Episode 58: Looking beyond the mark, Was Putin afraid of Navalny? Diversity of music at church, Celebrating Black History Month

Real Mormonism

Send us a Text Message.

The Thought Provoker:
Shawn is up first this week. Elon Musk has sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, claiming that the company failed to keep its promise of developing AI tools for "the benefit of humanity" over maximizing profits.Musk helped launch and fund OpenAI in its early years. His lawyers argue that Musk poured time, money and recruiting resources to the AI lab, on the condition that it would remain a nonprofit "dedicated to creating safe, open-source AGI for public benefit," We believe that there are some doctrines that fall in the category of “looking beyond the mark”. Jesus taught “of tenets thou shall not talk” and “whoso shall declare more or less than this, the same cometh of evil” . Joseph smith taught: “stay close to the trunk because the branches will break” oes this not also apply to knowledge and innovation? Is Elon musk right about ai that maybe it’s one of those “beyond the mark” innovations and that we should tread lightly and remove profit motive?

Next up Matt. Rumor has it that The US, Germany, and Russia had agreed on a prisoner exchange that was going to free Alexei Navalny. As of February 9th, all of the details of the release were being worked out. So the big question then is why did Russia have him killed just days before his release? Were these discussions about Navalny's release just a ploy for Putin to try to figure out what the United States was willing to give for him Or did Putin feel threatened by Navalny in some way? If so, is Putin perhaps in a weaker spot politically than we might have otherwise supposed?

Finally, Sam. Psalms 66:1-2”Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.” We LDS typically associate this scripture with the Mo Tab…whose style has evolved…Boyd K comments about Mac Wilberg. My son Braden and his friend Holly, both BYU students, recently attended an interfaith musical worship….at BYU…as part of a World Religion class. Braden’s response to the experience. “The music and motion was uncomfortable….” as a worship experience. He also recognized that the people putting it on felt disconnected from the BYU audience who responded in a non traditional way. Braden’s thought, does that disconnect create a wall between types of Christian believers? I’ve attended many different types of worship services. I’ve heard the loud band, and I’ve also had a Catholic friend tell me he was disturbed going to an LDS Sacrament service because of the irreverence displayed by kids running up and down the aisles. Do Christians and members of the Church have a responsibility to speak a more similar worship language? Why not get louder in LDS services
Big Question: We just concluded celebrating Black History Month in February. Although many Americans Feel that black Americans contributions to the American culture are celebrated, most black people do not feel that way. Half of all adults say that the things they have learned about black Americans contributions to American culture came from sources other than the K-12 curriculum. I remember when I was in high school that every February Black History Month was celebrated and we learned a lot about Black Americans contributions to American culture, but I wonder if there is a better way to learn about black Americans. Should institutions other than high school (k-12) education celebrate