#itest

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar AI and Sin: Medieval Robots and the Theology of Technology (April 5, 2025)

In this webinar entitled AI and Sin: Medieval Robots and the Theology of Technology, hosted by the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology, Dr. Chris Reilly and Dr. Jordan Joseph Wales offer their insights into the promises and challenges of Artificial Intelligence. (April 5, 2025) Christopher M. Reilly, ThD AI and Sin: How Today’s Technology Motivates Evil Christopher M. Reilly writes and speaks in regard to a Christian response to advanced technology, and he has written numerous articles on bioethics and moral theology and philosophy. Chris holds a doctor of theology degree and three masters degrees in philosophy, theology, and public affairs. He resides in the greater Washington, DC region. His website is ChristopherMReilly.com. Chris is Associate Director of ITEST. Abstract Artificial intelligence technology (AI) motivates persons’ engagement in sin. With this startling argument drawn from Catholic theology and technological insight, Christopher M. Reilly, Th.D. takes on both critics and proponents of AI who see it as essentially a neutral tool that can be used with good or bad intentions. More specifically, Reilly demonstrates that AI strongly encourages the vice of instrumental rationality, which in turn leads the developers, producers, and users of AI and its machines toward acedia, one of the “seven deadly sins.” Jordan Joseph Wales, PhD Response: Medieval Robots and the ​Theology of Technology Jordan Wales is the Kuczmarski Professor of Theology at Hillsdale College. With degrees in engineering, cognitive science, and theology, his scholarship focuses on early Christianity as well as contemporary theological questions relating to artificial intelligence. He is a member of the AI Research Group for the Holy See’s Centre for Digital Culture, under the Dicastery for Culture and Education; a fellow of the Centre for Humanity and the Common Good; and a fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion. Abstract Medieval theologians and storytellers grappled with humankind’s tendency to confine our aims to what a technology can represent rather than to situate that technology within the wider horizon of the human journey to God. Responding to Dr. Reilly, I draw on legends of robots that illustrate a theological approach to AI as a perilous but also potent instrument mediating between human volition and our natural and social environment. In their diverging outcomes, these texts suggest paths toward a more humane positioning of AI within our lives. Webinar resources Chris Reilly’s Resources Radio interview on Relevant Radio, Trending with Timmerie: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/ai-reason-acedia–64575876 Book – AI and Sin: How Today’s Technologies Motivate Evil: https://enroutebooksandmedia.com/aiandsin/ Chris Reilly’s website: https://christophermreilly.com/ Chapter – “Seven Christian Principles for Thriving with Artificial Intelligence”: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e3ada1a6a2e8d6a131d1dcd/t/66bb63fdcdba62679b200277/1723556861413/Artificial+Intelligence-1.pdf Jordan Wales’ Resources “What Will a Future with Androids among Us Look Like”: https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/what-will-a-future-with-androids-among-us-look-like/ “The Image and the Idol: A Theological Reflection on AI Bias”: https://churchlifejournal.nd.edu/articles/the-image-and-the-idol-a-theological-reflection-on-ai-bias/ “Encountering Artificial Intelligence: Ethical and Anthropological Investigations”: https://jmt.scholasticahq.com/article/91230-encountering-artificial-intelligence-ethical-and-anthropological-investigations

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar How Does Social Media Affect Children (April 13, 2024)

In this webinar of the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology, Sr. Marysia Weber, RSM, and Dr. Kevin Powell, discuss the effects of social media on children. (April 13, 2024) Is the increasing number of hours that children are spending using smartphones having any effects on their brains and psychosocial well-being? Research is telling us that the answer to this question is a resounding yes! This presentation will address how excessive use of digital devices is impacting psychosocial maturation and is altering brain development in ways similar to the alterations noted in substance use disorders. Practical means of addressing these detrimental effects will also be highlighted. Technology changes communication and social lifestyles. This has been true since the invention of the printing press and the telephone. Technological progress will have both positive and negative effects on society. It is not enough to measure harms and act like outraged Luddites. Ethical societies measure and balance the positive impacts. It is not enough to weigh pros and cons. Communities should regulate technology so that positives are appropriately rewarded, negatives are mitigated, and just remediation is provided for economic externalities that generate profit for some while harming other people, society, and the environment. Laws are not enough. Moral formation needs to be updated and augmented to enable beneficial development and adoption of technology. Children, who have never known anything different, are the most strongly impacted by the harms, the least able to resist trends, and the most in need of the moral formation. How Does Social Media Affect Children? - Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology (faithscience.org)

