Pope Leo’s warning on AI is just more Catholic Church socialism | Opinion
Catholic socialism
Ayn Rand, an advocate for rationality and capitalism, referred to the pope as the “highest authority of the opposite side.” She saw mysticism as more dangerous than communism. In his recent encyclical, Pope Leo demonstrates this. He essentially calls for the economy to be kept inefficient so everyone can have a job to stay active and feel useful.
Won’t people see through the ruse of unnecessary make-work whose only purpose is to reassure the workers? It’s been said we could cure unemployment by requiring that excavation be done only with teaspoons, but that’s no way to run an economy.
I have misgivings about artificial intelligence, but the pope’s warnings about “forced inactivity” and “anthropological regression” (whatever that is) are not among them. The dignity of labor is overrated. We can all get a hobby. The Catholic Church is a socialist institution.
- George Michael Sherry, Fort Worth
Blood, turnip
Didn’t Fort Worth voters just approve a huge bond package that includes road repairs? A big portion of our property taxes goes to streets, too. Now, the city wants to charge every homeowner $3 a month on our water bills, and even more for businesses. (May 19, star-telegram.com, “How much would you pay to fix Fort Worth’s streets? Here’s the city’s proposal”)
When is enough enough?
- June Hoffman, Fort Worth
Texas twin
An indicted, impeached, divorced adulterer? Not Donald Trump — Ken Paxton. Trump has found his Texas doppelganger.
- Charles Andrews, Fort Worth
For-sale sign?
The May 22 front-page story “Farrington Field’s fate rests with board of managers” made me think about the Roman Coliseum. It has been hundreds of years since a sports event has been scheduled in the stadium. It would cost a fortune to repair the crumbling structure and bring it up to modern standards. It doesn’t even have operational bathrooms.
I suppose officials in Rome have never considered how much the city could gain by selling it.
- Bobby Darr, Fort Worth
Minority target
Having spent years reporting in Pakistan and Afghanistan, I can confidently report that Texas remains free of roving Sharia patrols. No imams have seized the Central Market kale aisle. No Taliban vice squad has appeared at Buc-ee’s demanding stricter modesty around the Beaver Nuggets.
It makes the current outbreak of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Texas politics feel less like a public emergency than a campaign strategy in search of a crisis. So-called “Sharia law” works politically because most Americans know very little about it. In practice, American Muslims observe it much the way Jews follow Halakhah or Catholics follow canon law — as personal religious guidance, not a blueprint for overthrowing City Hall.
As a Reform Jew, I get uneasy whenever politicians decide a minority faith makes convenient campaign material. History suggests that sort of thing rarely ages well. Texans ought to be better than this.
- Barry Shlachter, Fort Worth
Net negative
I do not see that data centers bring any advantage to Texas. They use a huge amount of power. It has not been that long since a winter storm brought down the power grid for several days. Data centers will destabilize the state’s power grid, and the high demand could make energy unaffordable for Texas consumers.
The centers use a huge amount of water, too, and Texas has a shortage of water resources. The operations require little manpower and won’t mean large numbers of jobs. The few positions that are created are mostly in maintenance, not high-end tech jobs that pay premium wages.
- Irene Kjornes, Fort Worth