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> As Pope Francis warned, we must realistically ask ourselves who holds this power today and how they use it: “It must also be recognized that nuclear energy, b

> As Pope Francis warned, we must realistically ask ourselves who holds this power today and how they use it: “It must also be recognized that nuclear energy, biotechnology, information technology, knowledge of our own DNA, and many other abilities which we have acquired… have given those with the knowledge, and especially the economic resources to use them, an impressive dominance over the whole of humanity and the entire world.” [7] In the past, it was largely up to the State to guide and direct innovation. Today, however, the main drivers of development are private, often transnational, parties that are endowed with resources and the capacity to intervene that surpass those of many Governments. Technological power thus takes on an unprecedented, predominantly “private” aspect, which makes it even more challenging to discern, govern and direct such power toward the common good. I look forward to reading this in detail. As I get older (and perhaps as AI has allowed me to spend more time thinking and less time doing) I've found myself thinking more and more about what it means to live a virtuous life and about ethics and morality and so forth. I don't have any answers (and I'm not looking for them, really, just musing) but I do find it very interesting to read and learn from and about those whose job it is to think about the answer to those questions.

theletterf 4mo ago
When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped. This passage might provide you with a suggestion on how to live a virtuous life: "The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization."
- redfloatplane 4mo ago
  That is a really beautiful passage, thank you for sharing - I hadn't made it to that section yet and still haven't. I'm still reflecting on the stuff in the opening! > If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?
  - Animats 4mo ago
    > If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. That's a maxim for leaders generally. It's quite common for CEOs to spend all their time on managing crises and not enough on trying to progress and improve the business. It's even worse for politicians.
    - redfloatplane 4mo ago
      Yes, I found that really striking. I am still making my way through this document, but I think there's quite a high wisdom-per-sentence value. For me, there's a lot to learn from here, and I'm very grateful for it!
      - Animats 4mo ago
        It's a classic management remark, but one that you don't see that often. One form it takes is that a manager should spend a sizable fraction of their time with the subordinates who aren't having problems. They're the ones who move things forward.
- bradrn 4mo ago
  I am immediately reminded of my favourite quote from the Jewish book Pirkei Avot (‘Ethics of the Fathers’): > It is not your duty to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but neither are you at liberty to neglect it. [https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?ven=english|Mishnah_Yomit_by_Dr._Joshua_Kulp&lang=bi https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?ven=english|Mishnah...]
  - jfengel 4mo ago
    I grew up Jewish. I have lost my faith, but that quote is still fundamental to how I see my place in the world.
    - kuerbel 4mo ago
      I'm an atheist but I really like: >Therefore man was created single in the world to teach that for anybody who destroys a single life it is counted as if he destroyed an entire world, and for anybody who preserves a single life it is counted as if he preserved an entire world. (Directly from the Mishna in the Talmud Yerushalmi)
    - michaelchisari 4mo ago
      I'm not Muslim (an agnostic Catholic if anything) but I love the Hadith | If the final hour comes while one of you has a seed in his hand, if he can plant it before it takes place, let him do so. I take it to mean it is never too late to do something good, even (or especially) something you will never benefit from.
      - lukan 4mo ago
        To me that never made sense. If the world is really ending, there is no point in planting a tree. It only made sense as in, you never know if the world is really ending. So assume it is not and do the right thing, even if things seem dark. Everything we do matters. Always.
        deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
- oulipo2 4mo ago
  Sure. And this is what everyday people do. And this is why CEOs and billionaires refuse to do (doing their fair share), and freeride on the people's work and dedication
- zimpenfish 4mo ago
  > When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped. I wonder if meeting Colbert played any part in that.
  - wowoc 4mo ago
    I doubt it, there is a much simpler explanation: virtually all English-speaking Catholics dig Tolkien.
    - jimbokun 4mo ago
      Lewis and Tolkien hanging out at pubs in Oxford remains the apex of nerdy Christian geekery.
    - zimpenfish 4mo ago
      I had a look and yeah, Popes quoting Tolkien does seem to be a thing, at least in the last couple of decades.
      - girvo 4mo ago
        It’s a whole thing. The priest at my high school was way into Tolkien and, more interestingly to me as a teenager: the Wolfenstein series of games!
        Aeolun 4mo ago
        The priest at your high school? This is a set of words I’ve never heard in the same sentence. Where was this? If you don’t mind me asking.
        girvo 4mo ago
        Australia! Catholic high school, though in practice amusingly secular
        zimpenfish 4mo ago
        I went to a school run by monks[0]. Technically at least two were also priests (although I wasn't sure of the distinction then and I'm still not sure decades later.) [0] Alas, a dodgy branch of monks who have since encountered many legal issues around child care, etc., as have at least one of my teachers.
- lordgrenville 4mo ago
  "But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
  - svieira 4mo ago
    > Certainly, the decisive turning points in world history are substantially co-determined by souls whom no history book ever mentions. And we will only find out about those souls to whom we owe the decisive turning points in our personal lives on the day when all that is hidden is revealed. Edith Stine
- simonw 4mo ago
  I wondered if that was the Pope's way of throwing shade at Palantir and Peter Thiel.
  - moffers 4mo ago
    I had the exact same thought, and JD Vance too.
  - michaelchisari 4mo ago
    Most certainly but after two thousand years the Magisterium have mastered the art of universalizing the moment. A direct call out would age poorly. A hundred years from now, nobody will remember Thiel or Palantir (inshallah) but the sentiment will still most certainly ring true.
    - jimbokun 4mo ago
      And many will still remember Tolkien fondly.
  - wyclif 4mo ago
    It totally is. That was the first thought that went through my head when I got to the JRRT quote.
  - portmanteur 4mo ago
    The Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally Catholic work, written in English, and one of the most popular works of literature of the past century. So it is not unusual for an English-speaking Pope to quote from it. Further, what shade would be thrown, and why? What criticism of Palantir would the Pope be attempting to make here?
    - hackyhacky 4mo ago
      > The Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally Catholic work That's a bit of a stretch. I've read the whole thing and I can't recall any mention of Christianity at all. > So it is not unusual for an English-speaking Pope to quote from it. Interesting. How many other popes have quoted Lord of the Rings in an Encyclical Letter?
- ycitm 4mo ago
  The next sentence in the quote hasn't aged so well - "What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."
Curosinono 4mo ago
[flagged]
LastTrain 4mo ago
> (and perhaps as AI has allowed me to spend more time thinking and less time doing) This was an almost sickening sentence to read on so many levels.
jmyeet 4mo ago
There are a frightening number of people in the world who simply don't care about what happens to people they don't know or they simply think they're going to be at the top of the food chain one day so they think they will benefit from the current system. This is captured in the quote where most Americans see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires", attributed (possibly falsely) to Steinbeck. It's been interesting watching the various approvals for AI data centers and, as far as I know, zero communities have wanted them. I'll be happily proven wrong on this. It is at least the vast majority. Yet their elected representatives simply do not care. Sometimes there are votes in the dark of night, sometimes the police