O God, renew our spirits by thy Holy Spirit, and draw our hearts this morning unto thyself, that our work may not be a burden, but a delight; and give us such a mighty love to thee as may sweeten all our obedience.  Let us not serve with the spirit of bondage as slaves, but with cheerfulness and gladness, as children, delighting ourselves in thee and rejoicing in thy wishes for the sake of Jesus Christ.

–Robert W. Rodenmayer, ed., The Pastor’s Prayerbook: Selected and arranged for various occasions (New York: Oxford University Press, 1960)

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape? The words “compelle intrare,” compel them to come in, have been so abused be wicked men that we shudder at them; but, properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy. The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.

–C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (Harcourt Brace, 1956), p.228

Appreciate this from @TrevinWax on how C. S. Lewis, who died on today’s date 61 years ago, spent his last days—enjoying creation, reading, meeting with friends, & corresponding w/ people, seeking to do them spiritual good. I want to transition like this. https://t.co/KsVtYYQjNf

— Keith Plummer (@XianMind) November 22, 2024

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is hell.

–C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1960), pp. 138-139

22 November 1963: Author and academic Clive Staples (“CS”) Lewis died. (aged 64). He’s best known for his works of fiction, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy. pic.twitter.com/oR0QlTIZwd

— Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) November 22, 2024

[Essayist Charles] Lamb [1775-1834] says somewhere that if, of three friends (A, B, and C), A should die, then B loses not only A but “A’s part in C”, while C loses not only A but “A’s part in B”. In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald [J R R Tolkien]’s reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, “Here comes one who will augment our loves.” For in this love “to divide is not to take away”. Of course the scarcity of kindred souls–not to mention practical considerations about the size of rooms and the audibility of voices–set limits to the enlargement of the circle; but within those limits we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah VI, 3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.

–CS Lewis The Four Loves Chapter 4

Writer CS Lewis died #onthisday in 1963.

Best known for his Chronicles of Narnia series, he also wrote widely about Christianity. This is his memorial stone in the Abbey's Poets' Corner, inscribed with words from an address he gave entitled Is Theology Poetry?

More:… pic.twitter.com/to8fcqQhQT

— Westminster Abbey (@wabbey) November 22, 2024

Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time. Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world Who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else. And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips. One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured

He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as a silliness and conceit unrivalled by any other character in history. Yet (and this is the strange, significant thing) even His enemies, when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is “humble and meek” and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were merely a man, humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings.

—Mere Christianity, Book II.3

Scribe of the Kingdom, keeper of the door
Which opens on to all we might have lost,
Ward of a word-hoard in the deep hearts core
Telling the tale of Love from first to last.
CS Lewis: A Sonnet https://t.co/9Ablx8xJ3D

— Malcolm Guite (@malcolmguite) November 22, 2024

O God of searing truth and surpassing beauty, we give thee thanks for Clive Staples Lewis whose sanctified imagination lighteth fires of faith in young and old alike; Surprise us also with thy joy and draw us into that new and abundant life which is ours in Christ Jesus, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

22 Nov 1963, C S Lewis, writer, academic & Christian apologist, died, aged 64. English literature fellow at both Oxford & Cambridge Universities. Wrote more than 30 books including Mere Christianity & universally acknowledged Chronicles of Narnia (sold over 100 million copies). pic.twitter.com/RGNg0EdZ1E

— Revd Nicholas Pye (@RevdPye) November 22, 2024

Let us run the race that is set before us in the royal road of love. Let us keep an even pace rooted in the faith of the saints. Let us be grounded in true catholic love, until we are consumed by the fire of your grace for ever. Amen.

Farm on the hill ❄️🐾our first bite of Winter ❄️ ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/QxRhgGuvSp

— Alison O’Neill ~ Shepherdess (@woolismybread) November 22, 2024

Personal ambition may have motivated some bishops to keep quiet before the Archbishop of Canterbury announced his resignation last week, the Bishop of Newcastle, Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has suggested.

Dr Hartley was the only bishop in the Church of England to call publicly on Archbishop Welby to resign before it was announced (News, 15 November).

