• Grounding the Bluesky Hype
    Nov 20 2024

    Within the last week, Bluesky has grown in popularity with many Christian authors and pastors announcing that they are moving to the new platform. Some have even considered deleting Twitter altogether.


    We hope this episode helps Christian leaders consider whether or not to use Bluesky, as well as better consider how the social internet is changing overall.


    In this episode we discuss: What is Bluesky? Why did it grow now? We discuss how the idea of link impression isn't new. It's the new ecosystem of the internet. Bluesky may buck the trend of that ecosystem, but that won't change the internet. Or will it? Is decentralized social media the solution to billionaire control? Or is just another media fad?


    Thanks for listening. Note: ChatGPT was used to create one of the background images for the YouTube thumbnail.


    Support us at whatwouldjesustech.com

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    46 mins
  • Trump's Win, Christians, and Technology
    Nov 11 2024

    We discuss the results of the election as Christians and technologists.


    How impactful were podcasts in this election? Is society moving on from woke rhetoric? What will happen to Elon Musk? To Bitcoin and associated companies? To Christians? To Canadians? This is a wide-ranging conversation between three Christians: Andrew Noble (Technology and Theology PhD Student), Austin Gravely (Social Media Guru), and Joel Jacob (Tech Futurist).


    0:00 - Intro

    0:59 - Surprised?

    3:04 - Voting, Social Media, Podcasts Making The Difference

    18:12 - Bitcoin, Regulation, and Internet Culture IS THE CULTURE

    26:08 - Tired Woke Rhetoric and Young Men

    36:39 - Build Things

    39:23 - Impact on Canada


    Previous Episode: Internet Culture Is Culture

    White Horse Inn's breakdown of Elon Musk's ideology.

    Jake Meador's article on The Doug Election and America After the Great Dechurching.

    Link to join our Discord. Note: link will expire after 7 days.

    Cohosted by Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

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    47 mins
  • Machines of Loving Grace?
    Nov 7 2024

    Are we underestimating just how radical the upside of AI could be?


    Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, recently wrote a five-point essay to outlines how great the benefits of AI might be based upon recent history, current AI technologies, and the potential future of work.


    Joel Jacob, Andrew Noble, and Austin Gravely discuss the valuable insights that Amodei offers, as well as the shortcomings.

    Link to his essay: https://darioamodei.com/machines-of-loving-grace

    

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    52 mins
  • Internet Culture Is Culture
    Oct 30 2024

    We can better understand “internet culture(s)” by examining three categories: fraternity, fandom, and fantasy. We explore Austin Gravely's article in this latest episode.

    Join our new Discord server here!

    As Austin wrote, "Internet culture is, for most people, the most attractive thing to do at any time of the day or night. Even if you personally participate little in internet culture, your neighbors are likely being reshaped on internet culture’s terms without even realizing it. Sooner or later, you will encounter the formative effects of internet culture in your life. Are you prepared to share the Gospel, defend the Christian faith, and make mature disciples of Christ against a backdrop of the fraternity, fandom, and fantasy that internet culture provides?"


    Austin's article at Endeavor: When Internet Culture Becomes the Culture


    0:00 - Culture Merges With The Internet

    15:50 - Fraternity, Fandom, and Fantasy

    28:35 - Digital and Physical Worlds Keep Merging

    33:00 - Should Christians Be On The Internet MORE?


    Cohosted by Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

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    48 mins
  • A Thomistic Case For AI Souls?
    Oct 23 2024

    What if we understood the human person, body and soul, in the way of Thomas Aquinas (13th-century AD Christian Theologian) or Aristotle (5th-century BC Greek Philosopher)? Why not both?

    Timothy Jacobs is a Thomistic scholar who teaches at The Davenant Institute, an organization that retrieves the riches of classical Protestantism to renew and build up the contemporary Church.


    In this episode, we discuss how the body and soul relate. In Thomistic thought (which follows Aristotle), there are five primary "Powers" (which can sometimes each be called "Souls" - which can be confusing). Each of these powers has an important role. Some actions within each power (such as memory within the sensitive power) can be replicated by a machine. Other actions cannot be properly said to be done by a machine, no matter how advanced the AI.