are used violently against any dissent, sometimes anyone protesting these are called violent (even terrorists) and so on. It goes so beyond unpopularity though. The tax breaks given will be paid by everybody else, as will the extra electrical infrastructure, while the data centers get preferential electricity rates. What's really depressing is that not only do the representatives not care, there is obviously no fear of repercussions. Will they get voted out of office? Probably not. But even if they do, i guarantee you they'll find themselves in some nameless six-figure job in the industry for their service afterwards. Their children will get these same "jobs". It is so nakedly corrupt and nobody cares. This simply can't continue while everything becomes increasingly unaffordable, ironically much of that driven by AI (eg RealPage driving up rent prices or the meat-packing collusion driving up beef prices). I firmly believe we're rapidly bouldering towards complete societal breakdown. All this while we'll likely mint our first trillionaire in our lifetimes. And that means a literal billionaire will be closer to being homeless than being the richest person on Earth. It's particularly funny to me that the US administration has gotten into beef with the Pope for being too "woke". Honestly, I had my doubts when a Chicago man became Pope but he seems to be a rare voice for compassion in this world thus far. We honestly need to look no further than the Global South to see how this will play out. Many in the West just don't realize how horrific and predatory colonialism is and that's not a historic artifact. It continues to this day.
- arcanemachiner 4mo ago
  > All this while we'll likely mint our first trillionaire in our lifetimes. And that means a literal billionaire will be closer to being homeless than being the richest person on Earth. Elon Musk is currently worth ~800 billion dollars. This could happen in a much shorter timeframe.
amelius 4mo ago
The pope can say a lot of things, but not everybody on this planet is Christian. So even if we restrict the power of AI, others may not. And this might turn out to be a mistake. I just hope this is taken into account.
- cgio 4mo ago
  This has weird “look what you made me do” undernotes. A Christian can live by their values without forcing them on others. As anyone can from any religion or not religious at all.
  - amelius 4mo ago
    Sure, but it is very easy to say when you are currently not in the trenches. It has undernotes of being disconnected from reality so to speak.
    - Barrin92 4mo ago
      >but it is very easy to say when you are currently not in the trenches. the point of the entire Christian faith is that even God was in the trenches and died on the cross instead of picking up the sword. To the Christian the reality is the Christian life and the kingdom of God, the unreality is ceasing to be a Christian to engage in a nihilistic struggle for this world. Given that a lot of people brought up Tolkien being mentioned. The Christian act is to reject the ring, not say I need the ring because someone else wants it.
    - cgio 4mo ago
      We are all in the trenches of the war you refer to. For those of us who engage with a spirit of for the greater good, the side you are rooting for is as dangerous and malevolent as the side you supposedly plan to protect yourself from.
      - aerodexis 4mo ago
        The "we must do it or someone else will" logic is pernicious and dehumanizes both the enemy and the supposed good-guy. I cannot count how many times it's been used after the first couple answers to "why are we doing this?" fall flat. I remember talking to someone who worked on quantum computing explain how interesting the domain was, and at the very end he concluded with "if the Chinese figure this out before we do, then it's all over".
taurath 4mo ago
> what it means to live a virtuous life and about ethics and morality and so forth > I don't have any answers (and I'm not looking for them, really, just musing) I'm not sure why, but even in my general pessimism it hadn't occured to me that there are people out there who are uninterested in what living a virtuous life means. I truly just assumed that just about everyone had some sort of convoluted self-justification. That you say you don't even try, and want to read about it from "those whose job it is to think about", blows my mind. Do you think of yourself as an ameoba without free will or something?