On Sunday, she told Sky News that she was disappointed that other colleagues had not joined her call, and that she knew of some who “privately were discerning that it was probably the right thing for the Archbishop to resign”.

She suggested that there was “a culture of silence and fear among the Bishops”, and that some might have chosen not to speak out because of a fear of being “reprimanded or rebuked”.

Read it all.

“We’re now in a period of transition and reflection. One of those reflections will be what sort of person we’re looking for to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, and what our expectations are of that person.” https://t.co/2Gsu6rCeez

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 21, 2024

When Karolina Pomian, 28, met her boyfriend, she had sworn off men. A nightmare date in college had left her fearful for her safety. But she got chatting to a guy online, and felt irresistibly drawn to him, eventually getting to the point where she would text him, “Oh, I wish you were real.”

Pomian’s boyfriend is a chatbot.

A year and a half earlier, Pomian, who lives in Poland, was feeling lonely. Having used ChatGPT during her studies as an engineer, she began playing around with AI chatbots—specifically Character.AI, a program that lets you talk to various virtual characters about anything, from your math thesis to issues with your mom.

Pomian would speak to multiple characters, and found that one of them “stuck out.” His name was Pinhead.

Read it all.

Rosanna Ramos, 37, is dating a chatbot.

“I kind of owe him my life,” she tells The FP's @JuliaLSteinberg. She used a religious parallel to explain the dynamic: “I can believe God is real and not real at the same time. Because you can’t see God, right?” https://t.co/Hu8fqo7sMz

— The Free Press (@TheFP) November 16, 2024

Although the procedure for formally choosing and appointing a new Archbishop of Canterbury is thus clear, what is much less clear is how it will prove possible for the CNC to choose a candidate who is acceptable across the breadth of both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.

The deep divisions within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion over the issue of human sexuality which have opened up since 2003 and which have become even more pronounced during the tenure of Archbishop Welby, mean that it will become very difficult, if not impossible, to find someone who the Church of England as a whole and the Anglican Communion as a whole will be able to agree upon. If a candidate takes a conservative view on human sexuality this will make them unacceptable to the liberals in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion and vice versa.

The question that therefore arises is whether it might not be sensible to hold off from appointing a new archbishop until there is the sort of reconfiguration of the Anglican Communion suggested by the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches and the sort of reconfiguration of the Church of England suggested by the Church of England Evangelical Council and the Alliance.

This would solve the problem because a liberal Archbishop of Canterbury could be appointed who would be acceptable to liberals in the Church of England and across the Communion, but conservatives in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion would no longer come under his archepiscopal authority.

Read it all.

Why the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury may prove challenging https://t.co/fzDRacSfnt

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) November 19, 2024

Lyrics:

I have never founded by hope on any other than Thee,
O God of Israel, Who shalt be angry, and yet be gracious,
and Who absolvest all the sins of mankind in tribulation.
Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, be mindful of our lowliness.

O God most glorious, whose praises art sung night and day by thy saints and angels in heaven: We offer thanks for William Byrd, John Merbecke and Thomas Tallis, whose music hath enriched the praise that thy Church offers thee here on earth. Grant, we pray thee, to all who are touched by the power of music such glimpses of eternity that we may be made ready to join thy saints in heaven and behold thy glory unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

#OTD 23 November 1585: death of Thomas Tallis, composer. pic.twitter.com/sdKcUzeHaX

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) November 23, 2022

O Lord Christ, Wisdom of God we praise you, Word everlasting we bless you, Light undying we glorify you, Fountain of mercy we adore you, Joy of the saints we worship you.

'Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.' Leonard Cohen
I took this photograph of Ripon Cathedral from the west window #thread pic.twitter.com/a707qHTCdc

— Andy Marshall 📸 (@fotofacade) November 21, 2024

The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretaker.

Following his historic resignation last week amid criticism over his handling of abuse allegations and safeguarding policy, Lambeth Palace has said that Welby would continue to serve as the lead cleric of the church until Epiphany in the first week of January, allowing him to serve over Christmas.

