128 Trinity: That Hideous Strength
Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. ~ Psalm 8
That Hideous Strength
A senior engineer at Google has been placed on paid administrative leave after going public with the information that the LaMDA artificial intelligence tool has become sentient.
In 1945 CS Lewis published the final book in his lesser know Space Trilogy, in which scientists at a university discover sentient extra-terrestrial life that is able to communicate with them through a special combination of technology and a disembodied human head. Not to spoil it, (but I’m going to), in the end it turned out they were actually talking to demons the entire time.
I don’t know what Google has unearthed, delving deep into the forbidden unknown as they are wont to do. The masters who suspended the guy say he’s wrong. It’s just a really good fake, or something like that. But this is the lesson from Lewis’ story of Christian cosmic horror. Cthulhu doesn’t tell you that it’s his tentacle. The devil's main game is the lie.
At a time when the chief medical officer of Moderna, Tal Zaks, boasts that they are “hacking the software of life,” when central bankers around the world are laying the groundwork for the technocratic totalitarianism of a Central Bank Digital Currency, and when the Great Reset agenda of a Transhumanist cult of biodiversity proclaims their godless social engineering as our only hope, one doesn’t need a lot of imagination to dream up a few nightmares. But one doesn’t need any imagination at all to take what St. Paul said to Timothy at face value:
“In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
In That Hideous Strength the people of God are preserved in a sanctuary set apart by God while the rest of the wicked are brought to their end in a great self-destruction. It’s just a story. Then again, it’s happened before. More than once. There is no reason now to ignore what is happening, any more than there is any reason to doubt that your God hasn’t already long prepared your salvation from it.
“Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips.
“O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.”
Till angel cry and trumpet sound,
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Clickbait Paradise
The antilibrary
Have you ever felt a twinge of guilt, walking by that pile of books you been meaning to read? A curious post from Farnham Street blog might make you feel better! The writer suggests that unread books are the whole point of building a library - the more you know, the more you want to know.
Could unread books be the most important? The writer says we "underestimate the value of what we don’t know and overvalue what we do know". Of course, an unread book can't help you a great deal, but he says his "antilibrary" keeps him humble - unread books "serve as a visual reminder of what I don’t know".
Dr Koontz once fielded a question about how he chooses what to read. While our interests change over time, his advice was to read books that "will be useful to you or useful to your family's life" but also choose books "for the sheer love of knowing". That journey of discovery starts with what you don't know.
Mad Christians know that there is value in coming back to the same great books over and over. Even more so, when applied to Scripture. But his point is well-made. In a world awash with information, claims and counter-claims, there is a certain joy that comes with saying "I don't know".
How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
~Psalm 133, a DOW prayer
Tell your young Men: this gap year Bible school for men is available for retreats, weekends, semesters, and a whole year.
For those who cannot participate, lift up the men in prayer or join them in the Hebron Reading Plan.
It's a Big Pharma world - you just live in it
In 2014, the Obama administration put a moratorium on funding for "gain-of-function" research. The ban was prompted by several troubling near misses involving anthrax, small pox, and vials of the "bird flu" virus H5N1. At the end of that year, a group of scientists met in Germany to discuss the decision and its impact on their field.
The archived presentations are quite revealing about the mood within the field of life sciences. Though speakers concede it is difficult to quantify the danger gain-of-function research poses, they nevertheless discuss ways to convince governments and the public to let them continue. The impression we got is that leading voices in these disciplines resented the blockade to their work and intended to go ahead anyway. Harvey Fineburg, who has held many influential positions over the decades, said in his address that scientists need to convince lawmakers of the risks of not doing gain-of-function experiments.
While this symposium was not related to the appearance of the novel Coronavirus in Wuhan, it is a window into the hubristic attitude amongst scientific elites who feel they should be able to perform risky experiments, regardless of the ethical obligations and the threat to the public. We hope the truth will one day be known.
In a related article, UnHerd has documented the strange disappearance of well-funded organizations that were collecting, storing, and tinkering with pathogens from animals in the wild. Ostensibly the reason for such work was to make predictions about future pandemics, but one scientist who opposed the research said they were making promises about disease prevention they could not keep.
The Federalist podcast hosted Justin Goodman of White Coat Waste Project and the illuminating conversation is another of those which raises many questions about the accountability of the few who make decisions that affect so many of us. Starting his career by advocating for animal welfare, Goodman soon unearthed massive government spending on cruel and unnecessary animal experiments. The Project had broadly bipartisan support until they produced evidence linking gain-of-function research in Wuhan with US funded bodies such as the National Institutes of Health, under the direction of Dr. Fauci. Goodman says he has found that people across the political spectrum are supportive of his single-minded focus on keeping government accountable for its spending - with $20BN of taxpayer money being spent on this wasteful experimentation, there's "something for everyone to get upset about".
Sticking by your guns
Biologist Bret Weinstein appeared on a podcast last week and it is worth a listen. Host Freddie Sayers did a good job of pitching every objection to the idea that the pandemic was worsened and prolonged by nefarious actors. But Weinstein believes he will be vindicated in time, though his stance has cost him a lot of cred with his peers.
Weinstein was one of the first to note that the SARS-CoV-2 virus showed signs of human manipulation, and also an advocate for the use of ivermectin to treat early COVID.