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar Teaching Research Processes Webinar (February 24, 2024)

WILLIAM BADKE - ENGAGING FACULTY IN TEACHING RESEARCH PROCESSES William Badke grew up in Kelowna, BC, Canada. After completing a B.A. at the University of British Columbia in 1971 and a Master of Divinity (1975) and Master of Theology (1977) he taught at a college in Nigeria, West Africa for two years before returning to teach at Northwest Baptist Theological College in Vancouver, BC. In 1985 he earned a Master of Library Science degree at the University of British Columbia and currently serves as Associate Librarian for Associated Canadian Theological Schools and Information Literacy at Trinity Western University, in Langley, BC. He has published extensively in the area of information literacy as well as fiction and spirituality. His column on information literacy (Infolit Land) appears every two months in Online Searcher and, as of 2023, in Computers in Libraries. MR. BADKE’S ABSTRACT Today’s information landscape, whether popular or scholarly, has been radically transformed by the World Wide Web. This has provided significant benefits to human freedoms, education, and development. Yet our knowledge base overall is uneven in quality and possesses a significant power to mislead us. Yet academia has failed to understand that today’s education must include a strong program that will increase the ability of students to handle information and do research. This is not a remedial task but a detailed one that is akin to learning a new language. To achieve these student skills, faculty members in concert with librarians, must rethink the way they educate their students. This is an urgent matter in the theological setting where searching for and knowing the truth is paramount. STACY A. TRASANCOS, PH.D. - HOW TO RESEARCH SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE IN THE LIGHT OF FAITH Stacy Trasancos has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Penn State University and worked as a senior research chemist for DuPont before converting to Catholicism. She left her career to stay home with her children. In those years, she earned a M.A. in dogmatic theology and published five books on the integration of science and theology. Dr. Trasancos teaches online science and theology courses for Seton Hall University, Holy Apostles College and Seminary, and Belmont Abbey College and is a Fellow of the Word on Fire Institute. She is, at last, pursuing a second M.A. in systematic philosophy. DR. TRASANCOS’ ABSTRACT This brief presentation will show you how to navigate scientific literature that is published in global scientific journals by scientists in various fields so that you can determine for yourself the research methods and conclusions. Often in the faith and science dialogue, secondary sources in popular magazines or news outlets present a biased version of the scientific literature. A Catholic scholar can more accurately assess scientific claims by reading the scientific literature him- or herself. The reports are much easier to navigate once you understand their structure. If you can read Aristotle and Aquinas, you can read modern scientific papers.

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar "Bridging the Chasm: Quantum Mechanics and Christian Spirituality" (December 16, 2023)