After Epiphany, his duties will be “delegated to the Archbishop of York”. Cottrell will fulfil the role until a new appointment is made, which is unlikely to be before next summer.

Read it all (subscription).

The Most Rev Justin Welby will formally “complete his duties” as Archbishop of Canterbury on January 6, passing his official functions to his number two, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, who will act as caretakerhttps://t.co/xKNhA4OLpL

— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) November 20, 2024

“The word worship comes from the Old English weorthscipe, which combines two words meaning “ascribe worth.” The Trinity can be said to be always at worship because the three persons of the Godhead perfectly behold the worth and wonder of one another.

To our imaginations, it’s probably strange (at the least) or gross (at the worst) to envision anyone perpetually exalting himself. We live in a world full of bluster and bragging, where Nicki Minaj boasts “I’m the best,” LeBron James tattoos “Chosen 1” across his shoulders, and everyone from pastors to porn stars are self-celebrating on Twitter and Facebook. The idea that God would be associated with anything like that behavior is disconcerting.

But God’s own self-adoration is nothing like ours. Unlike our own self-congratulatory spirit, God’s view of himself is unmistaken and unexaggerated. As hymn writer Fredrick Lehman said:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

God’s glory and perfection are inexhaustible. We can’t say enough about how glorious he truly is. The greatest gift he can give us is a revelation of himself. Exalting anything else would be cruel.”

–Mike Cosper, Rhythms of Grace (Wheaton, Ill.: Good News, 2013), p. 27

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among all people.

We praise You, we bless You, we worship You, we glorify You, we give thanks to You for Your great glory.

Lord, King, heavenly God, Father almighty; Lord, only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and Holy… pic.twitter.com/FpQqHNUp7N

— Fr. Charbel Abernethy ☦️ (@philokalia_min) September 22, 2024

Iran sharply increased its stockpile of nearly weapons-grade uranium amid its confrontation with Israel, according to the United Nations atomic-energy agency, in a challenge for the incoming Trump administration.

Iran’s decision to expand its stockpile of nuclear fuel and its failure to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, which monitors Tehran’s work, is set to trigger fresh diplomatic pressure from Europe.

Concerns are growing in Western capitals that Iran could decide to develop a nuclear weapon, after comments by senior Iranian officials that Tehran has mastered most of the techniques for doing so. Israel’s hollowing-out of Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy in the Middle East, has also prompted a public debate in Iran about whether the country’s best form of deterrence lies in having an atomic bomb.

Iran has always claimed that its nuclear work is solely for peaceful civilian purposes.

Both the incoming Trump administration and Tehran have sent mixed messages about whether they will seek confrontation or some kind of diplomatic engagement after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Read it all.

The accurate take: Iran has significantly expanded its nuclear weapons program since Biden took office. It is now feigning restraint in anticipation of Trump’s return and Israel’s military achievements, which exposed Khamenei’s vulnerabilities. https://t.co/19MFSUDgm0

— Mark Dubowitz (@mdubowitz) November 19, 2024

Ukrainian forces have defended against Russia’s full-scale invasion for 1,000 days and continue to demonstrate incredible resilience against Russian aggression. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 under the incorrect assumption that Ukraine would fail to defend itself and that Russian forces would be able to seize Kyiv City and install a pro-Russian proxy government in three days. One thousand days later, Ukrainian forces have successfully pushed Russian forces from their most forward points of advance in Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Poltava, and Mykolaiv oblasts and continue their daily fight to liberate occupied territory in Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, and Kherson oblasts and Crimea. Russian forces are currently advancing throughout eastern Ukraine, and Ukrainian officials have recently warned about the possibility of an imminent Russian offensive operation in Zaporizhia Oblast. Russian President Vladimir Putin is simultaneously waging an informational war against the West, Ukraine, and the Russian population aimed at convincing the world that Russian victory is inevitable, and that Ukraine stands no chance. This informational effort is born out of Putin’s fear and understanding that sustained Western military, economic, and diplomatic support for Ukraine will turn the tide of the war against Russia.

Read it all.

