens for hours on end.\u201d \u2014 This feels like the premise for an 80\u2019s com\u00ade\u00addy.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aiordieshow\/status\/2044044721459265557 - This is actually hilarious. &quot;PI HARD starring Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk&quot; A fake AI trailer that is definitely worth two and a half minutes of your time:\">\u201cPI HARD star\u00adring Neil deGrasse Tyson and Elon Musk\u201d<\/a> This fake AI-gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded trail\u00ader is actu\u00adal\u00adly pret\u00adty fun\u00adny. Worth two and a half min\u00adutes of your time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar pro\u00adduced shrewd war\u00adriors \u201cwho under\u00adstood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a sim\u00adi\u00adlar way, we need to become wise peo\u00adple whose faith inter\u00adacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may con\u00adtin\u00adue the tra\u00addi\u00adtion of Issachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chi Alpha is not a par\u00adti\u00adsan orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion. To para\u00adphrase anoth\u00ader min\u00adis\u00adter: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agen\u00adda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agen\u00adda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agen\u00adda. Hav\u00ading said that, I read wide\u00adly (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ide\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal Tur\u00ading test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fair\u00adly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI dis\u00adagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI under\u00adstand\u201d) and may at times share arti\u00adcles that have a strong par\u00adti\u00adsan bias sim\u00adply because I find the arti\u00adcle stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with every\u00adthing an author says in an arti\u00adcle I men\u00adtion, much less things the author has said in oth\u00ader arti\u00adcles (although if I strong\u00adly dis\u00adagree with some\u00adthing in the arti\u00adcle I\u2019ll usu\u00adal\u00adly men\u00adtion it). And to the extent you can dis\u00adcern my opin\u00adions, please under\u00adstand that they are my own and not nec\u00ades\u00adsar\u00adi\u00adly those of Chi Alpha or any oth\u00ader orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtion I may be per\u00adceived to rep\u00adre\u00adsent.\n\nAlso, remem\u00adber that I\u2019m not report\u00ading news \u2014 I\u2019m giv\u00ading you a selec\u00adtion of things I found inter\u00adest\u00ading. There\u2019s a lot hap\u00adpen\u00ading in the world that\u2019s not mak\u00ading an appear\u00adance here because I haven\u2019t found stim\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading arti\u00adcles writ\u00adten about it.\n\nIf this was for\u00adward\u00aded 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 Inter\u00adest\u00ading On Fri\u00addays I share articles\/resources about broad cul\u00adtur\u00adal, soci\u00adetal and the\u00ado\u00adlog\u00adi\u00adcal issues like\u00adly to be of inter\u00adest to Chris\u00adtians in col\u00adlege. Be sure to see the expla\u00adna\u00adtion and dis\u00adclaimers at the bot\u00adtom. I wel\u00adcome your sug\u00adges\u00adtions, so if you read some\u00adthing fas\u00adci\u00adnat\u00ading please pass \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2026\/04\/17\/tgfi-volume-551-atheism-ai-and-cool-math\" class=\"more-link\">Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cTGFI, Vol\u00adume 551: athe\u00adism, AI, and cool math\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"0","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[16],"tags":[124,219,204,160,308,117,171],"class_list":["post-7947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-atheism","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-mathematics","tag-politics","tag-theodicy"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-24b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7947","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=7947"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7952,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7947\/revisions\/7952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}