What is the Cost of Human Flourishing? with Brendan Case

Theologian Brendan Case sits down with Grant to discuss the various ways that society can foster—or hinder—the well-being and flourishing of its members. Case is Associate Director for Research with the Harvard Human Flourishing Program, where he helps foster dialogue between the humanities’ long and rich tradition of contemplating human happiness with the evidence-based research of the empirical and social sciences. He brings this unique expertise to the conversation as he and Grant discuss some of the many strands in our social weave that may contribute to or hinder the living of meaningful lives. 

Can we have all we hope for, or can some goods only be possessed at the cost of others? 

Read More.

What Role Should Christians Take in Shaping AI? with Robert J. Marks

From weaponized drones to dancing robots, artificial intelligence has become the locus of many hopes and anxieties about humanity’s future. In the face of rapid technological development, finding the golden mean between utopian daydreams and dystopian forecasts can seem an impossible project. 

Robert J. Marks—professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University, and Director of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence—sits down with Gretchen to dive into this question. He walks through the history of both the development of AI, and the evolution of how we think and talk about it. He reminds us that it is the very human qualities that AI can’t replicate which bring it into being and give it purpose— our natural intelligence, creativity, and common sense. While any new technology comes with its own dangers, he contends that it is up to those who use it to make ethical choices, and that Christians specifically are called to make sure that those choices are based on the rock of God’s law rather than the shifting sands of community standards.

Join Robert and Gretchen as they discuss AI, what it can and can’t do, and our relationship to it. Read More.

Who Will Inherit the Earth? with Lyman Stone

The birth rate in the United States is the lowest it’s ever been. Between rising costs of living and anxiety about humanity’s impact on the environment, people are having fewer children than ever. And yet surveys indicate that we still want babies, and want them in larger numbers than they’re being born.

Demographer and pro-natalist Lyman Stone joins Grant to discuss why this desire doesn’t translate into a higher birth rate, why that matters, and what we should do about it. Read More.

Beatrice Institute is supported in part by Henne Jewelers and The Pittsburgh Foundation.