Young people who sign up to use Instagram, Tik Tok or similar social media sites are targeted with potentially harmful material within 24 hours. New research by the 5 Rights Foundation, an international initiative to promote online safety, shows that this is built into the design of the platforms; it is not just an unfortunate…
Before the pandemic, Dr. Benjamin tenOever was used to blank stares after telling people he worked in virology. But now that virus research and vaccine technology are crucial in stopping the spread of COVID-19 – not to mention prevalent in our everyday vocabulary – that has changed dramatically. TenOever no longer has to explain his…
The gold standard of science information transfer is the peer-reviewed written word. But the slow pace of publication and the impersonal interactions involved have made other forms of scientific communication popular. With anywhere from 300 to 35,000 participants, scientific meetings are one way for scientists to comment on, criticize or improve each other’s findings quickly….
People appreciate contributions by Reformed thinkers on issues in contemporary culture, including technology. However, at a recent talk, I also heard a critique: the church does not figure very prominently in many of these Reformed writings. Digital technology is fraught with ethical, social and privacy issues, but what is the role of the church in…
Technology is all around us, and always changing. Take the lights in my house, for example. We no longer have incandescent light bulbs (the old 60- & 100-watt lights), but we still have a few halogen pot lights. In other light sockets we have those twisty fluorescent bulbs. But in most fixtures, we have the…
Have you made a list of all your social media accounts? Does a loved one know where you do online banking or hold digital assets? Have you chosen someone to gain access to your phone once you’re gone? The effects of a global pandemic have hit every corner of our lives, from the workplace to…
“Alexa, tell me a story.” Today we can ask our “voice assistants” almost any question and hear a reply. Alexa can tell jokes and bedtime stories and even play games. Artificial intelligence (AI) applied to areas like this appears almost magical. As a computer scientist I delight in the possibilities of AI but I don’t…
Years ago, I developed a course entitled “Catechesis and Community,” looking at new forms of Christian community and how the faith was being transmitted in a post-Christendom world. I included a whole class on “online church.” At the time, the inclusion of a digital Christian presence was met with raised eyebrows as some openly asked,…
I am currently reading The Sin of Certainty by Peter Enns. Enns’s main argument is that Christians have become enamoured of true beliefs at the cost of trust as our faith’s central virtue. We are too concerned about being correct, and we require others in our community, especially our leaders, to hold correct views on…
Just over a year ago, I was traveling in a large, air-conditioned, four-wheel-drive vehicle over rough roads in rural Zambia. I was sitting securely in the passenger seat, comfortably watching the scenery and villages pass by, when suddenly the steering rod failed. The vehicle veered into a field next to the road and abruptly ground…
Mid-January, I logged on to Calvin University’s January Series presentation titled The Future of AI by Flynn Coleman. AI – Artificial Intelligence – refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions. The term may also be applied to any machine that exhibits human traits such…
Our bodies hold a mystery at the molecular level: how do the chains of amino acids that make up all our proteins fold into 3D shapes? When your body uses proteins, it does not read them from one end of the chain to another (like it does for DNA, or like we do when we…
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