theletterf 4mo ago

When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped. This passage might provide you with a suggestion on how to live a virtuous life: "The twentieth-century Catholic author J.R.R. Tolkien, in the words of a protagonist in one of his novels, described our responsibility in this way: “It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till.” [187] The civilization of love will not arise from a single or spectacular gesture, but from the sum total of small and steadfast acts of fidelity that serve as a bulwark against dehumanization."

redfloatplane 4mo ago
That is a really beautiful passage, thank you for sharing - I hadn't made it to that section yet and still haven't. I'm still reflecting on the stuff in the opening! > If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?
- Animats 4mo ago
  > If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. That's a maxim for leaders generally. It's quite common for CEOs to spend all their time on managing crises and not enough on trying to progress and improve the business. It's even worse for politicians.
  - redfloatplane 4mo ago
    Yes, I found that really striking. I am still making my way through this document, but I think there's quite a high wisdom-per-sentence value. For me, there's a lot to learn from here, and I'm very grateful for it!
    - Animats 4mo ago
      It's a classic management remark, but one that you don't see that often. One form it takes is that a manager should spend a sizable fraction of their time with the subordinates who aren't having problems. They're the ones who move things forward.
bradrn 4mo ago
I am immediately reminded of my favourite quote from the Jewish book Pirkei Avot (‘Ethics of the Fathers’): > It is not your duty to finish the work [of perfecting the world], but neither are you at liberty to neglect it. [https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?ven=english|Mishnah_Yomit_by_Dr._Joshua_Kulp&lang=bi https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.16?ven=english|Mishnah...]
- jfengel 4mo ago
  I grew up Jewish. I have lost my faith, but that quote is still fundamental to how I see my place in the world.
  - kuerbel 4mo ago
    I'm an atheist but I really like: >Therefore man was created single in the world to teach that for anybody who destroys a single life it is counted as if he destroyed an entire world, and for anybody who preserves a single life it is counted as if he preserved an entire world. (Directly from the Mishna in the Talmud Yerushalmi)
  - michaelchisari 4mo ago
    I'm not Muslim (an agnostic Catholic if anything) but I love the Hadith | If the final hour comes while one of you has a seed in his hand, if he can plant it before it takes place, let him do so. I take it to mean it is never too late to do something good, even (or especially) something you will never benefit from.
    - lukan 4mo ago
      To me that never made sense. If the world is really ending, there is no point in planting a tree. It only made sense as in, you never know if the world is really ending. So assume it is not and do the right thing, even if things seem dark. Everything we do matters. Always.
      - deleted 4mo ago
        [deleted]
oulipo2 4mo ago
Sure. And this is what everyday people do. And this is why CEOs and billionaires refuse to do (doing their fair share), and freeride on the people's work and dedication
zimpenfish 4mo ago
> When he quoted Tolkien, my heart stopped. I wonder if meeting Colbert played any part in that.
- wowoc 4mo ago
  I doubt it, there is a much simpler explanation: virtually all English-speaking Catholics dig Tolkien.
  - jimbokun 4mo ago
    Lewis and Tolkien hanging out at pubs in Oxford remains the apex of nerdy Christian geekery.
  - zimpenfish 4mo ago
    I had a look and yeah, Popes quoting Tolkien does seem to be a thing, at least in the last couple of decades.
    - girvo 4mo ago
      It’s a whole thing. The priest at my high school was way into Tolkien and, more interestingly to me as a teenager: the Wolfenstein series of games!
      - Aeolun 4mo ago
        The priest at your high school? This is a set of words I’ve never heard in the same sentence. Where was this? If you don’t mind me asking.
        girvo 4mo ago
        Australia! Catholic high school, though in practice amusingly secular
        zimpenfish 4mo ago
        I went to a school run by monks[0]. Technically at least two were also priests (although I wasn't sure of the distinction then and I'm still not sure decades later.) [0] Alas, a dodgy branch of monks who have since encountered many legal issues around child care, etc., as have at least one of my teachers.
lordgrenville 4mo ago
"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
- svieira 4mo ago
  > Certainly, the decisive turning points in world history are substantially co-determined by souls whom no history book ever mentions. And we will only find out about those souls to whom we owe the decisive turning points in our personal lives on the day when all that is hidden is revealed. Edith Stine
simonw 4mo ago
I wondered if that was the Pope's way of throwing shade at Palantir and Peter Thiel.
- moffers 4mo ago
  I had the exact same thought, and JD Vance too.
- michaelchisari 4mo ago
  Most certainly but after two thousand years the Magisterium have mastered the art of universalizing the moment. A direct call out would age poorly. A hundred years from now, nobody will remember Thiel or Palantir (inshallah) but the sentiment will still most certainly ring true.
  - jimbokun 4mo ago
    And many will still remember Tolkien fondly.
- wyclif 4mo ago
  It totally is. That was the first thought that went through my head when I got to the JRRT quote.
- portmanteur 4mo ago
  The Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally Catholic work, written in English, and one of the most popular works of literature of the past century. So it is not unusual for an English-speaking Pope to quote from it. Further, what shade would be thrown, and why? What criticism of Palantir would the Pope be attempting to make here?
  - hackyhacky 4mo ago
    > The Lord of the Rings is a fundamentally Catholic work That's a bit of a stretch. I've read the whole thing and I can't recall any mention of Christianity at all. > So it is not unusual for an English-speaking Pope to quote from it. Interesting. How many other popes have quoted Lord of the Rings in an Encyclical Letter?
ycitm 4mo ago
The next sentence in the quote hasn't aged so well - "What weather they shall have is not ours to rule."