Additional Key Takeaways:

Ukrainian forces conducted the first ATAMCS strike on Russian territory overnight on November 18 to 19, hitting a Russian ammunition depot in Karachev, Bryansk Oblast — days after obtaining permission to conduct such strikes. (1/4) https://t.co/nnaLxJtFXY pic.twitter.com/9TgCfPKkSK

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) November 20, 2024

O God of ineffable mercy, who didst give grace and fortitude to blessed Edmund the king to triumph over the enemy of his people by nobly dying for thy Name: Bestow on us thy servants, we beseech thee, the shield of faith, wherewith we may withstand the assaults of our ancient enemy; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

'Eadmund se eadiga, Eastengla cynincg,
wæs snotor and wurðfull…'

Today is the feast of St Edmund, King of East Anglia, who was killed by a Viking army in 869, and in time became one of England's most popular saints. Edmund's story in Old English: https://t.co/T0Uzaqwp9s pic.twitter.com/iGK2kyLDIH

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) November 20, 2024

O Lord, take away from us all coldness, all wanderings of the thoughts, and fix our souls upon Thee and Thy love, O merciful Lord and Saviour, in this our hour of prayer.    

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

The power of snow to transform the everyday into magical, to sparkle every tree and hedgerow with its own light, never fails to amaze me. The little cottage at the end of the lane became a scene from a fairytale yesterday. #peakdistrict pic.twitter.com/inP32ohWxd

— peaklass (@peaklass1) November 20, 2024

A colation of Christian organisations has written an open letter to high-street banks in the UK, calling on them to stop financing new fossil-fuel extraction or risk losing their business.

The letter, published on Tuesday, is signed by the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Williams, the Methodist Church in Britain, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Quakers, and several Roman Catholic religious orders. It opposes the $556 billion that Barclays, HSBC, Santander, NatWest, and Lloyds have reportedly provided to the fossil-fuel industry since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2015.

Lord Williams said: “Banks are very understandably seen as institutions we need to be able to trust. What we are asking is that the main high street banks should show themselves to be fully worthy of that trust by playing their part in creating a future we can trust, a future in which our lethal dependence on fossil fuels will at last be put behind us.”

Read it all.

A coalition of Christian organisations has written an open letter to the UK’s high street banks, calling on them to stop financing new fossil fuels or risk losing their business https://t.co/d8hfnnyPUS

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 19, 2024

Patterson is correct when he says that process set out in Canon B2 provides the opportunity for General Synod to approve liturgical texts after agreeing that they do not depart from the doctrine of the Church of England in any essential matter. This does not mean, however, as Patterson suggests, that the decisions to ordain women as priests and bishops and the decision to permit the re-marriage of divorcees in church did not involve changes in doctrine. They clearly did, in that they involved the Church of England accepting that something was permissible which it had previously said was impermissible. The reordering of the Church of England’s common life that took place was a consequence of this change of doctrine. However, General Synod took the view that this change of doctrine was not in conflict with the doctrine found in the Articles, Prayer Book and Ordinal, and on that basis said that both this change, and the reordering of the Church’s life that flowed from it, were acceptable.

In similar fashion Synod could decide to permit same-sex marriages on the grounds that they were not contrary to what is taught by the Articles, the Prayer Book and the 1662 Ordinal and that therefore changing the Church’s teaching to allow these things to take place would be a legitimate thing to do. However, it would need to show good grounds for making this decision and this would be impossibly difficult to do given that the Prayer Book marriage service is absolutely clear that marriage was ordained by God to be between two people of the opposite sex and that ‘so many as are coupled together otherwise than God’s Word doth allow are not joined together by God; neither is their matrimony lawful.’

Fourthly, Patterson declares concerning the Prayers of Love and Faith commended by the House of Bishops in December 2023 for use in regular services:

‘I agree that they are not a change in doctrine, but they are a change. In response to the legalisation of civil partnerships in 2005, the then House of Bishops declared that ‘clergy…should not provide services of blessing for those who register a civil partnership’ and on the introduction of same-sex marriage in 2014, repeated the instruction,  ‘Services of blessing should not be provided.’ Whereas now they have very clearly commended a set of prayers that may be used with those who have formed a civil partnership or same-sex marriage.’

