Doug Smith's Blog, page 2

An International Conversation on Digital Discipleship

Digital Discipleship. It’s the defining challenge of our age. We often think of “discipleship” as a churchy-religious word, but whether or not we’re any kind of theist we’re all disciples of someone or something. And today, most of us are discipled by our screens. My succinct definition of a disciple is someone who performs embodied […]

AI and the Destructive Lies of the Tool Trope

TL;DR We excuse our embrace of every shiny new Big Tech product with the tool trope: “technology isn’t good or bad; it’s a tool, it’s just how you use it that matters.” The tool trope is false. And especially in today’s popular LLM AIs, it’s deceiving, dominating, and dehumanizing. Read on to see why. Perspective […]

Instagram Teen Accounts: Wolves Targeting the Young Sheep

Meta, parent company of Instagram & Facebook, announced their new “Teen Accounts” today. The propaganda on that page is written to comfort parents by assuring us that they’ve heard the criticisms of Jonathan Haidt and the U.S. Surgeon General, they read the bad press, and they’re taking steps to avoid breaking the mental health of […]

Podcast: What Are Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence Doing To Us, Really?

I had the privilege and pleasure of talking about the pitfalls of Virtual Reality (VR) — especially the Apple Vision Pro — with Dr. Robert Marks, the Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University, and director of the Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Discovery Institute in Seattle. Back […]

The Dystopian Apple Vision Pro Divides, Distorts, and Deludes Us More Than Ever

I recently tried Apple Vision Pro so I could understand what all the hype was about. I was super-impressed by the demo process in the Apple Store, and had a profound experience there. But it raised many questions, and in the subsequent weeks and months, I wrote those questions into an article that Mind Matters […]

Free Virtual Event: Being a Dad in a Sex-Saturated Culture (for National Fatherhood Month)

Did you know it’s National Fatherhood Month? It’s easy to miss among the noise of other celebrations this month. I have the honor of sharing with a group of dads for an Iron Sharpens Iron virtual event called “Being a Dad in a Sex-Saturated Culture”. I’m going to help dads see how they are uniquely […]

An Upside-Down Podcast To Turn Your Life Around

I had a delightful conversation about my book with the brilliant and gracious Caleb Gray on his “Upside Down People” podcast. He hosts conversations that matter from Perth, Australia. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to travel to Perth and meet Caleb in person, but I’m still very grateful for our important and insightful conversation. Listen for […]

See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro

Mind Matters News posted my article: “See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro.” I’m grateful for the opportunity to share with their audience. Now that Apple has released the Vision Pro, these concerns are even more important to consider. Here are some key quotes: We’re extending our senses into an interface that will […]

10 Screen-Free Christmas Gift Ideas For Your Child for 2023

I know. Your child wants a new phone or tablet or video game for Christmas sooooooo badly. And the sales are irresistible. And all their friends have one, or are getting one, too. How happy they’ll be when they see that shiny new device under the tree! But, oh, how unhappy you’ll all be after […]

See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro

Mind Matters News posted my article: “See Through the False Promises of Apple Vision Pro.” I’m grateful for the opportunity to share with their audience. Here are some key quotes: We’re extending our senses into an interface that will change us in ways we can’t even imagine. But if history is a reliable guide, seeing […]