The Top 5: From AI in churches to the loss of JoAnn Fabrics
Welcome to the latest edition of the Top 5 articles we’ve read this week. Each week, we read dozens of articles in the hope we find essays and reporting that speak to big ideas, trends, future looks, and incredible human stories. We hope you enjoy these articles, and do always let us know if you have a suggestion or a recommendation!
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The Top 5 articles for your week:
“Should We Bring AI into the Church?” (CT)
Because Bonnie Kristian sits down with an executive ant Gloo, an AI company, and provides us with an essential interview on the accelerating use of AI in American churches.
“There’s a Link Between Therapy Culture and Childlessness” (NYT)
Because Michal Liebowitz points to another factor that is potentially causing fewer people to seek parenthood: therapeutic ideas. “…there’s something perverse about the fact that one barrier to having children for members of my generation is a fear that we’ll fail them in the same ways that our parents failed us or perhaps in different ways.”
“Friendship in an Age of Digital Simulation” (Substack)
Because Nicholas Carr argues that Meta’s latest generative AI offering, “is in fact the logical culmination of the social-media model, which has always sought to replace real friendship with a computer-generated facsimile.”
“Why has American pop culture stagnated?” (Substack)
Because Noah Smith explores the “American culture is stagnating” vs. “American culture is doing just fine” arguments and the role of technology in creativity.
“Lament for the IRL Craft Shop” (The Atlantic)
Because Andrea Valdez ruminates on the loss of another crafting business: JoAnn Fabrics.
Joann’s disappearance also has, perhaps, an unintended consequence: the loss of yet another outlet for building customs and community, at a time when society could benefit from having more of both. Although crafting is frequently a solitary pursuit, even a kind of invisible labor, it can be a way to form deep, personal connections with other people. I’ve bonded with a friend at sewing class and spent a weekend with another making Christmas ornaments by covering plastic dinosaurs in Elmer’s glue and dipping them in glitter. (Very fun, very messy.) Crafting is also, for many, a matter of family tradition.
Thanks for sharing the CT article ... the interviewer asks some really important questions every church leader (or really anyone shepherding people) should be thinking about (every technologist should be asking the same things). Spiritual formation via AI is coming down the tracks FAST and will amplify what already exists in our patterns of formations ... for better and worse.