Category: Philosophy
-
The (necessary) Luxury of Honesty and Vulnerability
Professionally, my goal was “work hard until something good happens” for many years. I had the luxury of the world’s best string of bosses. I had no idea how lucky I was to be learning from giants who poured wisdom into me, protected me and told me hard truths that shaped my character. At DARPA…
-
Pairing Philosophers in 2023
Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche are valued teachers and they generated many of the ideas bumping into each other in the culture today. Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, and social critic who is known for his contributions to the field of existentialism. He believed that the individual’s relationship to God was the most…
-
Otis on Leadership
In Shawshank redemption Otis “Red” goes before the parole board with promises to be better. He tries to play by the rules and repeatedly gets denied. Finally, he has had enough and lets them have it. He is done with their game, they can keep him there forever. He speaks with the tired wisdom of…
-
Woke Karl Barth
“If love is the essence and totality of the good demanded of us, how can it be known that we love?” Karl Barth We think in groups and live in tribes. It’s hard to believe anything that doesn’t align with a big group of folks. The historical struggle between economic classes is shifting to a…
-
Tale of Two Cities: Faith and Progress
Around 1710, the English theologian Thomas Woolston wrote that Christianity would be extinct by the year 1900. In 1822, Thomas Jefferson predicted there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian. While these predictions didn’t pan out, we live in a world that neither of them…
-
Caging the Demon
As computers become powerful and solve more problems, the possibility that computers could evolve into a capability that could rise up against us and pose an existential threat is of increasing concern. After reading a recent book on artificial intelligence (AI), Superintelligence, Elon Musk recently said: I think we should be very careful about artificial…
-
Consistency, Focus and Grace
“My commitment must be to truth, not to consistency.” — Ghandi Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when…
-
World Vision and the Culture Wars
I, for one, am tired of arguing. I’m tired of trying to defend evangelicalism when its leaders behave indefensibly. Is there a problem with hypocrisy in the modern church? Yes, just as there was in the ancient, medieval and renaissance churches. Fortunately, Christian doctrine and practice accounts for the fact that all of the churches…
-
“I’m Busy”
As we enter the Christmas/holiday season, I’m asking lots of friends how they are doing and how their year has been. Almost everyone says “it’s busy”. This takes many forms, from “crazy busy” to “absolutely busy” or “scary busy”. Since words often lose their meaning, I’ve thought about a scale we could use to better…