Friday Fodder #40
What's Trending? What's Transcendent?
We have an American Pope! Who would have thought? Not Polymarket.. they were going Italian all the way.
There were many good reactions.. Villanova is going to be insufferable, as they should be. And so is Chicago. And he has a math degree, which also leads to good jokes. But my favorite might have been “yoooo we got a Pope that’s been to Walmart now.” Very important. Very global.
Everyone on TV is going to be insufferable too, debating whether Leo XIV is a conservative or a progressive. I tried looking for a decent overview of his thought, but I ended up liking my o3 version better. (“His commitment to doctrinal fidelity means evangelization under his watch will present the full challenge and beauty of Catholic teaching – but with a merciful hand.”)
Bishop Barron reminded us last week that trying to think politically is a distraction, while others are less sanguine. The Whispers in the Loggia guy reminds us that this was all a pretty fast process. And Leo XIV was in a selfie and some video last night after his announcement; that’s probably a first. He was a pretty early Twitter user too, 2011. 3 days shy of 10 years ago, he tweeted: “The grace of God will not take you where the grace of God will not sustain you. – St. Augustine.”
Let’s go.
The world did not stop during Conclave. OpenAI announced it would remain a non-profit in control of a for-profit company that is now also a public benefit corporation. Clear as mud just like everything else related to OpenAI, and it always seems like a trick.. a little legerdemain to make sure you don’t see what’s actually happening over there. Sam wrote a letter about it and also testified with a few others in front of congress this week. And they bought Windsurf for $3B, but nobody quite understands that one.
The White House was insufferable this week too, since they first memed this silliness and a week later we actually have an American Pope. But memes are the new official government communication apparently. We’ve got May the 4th, Gala dinners, and even this gem.
We also have a US-UK trade deal (UK is only 3% of trade btw), China and the US actually talking now, NVidia reworking their chips to deal with new export controls even as they say that China is not behind, Canadian PM Carney meeting in the Oval Office, and Trump smiling when he says “Canada is not for sale”, the Met Gala doing it’s whole over-the-top thing, a man trying to pet a bison in Yellowstone, Fiverr CEO saying AI is coming for everyone’s jobs, Bitcoin back over $100K, a potential new MAHA Surgeon General in Dr. Casey Means, a Pakistan-India war that was on nobody’s bingo card for 2025, and seemingly no progress in Ukraine/Russia. We’ve even got brand new stem cells for the soon to be de-extinct Tasmanian tiger.
I’ve gotta say, it’s not a boring world.
Now on to the reading!
Timely
The Indifference Engine - “Three hundred thousand years then talking machines.” Simply put, fabulous writing. Starting from the observation that we accept changing circumstances with surprising alacrity, an answer to the question: as AI improves, where do we find meaning?
DolphinGemma: How Google AI is helping decode dolphin communication - When will we have our first conversations with a dolphin? Maybe within 5 years.
Thoughts on Sinofuturism - People are sleeping on how far ahead China is in energy, manufacturing, robotics, cars. If China becomes the next superpower, where does it take the world? And will it ascend? There’s still some things missing.. like hope or desire.
AI Has Crossed The Rubicon - “If you’re an AI skeptic, I don’t know how you can use OpenAI’s new o3 and o4 models and not want to immediately apply clown makeup.” If you haven’t tried o3 yet, stop everything and go try it. That being said, intelligence doesn’t solve everything.
Timeless
How To Raise High Agency Kids - The new cool thing to ask yourself is “if I was 10x more agentic, what would I do in this situation?” I’m not sure that works, but for sure agency is one of the primary traits I hope to instill in my kids.
There Really Was a ‘Mississippi Miracle’ in Reading. States Should Learn From It - Mississippi is now in the top 5 states in math and reading on a host of measurements. This is especially striking since they were last just 20 years ago. A look at their literacy policies and proof of what actually worked.
Life Cannot Be Delegated - We’re all in such a hurry to do more things. But by doing more, and delegating it away to apps and devices, we end up doing nothing.
Resurrecting Ornamental Architecture - Anytime someone mentions Chesterton’s Fence I’m interested, let alone draws a remarkable pencil drawing of said fence. I’m here for the ornamentation! Bring back all the escutcheons, the corbels, the volutes, and acanthus.
Books
Crossing The Threshold Of Hope by St. John Paul II - This was the first book by any Pope I read. It was remarkable at the time — originally to be a series of questions in a TV interview, the very first TV interview ever with a Pope. JPII had to cancel due to scheduling, so he wrote out his answers instead and gave them to the journalist: “You have asked me questions, therefore you have a right to responses. ... I am working on them. I will let you have them. Then do with them what you think is appropriate”. The answers are beautiful and written in more personal and direct language than a Pope had ever used. And yet they touch on questions of theology and demonstrate JPII’s deep philosophical grounding in not just Augustine and other Doctors of the Church, but also Hegel and Heidegger. There are a great many young boys named John Paul or Juan Pablo in Catholic families everywhere today, and when you read a book like this you feel on the page why Karol Wojtyla was an inspiration to so many, including me.
Tweets
Some good ones, so you don’t need to scroll!
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The world is amazing. Cheers!
