Marshall McLuhan on media manipulation of peoples and nations

McLuhan, 1969: “There’s nothing at all difficult about putting computers in the position where they will be able to conduct carefully orchestrated programing of the sensory life of whole populations. I know it sounds rather science-fictional, but if you understood cybernetics you’d realize we could do it today. The computer could program the media to… Read More Marshall McLuhan on media manipulation of peoples and nations

Thomas Merton on Creation: The Rain is Not for Sale

“Today the first and perhaps the only duty of the philosopher is to defend man against himself: to defend man against that extraordinary temptation toward inhumanity to which—almost without being aware of it—so many human beings today have yielded.” —- Gabriel Marcel Let me say this before rain becomes a utility that they can plan… Read More Thomas Merton on Creation: The Rain is Not for Sale

Vocation Versus Job Hunting. The Catholic Alternative.

Written in 1948, its truths are more timely than ever. By Carol Robinson, Integrity magazine. Nothing could be more unnatural by way of discovering one’s life work than the current, debasing system of “job-hunting.” … Back of today’s perusal of the want-ad columns, back of today’s dreary trek from employment agency to employment agency, back… Read More Vocation Versus Job Hunting. The Catholic Alternative.

Morality in the Age of Machines.

Ireland’s John Waters writes, “As things stand, it appears that artificial intelligence, while capable of outperforming humans in certain tasks and reckonings, still requires human supervision. Being neither sentient nor self-aware, AI cannot reflect on its own processes. It gets things wrong, mainly due to insufficient, poor, or confusing inputs, albeit less so than before.… Read More Morality in the Age of Machines.