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The Paradox of Autonomous Vehicles: Liberated Cars, Passive People
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Automakers continue to proclaim that fully autonomous vehicles are just around the corner. In 2016, a host of companies, from BMW to Volvo, promised driverless cars by 2021. While that has proven too ambitious, it hasn’t stopped companies from making revised... Read more -
Automation Anxiety and the Future of Work
AUTOMATION IS NOT A CAUSE FOR FEAR BUT AN OPPORTUNITY TO REDISCOVER WHY WE WORK IN THE FIRST PLACE. “I, FOR ONE, WELCOME OUR NEW COMPUTER OVERLORDS.” In 2011, millions watched as Ken Jennings scribbled this sentence on his answer screen, then looked up defeatedly into the luminous... Read more -
Mom of Carlo Acutis says son led her back to the Catholic faith
While most Catholic mothers pray for their teenage sons, Antonia Acutis has the unique ability to pray to hers, the soon-to-be-beatified Italian teenager Carlo Acutis. Carlo will be beatified October 10 in Assisi, Italy. His canonization cause has been... Read more -
Why the Web Won’t Be Nirvana
Editor's note: This piece was originally published in Newsweek in February, 1995. While it's easy to laugh at how far off many of the predictions were, he did foresee how the internet can never fully replace human-to-human contact. After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that... Read more -
How Parents Can Protect Kids From Porn Without Moving To A Secluded Mountain
When you become a parent, you immediately begin to worry about all sorts of things. Formula or breastfeeding, best and safest car seats, the balance of child care versus stay-at-home parenting, sleep training, when to introduce solids, vaccines. Porn probably doesn’t top that list. Or at... Read more -
Another adult stem cell breakthrough
Scientists have discovered yet another life-giving treatment for disease using adult stem cells, while the number of substantial medical breakthroughs from life-taking embryonic stem cell research remains essentially zero. Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), also known as Devic’s disease, causes... Read more -
Tech company launches ‘smart rosary’ to foster prayer for peace
In a world in which smartwatches already measure heartbeats, footsteps, sleep cycles and hours on a tennis court, the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network has launched the first “smart rosary,” an app-driven device that aims to foster global prayer for peace. Technically called “Click To... Read more -
The Sino-American tech race
The contours of the history of the twenty-first century will be largely decided by the tussle between the USA and China. The familiar situation of an established global hegemon being challenged by a rising power is being played out before our eyes. Whether or not China is able to establish at... Read more -
NFP’s Modern Marvels Draws Millennials, Scientists and Some Pushback
More millennial women than ever are turning to fertility-awareness-based methods, not simply for a natural way to plan their families, but as a way to keep track of their bodily health and well-being without putting hormones or artificial devices into their bodies. “I’m a millennial, and... Read more -
The Vocation of Space Exploration
Editor's note: This article was originally published in 2008 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of NASA. We share it today as we discuss the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Oct. 1, 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — better known as NASA —... Read more