    0:00 - Intro & Tim Jacobs

    6:15 - Thomistic Psychology Overview

    21:00 - Mind and Soul Dualism, "Souls" as Thomistic Powers

    35:00 - What about organic substrates? Advanced AI? Pikachu?

    47:00 - Knowing God (humans) vs Knowing About God (machines)


    Tim Jacob's handout on Thomistic Psychology:

    Tim's website: https://www.tljacobs.com/

    Tim's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCcF_QqLWOatOO5vHHlzK_Hw



    Cohosted by Andrew Noble and Joel Jacob. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Rule of Life as Technology, with Kirsten Sanders
    Oct 15 2024

    In response to our technological age, many want to adapt a set of disciplines. Many of these disciplines are good. But what if, upon reflection, we realized that our solutions are embedded within a deeper technological problem? What if we are reducing persons to inputs and outputs and expecting machine-like productivity instead of recognizing what it means to be human? In this episode, Andrew, Austin, and Joel are joined by theologian and writer Kirsten Sanders. The article that led to this conversation was: What's the deal with "Rules of Life"?

    Also referenced in this episode:

    Tending the flame

    Modern Mothers

    For more of Kirsten's writing, please visit her Substack: In Particular.

    0:00 - Intro

    3:12 - Quick Questions (Writing, Feedback, Fav Tech, Teen Tech Restriction, Aspiring Theologian Advice, Aspiring Writer Advice)

    8:52 - "I think sin, and its opposite, grace, is the chief misunderstanding we are having in our technological age."

    20:04 - Beyond the self-correcting impulse

    28:00 - Technological concerns

    33:50 - Insecure Christians and doing "Enough"

    45:00 - Is your life a project?

    What Would Jesus Tech is cohosted by Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show, visit whatwouldjesustech.com

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    55 mins
  • Meta's Orion Is About More Than AR Glasses
    Oct 4 2024

    Meta launched a new product. But this is about more than putting Augmented Reality into glasses. This is about mana, power, the blocking of reality, and the myth of progress.


    0:00 - Are Glasses The Next Platform?

    5:19 - Reasons to be Skeptical

    12:14 - Creepy Hidden Cameras

    16:28 - S-Curve of Technology Growth

    20:58 - Is Progress Good?

    25:28 - What Motivates Companies Like Meta?

    35:16 - Distracting From Real Human Connection

    38:50 - Benefits of AR Glasses

    47:13 - What We're Working On


    Episode on Neo-Calvinism and Herman Bavinck with Jess Joulstra.


    Our first episode on Mark Zuckerberg and the Meaning of Life.


    Our episode on Apple Vision Pro.


    Austin's article on internet culture.


    Andrew's article on how headphones block reality and love.

    Cohosted by Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley. Original Music by Abigail Neale. To learn more about What Would Jesus Tech and to support the show visit whatwouldjesustech.com

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    52 mins
  • The MASSIVE Change Coming To Social Media
    Sep 18 2024

    Have you heard of §230? Section 230 of the Communications Act? It's been giving social media companies a free pass ever since the 1990s. But it's all about to change.

    The Federal Court (specifically, the federal 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals) recently released an opinion which questions 230 since algorithms in the 2020s aren't like those in 1990s. We break it all down in this episode. Here's a pdf link to the legal document of Anderson vs TikTok (Bytedance, Inc.) that we reference.

    0:00 - Intro

    0:45 - A girl died: Background to the Federal Court appeal

    4:07 - Section 230

    8:52 - Control without Responsibility (and Culpability) and Grey Area

    18:12 - Morality, Theology, and Technology

    27:43 - Regulating Markets and Sharing Responsibility

    Please send your ideas, questions, and feedback to the cohosts, Andrew Noble, Joel Jacob, and Austin Gravley at our website, where you can also support our podcast: whatwouldjesustech.com

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    45 mins