Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss and human obsolescence are taking increasing space in the cultural imagination. The question looms: What is the future of human work in a technological age? At the recent World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, China, Tesla’s Elon Musk and Alibaba’s Jack Ma weighed in on the topic—offering conflicting perspectives and predictions. For Ma, machine learning offers an opportunity not just to improve products and services,...

Last Thursday, we were pleased to e Victor Claar, associate professor of economics in the Lutgert College of Business at Florida Gulf Coast University, to participate in the 2019 Acton Lecture Series with an address on the moral legacy of John Maynard Keynes. Keynes, of course, had a massive impact on the understanding, teaching of, and implementation of economic principles in the second half of the 20th century (and still today); In this lecture, Claar examines the broader cultural impact...

Chicken giant or giant chicken? That is the question conservative mentators are asking this week as news broke that restaurant chain Chick-fil-A, known for being closed on Sunday due to its owners’ Christian values, announced that it will no longer support the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Both organizations — the former of which, notably, is not simply a charity but a Christian denomination — have been labelled anti-LGBT by activists due to their hiring practices. Chick-fil-A...

This week, the Diocese of Peoria, Illinois, announced that the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen will be beatified on December 21st in that city’s Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. It’s a fitting moment in time for Sheen’s beatification. The diocese noted that the ceremony will take place at the end of this 100-year anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. But perhaps more meaningful, Sheen’s beatification is happening during these tumultuous times, when political discourse seems to have...

Why do I care about Chick-fil-A’s decision to drop Salvation Army and Fellowship of Christian Athletes as they seek to properly “align their values” and make sure people understand “who they are”? prehend why Chick-fil-A wants to escape the censure of progressive elites. pany is a petitor. In terms of profit per square foot, they are the reigning champion in American fast food. When you have that strength and speed, you want to use it. pany has consistently been known...

One year ago, no one could have predicted that American Christians would hold Kanye West in higher esteem than Chick-fil-A. Yet the nation has seen two cultural transformations take place this week at the intersection of faith merce. Kanye West sang Gospel music to prisoners this weekend, as Chick-fil-A readied a statement that it was ending its partnership with several distinctly Christian charities. American Christians, who make up 70 percent of the U.S. population, have reacted accordingly. West’s latest CD,...

I try to guard my attention closely for, as King Solomon admonishes, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Proverbs 4:23). I don’t always succeed, but on my best days I focus on things I truly wish to understand through diligent study and things which I am able to do something about. The rest I trust to God and His providence. As Eli Lapp instructs his grandson in the film Witness, “What you take...

Panic surrounding climate change and the environment is on the rise and doomsday predictions abound. Most headlines about the environment only tell one story: that the environment is on the decline and that this decline is a result of economic development. In March, The Guardian declared that “ending climate change requires the end of capitalism.” But in the midst of calls for the Green New Deal and calls to overhaul our economic system, there’s another story unfolding. Holly Fretwell, Director...

In this week’s Acton Commentary, I take a look at Ford v Ferrari, the new feature film that captures the story (it’s a true thrill ride) animating the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is all about the pursuit of excellence, even perfection, by two industrial organizations whose cultures couldn’t be more different, and drivers constantly striving for the “perfect lap” as pete for the checkered flag. Against Ford’s mass scale industrialization and Organization Man culture, Ferrari was about...

His very public conversion and groundbreaking Gospel CD have made Kanye West perhaps the most conspicuous, and unlikely, champion of faith and moral values in America today. Yesterday, TV’s most-watched cable news channel turned to Acton Institute founder Rev. Robert Sirico to analyze West’s sincerity and impact on America’s most secular generation. West’s public witness “goes right to the heart of what is wrong in our culture – the materialism, the oversexualization of the culture, the disrespect for the dignity...