Author: BrLawrenceLC
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Anthropomorphizing AI Is Perilous
Anthropomoprhism is a fancy word for a very straightforward idea: the tendency to treat things that are not human as if they were. It is also a very old idea: the ancient Greek poet Xenophanes of Colophon was highly critical of the popular religion of his day for its tendency to ascribe human attributes to…
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Archive of Anthropomorphized AI
This post serves as an archive of examples of how people are treating artificial intelligences as if they were human. It will be updated as new examples emerge. Have you seen one? Send it along! Wong, Julia Carrie. “‘My Son Genuinely Believed It Was Real’: Parents Are Letting Little Kids Play with AI. Are They…
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Refreshingly Sober: Reflections on a Consensus Statement from the US National Network of Depression Centers’ Task Group on Psychedelics and Related Compounds
As I have been working the past few years to document the explosion of interest in psychedelics for improving health and for spiritual exploration, my sense has been that the enthusiasm surrounding psychedelics has largely been outstripping science, policy, and, frankly, common sense. On one hand, there is clear evidence that psychedelics are effective in…
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Why Do Religious Leaders and Scholars Care About Foreign Policy?
For the past decade or so, I have appreciated the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)‘s offerings through the Religion and Foreing Policy (RFP) program. During my doctoral work, I was a fellow with the Institute for Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, and my scholarship spans global societies and cultures, so the interest is rather natural…
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How Odd: Megachurches in New England
Ryan Burge’s recent article in Asterisk Mag, “The Demons of Non-Denoms,” reminded me of his Graphs About Religion post from May, “How Many Megachurches Are There? Where Are They Located?,” and specifically the excellent map of megachurches linked therein, which is in turn based on the Hartford Institute for Religion Research Megachurch Database. As a…
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What’s With the Logo?
I originally designed this logo for an initiative I have yet to launch, but still hope to one day. In the interim I decided the logo I had fallen in love with was not appropriate for the initiative anyway but was perfect for me personally and so should become my personal logo for my website,…
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University Leadership: A Proportional Response
The first to make headlines was Columbia: “Trump administration cancels $400 million in federal dollars for Columbia University.” Then they doubled down at Hopkins: “Johns Hopkins to lose 2,000 jobs after Trump’s $800m cut in USAid funding.” The assault was not merely financial but terroristic, as demonstrated by the fear induced by the arrest of…
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What Is Spiritual Care?
Spiritual care is the accompaniment of another person or a community in nurturing and restoring their sense of meaning, purpose, belonging, and significance to a state of harmony and sincerity. Along with care from other specialties among the caring professions, spiritual care results in increased individual and communal resilience and self-determination. Chaplains are professionals who…
