REGISTER: Bette’s Happy Hour — Me, Mo' & the Pope
Bette members—please register for Tuesday’s Happy Hour with geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra, as we review Pope Leo's "extraordinary document"
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Hello Bette members!
Thank you to everyone who’s been showing up for our community events. Your empathy for our recents guests, a young pro-democracy woman detained in a Georgian prison and a Ukrainian filmmaker held in Russian captivity, reveals the humanity in each of you. I am so grateful.
Our brilliant and extremely important conversation with Matthew Pearce yesterday on the profit of economic destruction will be released later this week in print form. Here is some background reading in advance of the print report.
Me, Mo’, and the Pope — Tuesday, June 2, 11 am Pacific
Because of the three awful things Trump will do today to distract from the actual good things happening in the world, geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra will be with us tomorrow, as we dedicate the hour to Pope Leo’s groundbreaking letter, Magnifica Humanitas. You can read more about here, which also includes a link to the document:
This event is open to all levels of paid membership.
Bette’s Happy Hour with Me, Mo’, and the Pope:
11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern, 7 pm UK
Please join geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra — zooming in from Siena, Italy — as we review Pope Leo’s “extraordinary document”
Registration can be found by scrolling all the way to the end of this post.
Here are Mo’s initial thoughts:
‘An Extraordinary Document’
Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas reveals his extraordinary message right in the title: mankind is at the centre of human endeavour and social evolution. Revolutions are purposefully destabilising, and we’ve seen how they can disintegrate the mind and body. But when they are anchored to the principles of human edification, they bring us closer to our human mission—how we choose to nurture humankind through love.
Pope Leo’s encyclical comes at this specific time because we’re at a crossroads in history; we’re all fearful of what the current technological revolution is doing and will do to us as humans, to our families, communities, and our broader national and international community.
He’s warning us about the de-humanisation of mankind and our world: literally, transhumanism, which is devoid of grand purpose, or what ties us all together—magnifica humanitas.
Most of the critics say that “Pope Leo is out of step with the times: machines will be more intelligent than humans, and this is a humbling realisation that Leo cannot accept; that he’s getting on the contrarian bandwagon for himself; that he doesn’t understand what AI can do to advance human life; and that he’s just basically trying to undercut the Tech Bros.”
They are missing the point totally. What Leo is doing is addressing how the hell we want to live in this world, and what kind of a world we want for your families in the future.—Monique Camarra for Bette Dangerous
On Twitter, Pope Leo wrote:
Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas
In response, I wrote:
Rolling hills, ocean waves, gentle rains — real beauty in this world — nothing to do with AI.
But in fact, AI plunders the natural world’s resources.
I had that realization when I was touring the West of Ireland — AI has nothing to do with creating the beauty of the natural world, but it is pillaging it.
And Pope Leo, one of the most powerful people in the world today, is willing to take up this fight for our future and the future of the planet.
No better word than extraordinary.
Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow as we ensure Pope Leo’s important messaging does not get lost in the daily awful.
Sharing this meme again, because I do so love it.
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