In this ITEST Webinar "Bridging the Chasm: Quantum Mechanics and Christian Spirituality," Dr. Bob Kurland and Dr. Terrence Lagerlund (December 16, 2023) BRIDGING THE CHASM: HOW QUANTUM MECHANICS BRINGS TOGETHER THE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL WORLDS BY TERRENCE D. LAGERLUND, MD, PHD Dr. Terrence Lagerlund has been a neurologist in the Division of Epilepsy at Mayo Clinic for 35 years, treating patients with epilepsy and interpreting their electroencephalograms. He also lectures to residents and fellows on electroencephalography including basic principles of electricity and neurophysiology. He has published papers and authored book chapters on electroencephalography and epilepsy, particularly regarding quantitative analysis of electroencephalograms. Prior to becoming a neurologist, he obtained a Ph.D. in physics and worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the MIT Laboratory for Nuclear Science (doing research at Brookhaven National Laboratory and CERN) and as a term physicist at Fermilab. ABSTRACT The God of Judeo-Christian tradition is the Lord of the universe, and scriptures affirm God’s sovereignty over the course of events. However, the discoveries by Newton and others that the universe is governed by rigid laws of cause and effect that are expressed as mathematical formulas engendered the belief that the universe is a complete, closed system of cause and effect (the principle of “causal closure”), and therefore that God cannot possibly influence or change what happens in the physical universe. In this worldview, God, even if he exists, is irrelevant to our lives, and our souls, even if they exist, are irrelevant to what we believe, say, or do. However, quantum mechanics may provide an opening for the spiritual world to influence the physical. Quantum mechanics (QM) describes physical systems by a state vector (SV), a collection of superimposed possible states. During the quantum to classical transition, possible states reduce to one actual state (SV collapse). QM predicts the probability of each possible outcome. SV collapse seems to be an uncaused process with a random result, breaking the deterministic chain of physical causes and effects. Wolfgang Smith hypothesized that God causes SV collapse and chooses the outcome. TOURING THE WONDERLAND OF QUANTUM MECHANICS BY ROBERT KURLAND, PHD Dr. Robert Kurland (a convert to Catholicism in 1995) is a retired physicist who has applied magnetic resonance to problems of biological interest in his research (web search: “Kurland-McGarvey Equation”). He began to learn about quantum mechanics at Caltech (BS, “with honor,” 1951) and Harvard (MS,1953; Ph.D.,1956) from courses taught by Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger. In teaching quantum mechanics to students at Carnegie-Mellon University and SUNY/AB he found that mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics was an obstacle to understanding. So, in his talk he will try to explain what quantum mechanics is about using a minimum of mathematics, as he did in his book Mysteries: Quantum and Theological. ABSTRACT The talk will give a brief, qualitative, pictorial explanation of quantum mechanics, from a historical perspective. I’ll illustrate two mysteries of quantum mechanics—superposition of states (the Schrödinger Cat paradox) and entanglement—by use of simple examples. Also, I’ll discuss some of the many interpretations of quantum theory, focusing on how they might be related to Catholic teaching.

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar Principles of Change with Dr. Kristina Olsen, OCDS (November 4, 2023)

In this webinar, D. Kristina Olsen, OCDS, talks about Principles of Change: Teresa of Avila’s Carmelite Reform and Insights from Change Management (November 4, 2023) Dr. Olsen's book draws from organizational change management principles to examine Teresa of Avila’s 16th-century reform of the Carmelite Order. During the last twenty years of her life, Teresa addressed the problems she saw in the Carmelite monasteries of her day, including ineffective administration, overcrowding, and laxity in spiritual practices. By returning to the original purpose and written Rule of the Carmelite founders, Teresa launched a reform of the Carmelite Order using principles similar to those used in change management and information technology (IT) adoption today. This book examines her reform in light of change management theory and practice, in order to shed light on what made her reform successful and how we might apply her approach to the management of change in spiritual and secular organizations today. Principles of Change by Kristina R. Olsen | En Route Books and Media

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar Surviving Abortion Inside and Out (October 21, 2023)

DR. PATRICK CASTLE LIFE Runners President & Founder REAL HEALTHCARE DEFENDS LIFE AT ALL STAGES ABSTRACT Did you know that Hippocratic Oath specifically forbids abortion and euthanasia? Did you know the American Medical Association in 1859 unanimously voted that life begins at conception and that abortion is criminal? Did you know that Google makes it more difficult for mothers to find pregnancy help centers online? Did you know that the FDA removed the warning that Plan B can cause an abortion? Did you know that the current administration is working to repeal conscience protections for healthcare workers? Did you know that running is optional for LIFE Runners? And much more! GEORGE DELGADO, M.D. President of Steno Institute ABORTION PILL REVERSAL: GIVING WOMEN A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE ABSTRACT Mifepristone chemical abortions account for about 60% of all abortions in the United States. Some women, after starting the chemical abortion process, change their minds and want to continue their pregnancies. Abortion Pill Reversal (APR) utilizes supplemental progesterone, the maintenance hormone of pregnancy, to out-compete the abortion drug. APR offers women a second chance at life. Women offered the option of reversing their chemical abortions are very grateful.Mainstream medical organizations, Planned Parenthood, and the ACLU have fought vigorously to discredit APR and make it less available. The evidence in the medical literature is very reassuring that Abortion Pill Reversal is safe and effective. DR. CYNTHIA TOOLIN-WILSON Academic Dean – Pontifex University SURVIVING ABORTION AS THE VICTIM ABSTRACT The most important event of my life occurred when I was eleven years old. That was when I found out that Ma and Grandpa tried to kill me, with the knowledge and agreement of many family members, including Pa.On a hot summer evening in her kitchen, Ma told me after several hesitations, that in 1949 Grandpa bought a chemical at the drugstore that would make her lose me. She was annoyed that I didn’t understand what that meant. So, she told me that she didn’t want a baby and the medicine would make me go away. I asked her why the medicine didn’t work, and she explained that when she started bleeding, she was afraid she might die too, so she stopped drinking it. The fact that she was afraid of dying was the second most important event of my life.I never felt the same about her or the family members. I suspect that her cousin, who had married a Catholic man, and had used medicines for years to prevent a pregnancy, had told Ma what medicine to buy.Here I am 62 years later (that is, I am now 73 years old). I am the age my mother was when she passed. My husband Jimmy Toolin, a devout Catholic, died of cancer; my second husband Bill Wilson, who I managed to bring back to being a practicing Catholic, died of heart, liver, and kidney failure. Between them, if I count all the way to great grandchildren, I have 38 descendants.