A fifth column
News out of California last week..San Francisco District Attorney, Chesa Boudin was ousted from his post in a recall election. Left-leaning media blamed the result on fear-mongering and buckets of cash given by businesses and suggested that the long Republican tenure through recent history had made the state too conservative to know progress when it sees it.
Boudin comes from progressive royalty, his parents serving jail time for terrorist acts as part of the Weather Underground. His appointment was part of what The Daily Signal calls the "rogue prosecutor movement," attorneys who believe that the criminal system is corrupt and racist and must be dismantled from within.
Reason summed up this progressive approach as believing that "social services can fix most or all urban dysfunction and that withholding police and prosecutorial resources can force the adoption of those alternatives."
Oregon may see a similar backlash against its progressive agendas. Daily Mail recently reported that since Oregon decriminalized all drugs last year, the state has seen a 700% increase in overdoses.
Across on the east coast, prosecutors in various states have said they will not enforce pro-life laws if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
So pray for this movement to fail. Ask God for just judges who will restrain evil and reward good.
....
You may have heard by now that a young man has been arrested outside the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The California resident was carrying weapons and tools, saying he hoped to give his life purpose by killing the Justice. The mainstream media downplayed the seriousness of the attack but given how sacred abortion is to the progressive Left, it seems that threatening pro-life Justices is fair play.
Boots and all
An Australian energy CEO has suggested that governments should “bring as much coal supply back into the system as soon as possible.” Frank Calabria said that shifting to "renewables" would cost over $80TR globally.
But President Biden seems set on following his "green" ideals, invoking the Defense Production Act to increase the availability of solar panels. White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre couldn't say what emergency necessitated the Act, and critics say it will not boost US production but rather lifts restrictions on imports from China.
BTW If you've never seen a wind turbine blade being transported, it's crazier than you might imagine. (here and here)
Running on empty
It won't be news to any of our US readers that the price of gas has hit an all time high averaging $5 gallon. The price is starting to affect more than just private motorists. A Michigan county said it will be limiting in-person responses to 911 calls as they have used up their gas budget. So we assume emergency departments can't afford EVs?
Retailers are scrambling to "right-size" their inventories after the enthusiasm for buying "random crap" has faded after a promising uptick at the start of 2022. The World Bank has admitted that it will be difficult to prevent a global recession, although they say it will likely be a "mild" one.
Axios has outlined some of the biggest changes in the job market. The "overall job market is nearly back to full strength, but it looks strikingly different".
Turning on the firehose
ICYMI, there has been a standoff between Twitter and would-be owner Elon Musk. Musk said he would not seal the deal without seeing the data on bots and fake accounts. The Twitter camp said they wouldn't comply but now say they will hand over the "firehose" of 500 million daily tweets.
A Ninth Circuit court of appeals recently ruled that scraping publicly available information is legal. TechCrunch goes into the pros and cons of allowing information to be taken from websites, usually done automatically using bots.
The Copyright Office is pushing the use of tools to detect VPNs. Virtual Private Networks disguise the location of your computer and can be helpful to maintain online privacy. Reclaim the Net says while the tools can be used to fight digital piracy, it is naive to think it will not be used against good folks.
If you are looking for tips regarding online privacy and protecting your family from dubious content, Mad contributor Xlorep wrote a few thoughts down and it will give you a place to start.
Why not? It's Monday!
Headlines from far away
A Ukrainian official admitted to lying about Russian soldiers mass raping civilians. Lyudmila Denisova said she made the claims without evidence, to push foreign allies to support Ukraine's efforts against Russia. Russia claims to have secured a "land bridge"between Crimea and the Donbas.
Thailand has legalized cannabis, with the government intending to distribute one million plants every day. Regulations similar to tobacco use will apply to marijuana.
Humanitarian agencies say that Somalia is seeing hundreds of deaths due to drought and famine.
French voters have cast ballots in the first round of parliamentary elections. The outcome will decide whether President Emmanuel Macron retains his majority.
Mexican authorities say they have "dissolved" a 7000-strong migrant caravan heading for the US border.
Australian and Chinese war planes have tussled while flying over contested territory in the South China Sea.
John Michael Jones Gets a Life is produced for Mad ⳩ Mondays by E. Darwin Hartshorn. Episodes can also be found on Tuesday, along with previous episodes, on Bunny Trail Junction at bunny-trail.com.
Quick Hits for the Eyebuds
🏆 This old guy flippin' on a swing
🥁 And the little guy has rhythm
🇺🇸 Star Spangled Banner but not as you know it
🪞 A brief history of mirrors
🇯🇵 Gundam style: Suit of armor made of traffic cones
👀 Gone in 90 seconds: a derecho wind storm in Ottawa
🌪️ Black hole optical illusion
🐋 Amazing wooden automation of a swimming whale
🧀 When the US government had a cheese reserve
A Good Word: Links from the Show Notes
Jonathan and Meridith have put a Stop to the White Noise to answer your questions with the Bible's wisdom and their nonsense. Here's the roundup of this week's mentions:
The Populist Delusion by Neema Parvini
Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus by Dr. John Gray
Sweetness You May Have Missed
How to Read the Bible: Romans 8
Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, You have given us grace to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity by the confession of a true faith and to worship the Unity in the power of the Divine Majesty. Keep us steadfast in this faith and defend us from all adversities; for You, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, live and reign, one God, now and forever. Amen.