Pope Leo XIV signs his new encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Credit: Vatican Media On May 25, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, subtitled “On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” Presenting it alongside Chris Olah, the 33 year-old co-founder of the American AI company Anthropic, the Chicago-born pope offered the Church’s history of reflection on social questions as a “shared discernment,” connecting it to his predecessor and...

Some snapshots from the book I'm working on. More on each of these in the coming months. 1. Progress is Not Inevitable; It is a Shared Spiritual Achievement Civilization does not automatically expand; it is a rarity salvaged from the common human state of barbarism. In an age where algorithmic acceleration mimics advancement, we must remember that authentic progress is snatched from the welter of decline only through the shared, deliberate work of discerning people. 2. To Save Practicality,...

Image courtesy of webrn-maculardegeneration.com/central-scotoma.html . In Bernard Lonergan’s landmark work Insight , he uses the term scotoma to describe a very specific kind of intellectual "blind spot." Becoming aware of ours is a form of refined self-knowledge that is imperative for building a good community. 1. What is a Scotoma? In medicine, a scotoma is a physical blind spot in the visual field. Lonergan adopts this metaphor to describe a psychic blind spot . It is an active exclusion...