[wcatradio]

ITEST Webinar A Crucial Choice of World Views for the Future with Fr. Joseph Bracken, SJ (September 2, 2023)

Classical metaphysics is grounded in a philosophy of Being (States of Being) with God as the Supreme Being or Pure Actuality. Potentiality is seen in descending states of being: first, the order of angels, human beings, higher-order and lower-order animal species, plants, insects, minerals, their molecular and atomic components, prime matter. Process- or systems-ordered metaphysics is grounded in Stages of Becoming: Infinite Potentiality/Energy Source, subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, minerals, cells, plants, animal species, human beings, an all-encompassing network of relations between participants that continues to evolve in new and different ways through all its parts or members but especially its primordial components. Everything else depends upon the right choice in terms of these opposing world views. ​ Transformative learning theory, which explains the reframing of one’s worldview in light of a transformative experience, may assist in articulating the dynamic relationship between the One and the Many. Fr. Bracken’s explanation of a reciprocal causal relation among constituent parts and the whole to which they belong provides an opportunity to explore a process-oriented metaphysics in the understanding of an event-based efficient causality. The creative interplay among the relational paradigms through which an individual organism moves over the course of its existence demonstrates the interdependence of all things regardless of their material causes, and this seems to give a quantum meaning to any kind of final causality of adaptive systems.

[wcatradio]

Episode 266: Sebastian Mahfood, the Life and Times of a Peripatetic Producer (August 23, 2023)

In this episode of The Open Door , without special fuss, and certainly without making a scene, we’ll explore the life and times of the man behind the scenes. Our welcome guest is our producer and, indeed, the producer of the full range of WCAT Radio & Television programs. The President of En Route Books and Media, the peripatetic Sebastian Mahfood, OP, Ph.D., will join us! Though his heart is in East Texas, St. Louis is the launching pad of his projects and peregrinations. He lives there with his wife, Dr. Stephanie Mahfood, and their children, Alexander and Eva Ruth. Among the questions we’ll be asking are the following.

Dr. Mahfood, Sebastian, could you tell us about your roots and introduce us to your family?

How did you become a lay Dominican and what does it mean for you?

Back in the day, and our audience should hear it directly, you wrestled professionally. Were you, even then, a voice from the periphery?

Turning away from the distractions of youth, you left the ring for the groves of academe. Your tenure at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and Holy Apostles College & Seminary was rich: teacher, administrator, and pioneer developer of on-line academic programs. Could you share with us the highlights of your career?

You’ve authored half a dozen books of special interest. To name a few: Catholic Realism, The Narrative Spirituality of Dante’s Divine Comedy and Missionary Priests in the Homeland: Our Call to Receive. Could you explain their themes to our audience?

The Open Door, we understand, is your longest running WCAT Radio program. How did it start? What is its future?

You are not one to let the grass grow under your feet. Could you tell us about your travels, especially in Africa and Europe?

Before your retirement, what was the nature of your work as a professor of interdisciplinary and intercultural studies?

How does the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science and Technology feature in your professional life?

What's next for your publishing house and radio station?

Some links: https://www.enroutebooksandmedia.com https://www.wcatradio.com https://www.faithscience.org