Our Own Devices
by Joseph ClairA flickering glow welcomed me to my university’s chapel service. Votive candles? If only. Continue Reading »
Quotidian Wonder
by Cassandra NelsonZero Kby don delilloscribner, 288 pages, $26In 2013, Jonathan Safran Foer claimed that “Only those with no imagination, and no grounding in reality, would deny the possibility that they will live forever. It’s possible that many reading these words will never die.” Many other intelligent, . . . . Continue Reading »
A More Perfect Absolutism
by Michael HanbyIt is part of the absurdity of American life that we decide questions of truth under the guise of settling contests of rights. Which means that we decide questions of truth without thinking deeply or even very honestly about them. Thus, while it is obvious to many that we are living through a . . . . Continue Reading »
Lectio Divina and the Facebook Newsfeed
by Br. Michael BaggotThe ancient monks’ most glorious libraries contained less information than the average smartphone. But their habits of receptivity and assimilation can empower us to lift our gaze from our screens ennobled rather than enslaved. Continue Reading »
The Digital Triptych
by Br. Michael BaggotA millennial recently bragged to my friend that he no longer has much reason to leave the comfort of his basement office. There, he enjoys a tri-screen computer setup and can simultaneously manage his business, view porn, and compete in online gaming tournaments from a single cushioned reclining chair. Continue Reading »
Cryogenic Monks
by Richard T. WhittingtonDon DeLillo's novels suggest that the fundamental yearning that underlies all action, the creation and the destruction of civilizations, is the yearning to escape personal mortality. But the feats of modern science have tempted some to believe that science can defy human mortality altogether. Continue Reading »
Supple Mind
by Nicholas CarrThe Tides of Mind: Uncovering the Spectrum of Consciousnessby david gelernterliveright, 320 pages, $26.95 What in the end makes The Tides of Mind a brave and exemplary book is not so much Gelernter’s conclusions as his method. It has become fashionable among computationalists and others to argue . . . . Continue Reading »
The Smartphone and the Virgin
by Mark MovsesianUpdating Henry Adams's famous meditation on technology and tradition. Continue Reading »
Teleology in the Digital Age
by Jordan ZajacWe appeal to other animals to help us arrive at self-understanding in these perplexing times. But we struggle to understand non-humans in a productive way. Therefore we cannot ultimately understand ourselves. Continue Reading »
Look At Me
by Patricia SnowEven if the Church could keep screens out of her sanctuaries, people strongly attached to them would still be people poorly positioned to take advantage of what the Church has to . . . . Continue Reading »
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