Teaching Happiness with Tal Ben-Shahar

If happiness is to be had, it must be studied. Tal Ben-Shahar acted on this belief when he created the Master’s of Arts in Happiness Studies in partnership with Centenary University, through which students of eighty-five nationalities learn how to achieve well-being and how to impact others’ flourishing.

In this episode, Tal joins Grant to discuss the study of happiness in an academic setting. They ask: How successful are the liberal arts in teaching students how to be happy? What does religion have to offer in the conversation on happiness? What is the ideal profile for the teacher - or student - of a happiness course? And, is happiness the missing key to uniting the University?

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AI and Faith with David Brenner

Can faith leaders, steeped in tradition, contribute anything to the conversation of ever-new artificial intelligence? What if the questions they are asking are the same? When David Brenner realized the metaphysical overlap between the spiritual questions and the questions of AI ethicists, he decided to institute AI and Faith, which engages the fundamental values of the world’s major religions in modern ethical technological debates. 

David joins Gretchen in this podcast and asks: Why is AI so attractive? Can generative AI create real art? Why does the current population distance itself from the spiritual yet become enamored with the virtual? And, how can disparate faiths find commonality in order to further the development of AI ethics?

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Progressing toward Apocalypse with Mary Harrington

If chickens can’t act as chickens and humans can’t act as humans, Western civilization is not progressing. So observes Mary Harrington, contributing editor for Unherd and most recently, author of Feminism Against Progress. While society champions the defying of limits, our natures - as humans, as men, as women - always reemerge.

In this episode, Mary and Grant discuss the apocalypse, gender, and eros, asking: What if our idea of the traditional family isn’t traditional enough? Can technology suppress human nature? And, what will it take to garner the enthusiasm to bring new people into this life?

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Rerun: Will There Be Computers in Heaven? with Derek Schuurman

Although the intersection of faith and artificial intelligence is a modern topic, it can be seen as a new version of an old question famously posed by Tertullian: what does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Today’s podcast guest, Derek Schuurman—computer scientist, author, and professor at Calvin University—rephrases that question for those living in the age of AI: what does Silicon Valley have to do with Jerusalem?

In order to answer this question, Derek posits that it is vital to have an ethical imagination that is formed by story, viewing ourselves as participants in the narrative of Creation, the Fall, and Redemption. When our daily actions are suffused and shaped by this narrative, technology—along with the rest of our daily lives—is taken up into that story. 

Derek and Gretchen play out what this story-shaped ethics looks like in relation to technological questions. Are computer bugs the result of original sin? What does open source software have to do with Genesis? What’s the difference between predestination and technological determinism, and what do both mean for our freedom? Listen to their conversation as they ponder how we might sanctify technology for the glory of God’s kingdom.

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