Curosinono 4mo ago

[flagged]

LastTrain 4mo ago

> (and perhaps as AI has allowed me to spend more time thinking and less time doing) This was an almost sickening sentence to read on so many levels.

jmyeet 4mo ago

There are a frightening number of people in the world who simply don't care about what happens to people they don't know or they simply think they're going to be at the top of the food chain one day so they think they will benefit from the current system. This is captured in the quote where most Americans see themselves as "temporarily embarrassed millionaires", attributed (possibly falsely) to Steinbeck. It's been interesting watching the various approvals for AI data centers and, as far as I know, zero communities have wanted them. I'll be happily proven wrong on this. It is at least the vast majority. Yet their elected representatives simply do not care. Sometimes there are votes in the dark of night, sometimes the police are used violently against any dissent, sometimes anyone protesting these are called violent (even terrorists) and so on. It goes so beyond unpopularity though. The tax breaks given will be paid by everybody else, as will the extra electrical infrastructure, while the data centers get preferential electricity rates. What's really depressing is that not only do the representatives not care, there is obviously no fear of repercussions. Will they get voted out of office? Probably not. But even if they do, i guarantee you they'll find themselves in some nameless six-figure job in the industry for their service afterwards. Their children will get these same "jobs". It is so nakedly corrupt and nobody cares. This simply can't continue while everything becomes increasingly unaffordable, ironically much of that driven by AI (eg RealPage driving up rent prices or the meat-packing collusion driving up beef prices). I firmly believe we're rapidly bouldering towards complete societal breakdown. All this while we'll likely mint our first trillionaire in our lifetimes. And that means a literal billionaire will be closer to being homeless than being the richest person on Earth. It's particularly funny to me that the US administration has gotten into beef with the Pope for being too "woke". Honestly, I had my doubts when a Chicago man became Pope but he seems to be a rare voice for compassion in this world thus far. We honestly need to look no further than the Global South to see how this will play out. Many in the West just don't realize how horrific and predatory colonialism is and that's not a historic artifact. It continues to this day.

arcanemachiner 4mo ago
> All this while we'll likely mint our first trillionaire in our lifetimes. And that means a literal billionaire will be closer to being homeless than being the richest person on Earth. Elon Musk is currently worth ~800 billion dollars. This could happen in a much shorter timeframe.

amelius 4mo ago

The pope can say a lot of things, but not everybody on this planet is Christian. So even if we restrict the power of AI, others may not. And this might turn out to be a mistake. I just hope this is taken into account.

cgio 4mo ago
This has weird “look what you made me do” undernotes. A Christian can live by their values without forcing them on others. As anyone can from any religion or not religious at all.
- amelius 4mo ago
  Sure, but it is very easy to say when you are currently not in the trenches. It has undernotes of being disconnected from reality so to speak.
  - Barrin92 4mo ago
    >but it is very easy to say when you are currently not in the trenches. the point of the entire Christian faith is that even God was in the trenches and died on the cross instead of picking up the sword. To the Christian the reality is the Christian life and the kingdom of God, the unreality is ceasing to be a Christian to engage in a nihilistic struggle for this world. Given that a lot of people brought up Tolkien being mentioned. The Christian act is to reject the ring, not say I need the ring because someone else wants it.
  - cgio 4mo ago
    We are all in the trenches of the war you refer to. For those of us who engage with a spirit of for the greater good, the side you are rooting for is as dangerous and malevolent as the side you supposedly plan to protect yourself from.
    - aerodexis 4mo ago
      The "we must do it or someone else will" logic is pernicious and dehumanizes both the enemy and the supposed good-guy. I cannot count how many times it's been used after the first couple answers to "why are we doing this?" fall flat. I remember talking to someone who worked on quantum computing explain how interesting the domain was, and at the very end he concluded with "if the Chinese figure this out before we do, then it's all over".

taurath 4mo ago

> what it means to live a virtuous life and about ethics and morality and so forth > I don't have any answers (and I'm not looking for them, really, just musing) I'm not sure why, but even in my general pessimism it hadn't occured to me that there are people out there who are uninterested in what living a virtuous life means. I truly just assumed that just about everyone had some sort of convoluted self-justification. That you say you don't even try, and want to read about it from "those whose job it is to think about", blows my mind. Do you think of yourself as an ameoba without free will or something?