Megachurch Partners with Facebook to Expand Outreach
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“Nashville’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church has broken ranks with other churches alleging an anti-conservative outlook of Facebook. The church has partnered with the social media giant to better connect with their community and their congregation. This partnership has been active for several months now.” WRNews
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10 Commandments of Artificial Intelligence: Top Bishop Issues List, Warns of Power to Destroy
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“A top bishop in the Church of England issued his “Ten Commandments of artificial intelligence,” during a major policy debate in London last week, based on the importance of trust and ethics in the evolving technology.” CPost
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Are Virtual Reality Churches the Wave of the Future?
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“Attend a real church in virtual reality,” says the website of a VR church established by Los Angeles, California-based Pastor D.J. Soto and whose mission is “to explore and communicate God through virtual reality, augmented reality, and next generation technologies.” CPost
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Massive Study Finds Link Between High Screen Time and Unhappiness
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“In a new analysis of 1 million U.S. teens, my co-authors and I looked at how teens were spending their free time and which activities correlated with happiness, and which didn’t… .
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7 Ways Tech Executives Limit Their Children’s Internet Usage
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“The Wall Street Journal recently interviewed [Steven Aldrich of GoDaddy, Michelle Dennedy of Cisco, and Brad Arkin of Adobe] asking for their insight on dealing with children and technology devices.” Intellectual Takeout
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The Worst Gift to Give a Middle-School Student
Reposted with permission from The Cripplegate.
by Jesse Johnson
What is the worst Christmas gift you can give your middle-school student? I don’t mean that spiritually—as in unbelief—or theologically—as in The Jesus Calling Student Edition. I mean it seriously. What is the worst gift that you can give your middle-school student?
This Christmas thousands of middle school students are going to get a gift under their tree or in their stocking, and it is going to wreck their lives.
The worst gift you can give your middle-school student is …
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No Neutral Ground: The Problem of Net Neutrality
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“The name is, perhaps, misleading; to support net neutrality is to support placing the internet more fully under government supervision. The related political debate often divides traditional allies with arguments for free expression pitted against defenses of small government.” Center for Vision & Values
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An AI Bot Granted Residency in Tokyo Teaches Us About Our Creator
Shibuya Mirai is an AI chatbot designed to interact as a seven-year-old boy. Mirai was granted residency status in Tokyo, marking another milestone in the journey to the development of consciousness in machines. Cognitive scientists Dehaene, Lau, and Kouider suggest that “consciousness arises in the only physical system that undoubtedly possesses it: the human brain,”1 and they essentially consider consciousness to be computations, report, and self-monitoring.
Mirai possesses at least computational aspects of consciousness and even personality, and gives occasion for inquiry into whether or not these attributes ultimately require a divine spark, or whether they can be demonstrated simply through natural processes. In short: if humanity can create machines that can fulfill core human functions, perhaps that would be evidence that no supernatural creator is necessary at all.
The pursuit of artificial intelligence is an incredible one, and significantly worthwhile, even if only for different reasons. Mirai’s existential setting illustrates the value of the process, and evidences some vital truths:
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Screen Time Is Changing the Way We Think, Focus, and Memorize
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“What does seem clear is that electronic devices (especially smartphones) are addictive and can easily distract us from the very “tasks” our phones purport to simplify.” CToday
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