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Nils Lang's avatar

This is great! Both intelligence and creativity as concepts are devalued by current discussions about AI.

Which is weird because AI itself is devalued simultaneously in it's impact.

I find myself wanting to defer to "creativity" of the type attributed to divine creators: manifesting from nothing, purely by naming it.

And further, to "intelligence" of the intuitive kind, that sends you a signal what should and shouldn't exist in the world, and gifts you the resourcefulness, insight, and determination to make it happen.

I grew up a Christian, became an agnostic, but remain an optimist about humans and our special purpose. In that sense, I am a Christofuturist convert.

There is only one future I want to live in, the one where people love and create, amen brother!

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John Dass's avatar

Thanks so much for this piece Gary! I’m a big fan of your work from DreamDAO to Edge City as well as your outspoken faith in a technology space that often reviles and criticizes belief.

I grew up in an evangelical Christian household, have memorized lots of scripture and have had deep personal encounters with the spirit of Christ.

Now I'm living in a Muslim country (Tunisia) and have had a lot of eye opening experiences that have really shifted my perspective about the Christian faith and it's role in many of the world's ongoing atrocities—from climate change to the genocide in Gaza.

I would be curious to hear your thoughts on the current rise of right-wing 'Christian' nationalism that is in full favor of continued fossil fuel expansion in the US, the removal of indigenous communities from sacred lands and the ongoing starvation and annihilation of the Palestinian people?

How would a 'Christofuturist' movement not get entangled in this toxic mess of what most 'Christians' seem to support politically in the US today?

I stopped calling myself a Christian in my early twenties (despite a deep belief in a loving God and the incarnation of Christ) as I simply did not identify with the way 'Christians' behaved and what they believed.

I believe Jesus would have been hanging out with refugees, immigrants, and the LGBTQ crowd, not the religious, political or capitalist elite. I think scriptures are pretty clear that Jesus stood fervently for the lost and the broken, the outcast and the persecuted and became enraged in the light of the abuse of power in the name of religion.

How do you think a movement can overcome the idolatry that seems rampant across the Christian church?

It reminds me of the righteous indignation that John Pavlovitz shared in his post today just a few hours ago:

https://johnpavlovitz.substack.com/p/republican-christians-make-me-hope

Curious to get your thoughts brother and as always, much respect...

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