Neil Jordan: The Mystery Box – Gambling, The Experience Economy or Disordered Consumption?

Of growing popularity at present is the phenomenon of the ‘mystery box’: a box or case purchased – usually from an online provider – that contains various ‘unknown’ objects. A fairly typical example would cost somewhere in the region of £90 and will be described by the seller as either (...)

Andrei Rogobete: Abraham Kuyper’s Theology of Work & Technology

Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920), the Dutch theologian, philosopher, and statesman, is renowned for his comprehensive vision of Christian engagement in the world, especially in the realms of politics, education, and culture. As one of the founding tenants of Dutch Neo-Calvinism, Kuyper’s theology emphasises the sovereignty of God over every aspect of (...)

Neil Jordan: Will AI Get You a Job? Applications and Individuals

Reports abound on the potential of artificial intelligence to transform workplaces, whether in its capacity to process vast quantities of data – data that would require weeks of careful analysis on the part of human beings – in a matter of hours, or its ability to deal with routine tasks, (...)

Don’t Let Hazy Environmental Thinking Cloud Pragmatic Solutions  

By John Kroencke

As part of the new government’s effort to raise the number of houses built and spur economic growth, Labour ministers plan to allow homebuilders to receive planning permission for projects currently impacted by nutrient neutrality rules that require new construction in areas with high levels of nutrients in waterways to (...)

Neil Jordan: Selling Bullets and Beers – A Matter of Responsibility

The company American Rounds is supplying vending machines from which gun owners can buy bullets, with machines currently available in food shops in the states of Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas. There are plans to expand this provision to states where hunting is popular, such as Louisiana and Colorado. Customers simply (...)

Was Margaret Thatcher’s Monetarism Necessary?

By Brian Griffiths

This article on Thatcher’s Monetarism and Timothy Lankester’s ‘Inside Thatcher’s Monetarism Experiment’ originally appeared at TheArticle Sir Timothy Lankester has had a distinguished career of public service. He has served as Permanent Secretary at the Overseas Development Administration and the Department of Education; Director of the School of Oriental and (...)

Patrick Riordan: Common Goods and AI

When someone like me from an older generation is confronted with a new piece of technology, inevitably we must turn to a younger person for help. What is described as ‘user friendly’ is usually so only to those who are already familiar with the ways of the machines. ‘Well, they (...)

Neil Jordan: The Obesity Market: A Question of Character?

Are drugs like semaglutide a quick fix, or might they be opportunities to practise virtue? Obesity is thought to affect over 800 million adults worldwide and according to the World Health Organisation, has tripled since 1975. Indeed, estimates are that half of the world’s population will be overweight or obese (...)

Martin Schlag: Adam Smith’s Virtue of Prudence in E-Commercial Society

The full article is available here Adam Smith’s virtue ethics is of enduring relevance within contemporary business and societal discourse, also in the realm of e-commerce. Despite the widespread recognition of Smith’s contributions to economic theory and business ethics, there has been a gap in the exploration of Smith’s virtue (...)

Philip Booth: The Importance of Ownership – Protecting the Environment from Plunder

This blog has also been published by the Catholic Social Thought website at St Mary’s University, where there are also many other useful resources on Christian social thought.   Despite the strong interest in property rights in Catholic social thought and teaching, their importance is rarely linked to the topic (...)

Neil Jordan: Artificial General Intelligence and Reasoning

Reasoning Robots It was announced recently that developers of artificial intelligence models at Meta are working on the next stage of ‘artificial general intelligence’, with a view to eliminating mistakes and moving closer to human-level cognition. This will allow chatbots and virtual assistants to complete sequences of related tasks and (...)