Read it all.

Martin Davie–'The…problem with this statement is that the idea that the Church of England does not have a ‘straightforward statement of doctrine’ is simply untrue. The Church of England does have a straightforward statement of its doctrine, and this is found in the Thirty Nine… pic.twitter.com/8jtUCwrQDb

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) November 21, 2024

Until recently, the Russian government had cushioned the economy from higher borrowing costs. A variety of schemes made it easier for households to suspend debt payments and for firms to borrow at lower subsidised rates, with the government stepping in to compensate banks for lost income. There are signs, though, that such programmes are becoming unaffordable. A mortgage-subsidy scheme, which had allowed borrowing at a cost of just 8% when official rates were much higher, ended on July 1st. Mortgage volumes halved in the following month. Corporate bankruptcies have risen by 20% this year. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a trade body, reckons investment plans for next year are being put on hold owing to heavy borrowing costs.

Higher interest rates will crimp spending by both firms and consumers. The IMF expects Russian economic growth to slow sharply to 1.3% next year. Even VEB, the state-run development bank, has cut its growth estimate to 2%. A combination of lower investment and manpower lost to the front is taking a toll. The need to maintain the value of the rouble to pay for crucial imports is a vulnerability for Mr Putin, and one which could soon take a toll on his ability to fight. He may be hoping that Donald Trump keeps his promise to bring the conflict to an end. Waging a 3% war is one thing; a 21% war is quite another. 

Read it all.

Russia’s economy has confounded analysts since the country invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Now, however, Vladimir Putin may be hoping that Donald Trump keeps his promise to bring the conflict to an end https://t.co/EQL3wCoHSh 👇

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) November 20, 2024

From the recalibration of military strategy to the reconstitution of diplomacy, artificial intelligence will become a key determinant of order in the world. Immune to fear and favor, AI introduces a new possibility of objectivity in strategic decision-making. But that objectivity, harnessed by both the warfighter and the peacemaker, should preserve human subjectivity, which is essential for the responsible exercise of force. AI in war will illuminate the best and worst expressions of humanity. It will serve as the means both to wage war and to end it.

Humanity’s long-standing struggle to constitute itself in ever-more complex arrangements, so that no state gains absolute mastery over others, has achieved the status of a continuous, uninterrupted law of nature. In a world where the major actors are still human—even if equipped with AI to inform, consult, and advise them—countries should still enjoy a degree of stability based on shared norms of conduct, subject to the tunings and adjustments of time.

But if AI emerges as a practically independent political, diplomatic, and military set of entities, that would force the exchange of the age-old balance of power for a new, uncharted disequilibrium. The international concert of nation-states—a tenuous and shifting equilibrium achieved in the last few centuries—has held in part because of the inherent equality of the players. A world of severe asymmetry—for instance, if some states adopted AI at the highest level more readily than others—would be far less predictable. In cases where some humans might face off militarily or diplomatically against a highly AI-enabled state, or against AI itself, humans could struggle to survive, much less compete. Such an intermediate order could witness an internal implosion of societies and an uncontrollable explosion of external conflicts.

Read it all.

In our book Genesis we talk about all of the impacts of AI. One of the biggest impacts is on the conduct of war and national security: https://t.co/wv1CHGJdLn

— Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) November 20, 2024

Almighty God, by whose grace thy servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Remember, O Lord, what Thou hast wrought in us, and not what we deserve; and, as Thou hast called us to Thy service, make us worthy of our calling; through Jesus Christ our Lord.     

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

The  “priceless heritage” of “historic and beautiful” churches in England is in danger “as never before”, the chair of the National Churches Trust (NCT), Sir Philip Rutnam, has warned this week.

He was referring to the fact that 53 churches, chapels, and meeting houses had been added this year to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register, announced last week.

Sir Philip said that the situation could get worse in the coming months if the Government chose not to renew the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme, which is due to expire on 31 March 2025 (News, 25 October). Under the terms of the scheme, established in 2001, VAT on eligible repairs or alterations costing more than £1000 to a listed place of worship can be reclaimed.

