Pope Bob rarely fails to disappoint.
LeoWatch: Earning the Title of Francis II
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
I haven’t read the encyclical, but isn’t it possible that the framework of the Just War Theory would become obsolete when human decision-making is removed from the battlefield?
Just War has nothing to do with the battlefield and everything to do with the initiation of the war. Iron dome defenses against missiles use AI but this has nothing to do with why the conflict that causes missiles to fly has been initiated, let alone the morality underlying the conflict. Pope Bob is simply a pacifist and will do what he can to make the Catholic Church pacifist. A very odd stance for an Augustinian.
Guidance systems be they scope over iron sights, AI over radar, are still under human control until activated. And human beings are still wounded by sin. The idea that it’s wrong to defend the innocent is an evil one.
The SSPX priests who will be ordained bishops are all very solid. They’ve taught, built, instructed and defended the Catholic Faith. All reasons priests were once chosen to be bishops. They did not hold Pride masses, remove kneelers, bless homosexual couples…. to be awarded with ordination.
The difference is striking. And that’s the reason Cardinal Fernandez is having a hissy fit and will throw his excommunication handbag.
No, Don, you’re wrong. Just War Theory applies both to reasons for war and conduct during war.
Atrocities do not require AI to be committed Pinky. I doubt that is the point Pope Bob, or the AI he used, or the Francis hold overs he used to draft this mess, were struggling to make.
I know that up votes and down votes are small matters, but my factual statement about Just War Theory just went from +1 to 0, so someone must have down voted a clear, true statement about Catholkc teaching on The American Catholic.
I was on Substack and in my feed was a prompt from Dr. Janet Smith, calling attention to another scholar, Michael Pakaluk, who had written a detailed review of Magnifica Humanitas. The fact that someone of Dr. Smith’s caliber was encouraging folks to read this critique made me curious.
Turns out that in an interesting twist, Pakaluk used AI to analyze the text. He gave it the prompt “suppose you were looking at this text as if it were a draft, and were asked to address it critically, from the point of view of a sound, Catholic, well-educated person: list all of the issues you would flag for revision, from most egregious to least”.
What followed was a list of thirty areas where the encyclical was problematic, and a detailed analysis of why that was so. Dr. Smith was right: it’s a fascinating read.
Posting links in blogs that aren’t mine seems like bad manners, but if any commenters here are interested in reading the article, just Google or DuckDuck “Special Post on Magnifica Humanitas Michael Pakaluk”, it’s well worth reading.
I think you’re putting the cart before the horse, Pinky … AI doesn’t render just-war-theory obsolete, just in need of revision. AI makes it necessary to incorporate the uses of AI on the battlefield into the theory. The human decision-making occurs when one decides how to use the AI weapon. Unfortunately, I doubt our enemies will make any effort toward using battlefield AI justly.
Posting links in blogs that aren’t mine seems like bad manners
I usually don’t mind Clinton.