AI: The Hype vs The Real

Welcome to our new series, The Politics of AI. In this episode, Marc Barnes and Alex Denley discuss the philosophy and ethics of Effective Altruism. The EA movement is premised on the belief that "we must do the most good possible" and do so with the greatest effect. It's main thinkers (we've been reading Peter Singer, Derek Parfit, Nick Bostrum, Toby Ord, and William MacAskill) argue that it's morally imperative to get a high-earning career, become maximally effective with your giving, and look to global problems rather than just your country. EA has had on outsized philosophical impact on AI development, being the guiding ethic of both AI safety and some of the leaders of frontier labs. Marc and Alex discuss the philosophy and ethics of EA and why it makes you a bad person.

Every new technology affects the whole of society, granting humanity new power over itself and power over others. AI has the potential to massively centralize power in the hands of a few, reduce the scope of human freedom, and produce the illusion that humanity could and even should be surpassed and replaced. In this podcast, the editors of New Polity, Marc Barnes, Andrew Willard Jones, Michael Boland, and Alex Denley, discuss the current AI moment and the principles of New Polity's AI Declaration.

In this podcast, Marc Barnes and Reuben Slife discuss Pope Pius XII's 1939 letter to America on the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the hierarchy of bishops. They discuss both Pope Pius's praise for America and his warnings regarding the degradation of the family and cultural decline of the pre-war era.

Does employee ownership really work? Matthew Warner, founder and CEO of Flocknote, says it certainly does. In this podcast, Marc Barnes interviews Matthew on his experience transitioning Flocknote to an employee owned company, and the benefits it brings to his company. They also discuss Catholic Social Teaching on ownership and labor, and how Catholics can incorporate these teachings.

Marc Barnes and Alex Denley are happy to announce the next New Polity Magazine, Issue 7.3, on AI: The Hype vs The Real. In this podcast, they discuss the loss of textual communities, AI generated homilies, the technocratic paradigm, and other topics from the new magazine.

Marc Barnes and Joe Heschmeyer are from the old world of the Catholic blogosphere. With catchy titles like "Bad Catholic" and "Shameless Popery," the Catholic blogs were the place for long comment threads and an active community. Social media has made that community mostly obsolete, and social media is the default place where people go. In this podcast, they discuss producing content for social media algorithms and how to preserve and encourage attention.

In The Seven Ranges, Will Hoyt sought answers to how and why small, self-sufficient landholders in eastern Ohio consented to the destruction of once-thriving townships and even topography itself via strip mining in the 1960s. In his new sequel, Fear and Trembling in Las Vegas, Hoyt describes the collapse of Western Civilization as experienced by residents in eastern Ohio, Cleveland, and Michigan between 1994 and 2024. In this podcast, Marc Barnes interviews Will Hoyt about his new book and how a sense of America and its grandeur can be brought back.

In this podcast, Marc Barnes and Star Plato discuss the final chapters of the Book of Judith. Specifically, they look at the prayer at the end of the book, where Judith praises God for victory.

America is a special place. And, it even has it's own heresy. In this podcast, Reuben Slife and Marc Barnes discuss Leo XIII's condemnation of "Americanism," and the controversy that it caused. Some US bishops replied to the Pope that no one actually adhered to Americanism, and that it was effectively a "phantom heresy." But, is there something particular to the American way of being Catholic that needs correction? How does this teaching on Americanism relate to America today, on the 250th anniversary?

Magnifica Humanitas has been called the "AI Encyclical," but there's far more to the document: a thorough analysis of Catholic Social Doctrine, an extensive treatment of modern warfare, and how power works in the world today. In this podcast, Alex Denley and Andrew Willard Jones discuss the political philosophy of Magnifica Humanitas, and how the Pope's analysis helps us to understand our future with AI, how the powerful will use it, and what we as Christians can do about it.