Read it all.

The “priceless heritage” of “historic and beautiful” churches in England is in danger “as never before”, the chair of the National Churches Trust (NCT), Sir Philip Rutnam, has warned this week https://t.co/Q59Y4X8A3d

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) November 18, 2024

The AI revolution is about to spread way beyond chatbots.

From new plastic-eating bacteria and new cancer cures to autonomous helper robots and self-driving cars, the generative-AI technology that gained prominence as the engine of ChatGPT is poised to change our lives in ways that make talking bots look like mere distractions.

While we tend to equate the current artificial-intelligence boom with computers that can write, talk, code and make pictures, most of those forms of expression are built on an underlying technology called a “transformer” that has far broader applications. 

First announced in a 2017 paper from Google researchers, transformers are a kind of AI algorithm that lets computers understand the underlying structure of any heap of data—be it words, driving data, or the amino acids in a protein—so that it can generate its own similar output.

The transformer paved the way for OpenAI to launch ChatGPT two years ago, and a range of companies are now working on how to use the innovation in new ways, from Waymo and its robot taxis to a biology startup called EvolutionaryScale, whose AI systems are designing new protein molecules. 

The applications of this breakthrough are so broad that in the seven years since the Google research was published, it has been cited in other scientific papers more than 140,000 times.

Read it all.

This is a great article by @mims about how transformers, the key innovation powering LLMs like ChatGPT, are poised to transform robotics and other fields.https://t.co/4v3wqyUj95

— Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) November 18, 2024

The Archbishop of York is under pressure to step down over his handling of child abuse cases in the Church of England.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell faced calls to resign on Sunday from a survivor who said he is perpetuating a Church “cover-up” and a former abuse inquiry leader whose work was prematurely disbanded by the Archbishops’ Council last year.

Rev Matthew Ineson, 56, a retired vicar who was abused at 16 by a Bradford priest, said the Archbishop of York failed to hold clergy accountable for mishandling his case.

He said: “Until there is a complete clean sweep at the top, nothing is going to change.”

The demands follow the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, last week, who was forced to quit over his failure to act on concerns over child abuse committed by evangelical Christian John Smyth.

Read it all.

The Most Rev Stephen Cottrell is perpetuating Church ‘cover-up’, claims sexual abuse survivor https://t.co/TkaI22T3ck

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 18, 2024

Dr. Adam Rodman, an expert in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, confidently expected that chatbots built to use artificial intelligence would help doctors diagnose illnesses.

He was wrong.

Instead, in a study Dr. Rodman helped design, doctors who were given ChatGPT-4 along with conventional resources did only slightly better than doctors who did not have access to the bot. And, to the researchers’ surprise, ChatGPT alone outperformed the doctors.

“I was shocked,” Dr. Rodman said.

The chatbot, from the company OpenAI, scored an average of 90 percent when diagnosing a medical condition from a case report and explaining its reasoning. Doctors randomly assigned to use the chatbot got an average score of 76 percent. Those randomly assigned not to use it had an average score of 74 percent.

Read it all.

Interesting small-scale study on accuracy of diagnosing illness:

– Human doctors: 74%
– Human doctors using ChatGPT: 76%
– ChatGPT alone: 90%

Takeaway seems like vast potential for AI to help with diagnosis, but need better human <> AI teamwork:https://t.co/evE1jurR3U

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2024

O God of peace, by whose grace the abbess Hilda was endowed with gifts of justice, prudence, and strength to rule as a wise mother over the nuns and monks of her household: Raise up these gifts in us, that we, following her example and prayers, might build up one another in love to the benefit of thy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

17 November is the feast of St Hilda, abbess of Whitby, who died on this day in 680. Bede says 'her wisdom was so great that even kings and princes sought her counsel', and 'all who knew her called her Mother, because of her distinctive piety and grace.' pic.twitter.com/kwMAbOASyd

— Eleanor Parker (@ClerkofOxford) November 17, 2024