You are no longer invited to dinner: Derek Thompson shares some sad news, “In the last 30 years, Americans have seen double-digit declines in practically every measure of socializing. They are less likely to play cards; attend a sporting event; go to the bar; volunteer; or work on a community project. When it comes to hosting people at home, the declines are particularly stark. Since 1995, the share of Americans who say they’ve hosted guests or attended a dinner party has declined by about 20 percent—and that’s in addition to the whopping declines that Putnam bemoaned a quarter-century ago.”
To be fully human in the age of AI, let suffering do its virtuous work: Samuel James says, “We could, of course, go back to very foundations of human identity try to find our answer. We could talk about embodied rationality, spiritual vitality, moral agency, etc. Instead, what I want to give you tonight is one thing. One thing that a human person is and does that a machine is not and cannot do. Here it is: A human person submits themselves to and endures suffering for the sake of a higher moral purpose.”
If God is everywhere, why does he feel so far away? Christopher Cook says, “The afflictions are real, and so…is…the…deliverance. His nearness is a covenant fact before it’s a felt experience, and sometimes it stays a fact for a long while before your heart catches up.”
Nothing gold can stay? Heidi Kellogg says, “Frost said that nothing gold could stay, and that has been true in my life. My strong, youthful body did not stay. My sharp, youthful mind did not stay. My adorable young children did not stay little. But is it true that nothing gold can stay?”
Comedy wildlife photography winners: The sexy preying mantis is hilarious.
Photo by Yimeng Zhao on Unsplash