All posts tagged: Humanity

Pope Leo tells youth in Madrid to be ‘sparks of a new humanity’

Pope Leo tells youth in Madrid to be ‘sparks of a new humanity’

Published by Sam Flores

MADRID (RNS) – Pope Leo XIV urged young people to “be human” in a world that he said was marked by violence, wars and fake connections, during a meeting with more than 400,000 youth gathered at Plaza de Lima in Madrid on Saturday (June 6). “In the face of the emptiness of indifference and compliance, before the violence of war and lies, you must be the sparks of a new humanity,” he said. “This is precisely the mission I entrust to you: that you be human. Yes, be human: men and women of flesh and blood!” Leo encouraged young people to cast aside appearances, to seek justice and to live an honest life. “Be human as Christ is human, the perfect man, the risen One who shares history with us in every age,” he said. The pope is in Spain for a six-day trip that began on Saturday, taking him to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. He made the remarks at a prayer vigil on a hot summer evening in the center of Madrid, …

Pope Leo reminds us of the value of our shared humanity : NPR

Pope Leo reminds us of the value of our shared humanity : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Pope Leo XIV attends the presentation of his first Encyclical Letter “Magnifica Humanitas” focused on the rise of artificial intelligence, in The Vatican on May 25, 2026. Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images Pope Leo released his first encyclical this week. He called it Magnifica Humanitas — or Magnificent Humanity. In it, he compares the swift, irresistible rise of Artificial Intelligence in our lives to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, which ends with God punishing humans for their hubris. Though the pope says he welcomes the advances AI can make in medicine, research, and education, when he presented his encyclical at the Vatican, he wrote, bluntly: “Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed. The word is strong, I know, but deliberately chosen because this moment needs words capable of attracting attention, awakening consciences and indicating paths forward for humanity.” The encyclical is book-length, and hard to summarize in a concise report. Maybe AI could. But we can read some of Pope Leo’s own words. The …

Pope Leo sees threat to humanity in technological arms race

Pope Leo sees threat to humanity in technological arms race

Published by skeptic

In the first landmark publication of his papacy, Pope Leo XIV has addressed recent advances in artificial intelligence by focusing on the threat it poses to workers, social justice and “the dignity of persons”. Presenting his first papal encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas” (“Magnificent Humanity”), at the Vatican on May 25, Leo declared: “Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed.” In the document – comprising around 42,300 words in its English translation – the pope writes: “To disarm does not mean rejecting technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity.” Encyclicals are exceptionally important papal documents that respond to the most pressing social issues of the time. Typically written as letters to all bishops and archbishops, they have become a crucial vehicle for disseminating the theology and political commitments of the Roman Catholic Church across the world. Pope Leo XIV signing his first encyclical on May 15 2026. Video: Vatican News. Leo chose to sign his first encyclical on May 15 2026, the exact anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s “Rerum novarum” (“Of new things”). This famous encyclical, which responded …

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV says AI must serve humanity, not the powerful few

In his first encyclical, Pope Leo XIV says AI must serve humanity, not the powerful few

Published by Sam Flores

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV took direct aim at the power of Big Tech in his first encyclical on Monday (May 25), warning that artificial intelligence risks widening inequality, weakening democracy and undermining what it means to be human. The document, titled “Magnifica Humanitas” (Magnificent Humanity), frames AI as the new industrial revolution and makes an appeal to “disarm AI” by removing it from military and economic interests, subjecting AI companies to stricter state and international regulations and inviting the broad participation of individuals and communities in shaping the future of this rapidly developing technology. “Disarming AI means freeing it from the mentality of ‘armed’ competition, which today is not limited simply to the military context, but is also an economic and cognitive phenomenon,” Leo wrote. “Disarming does not mean renouncing technology, but preventing it from dominating humanity,” he added. “For this reason, merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed, welcoming and accessible,” the document read. Leo also took on Big Tech in the document, highlighting the dangers of having a …

Gaza flotilla activists return to Australia, describing abuse | Crimes Against Humanity

Gaza flotilla activists return to Australia, describing abuse | Crimes Against Humanity

Published by Sam Flores

NewsFeed Australian activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla have arrived back in Sydney, reuniting with loved ones as they describe beatings, sexual assault and torture at the hands of Israeli forces who intercepted their boats in international waters. Published On 25 May 202625 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Source link

‘It’s a crime against humanity’: UK’s Look Mum No Computer met with scathing reviews after final performance

‘It’s a crime against humanity’: UK’s Look Mum No Computer met with scathing reviews after final performance

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter The UK’s Eurovision Song Contest entry sparked a fierce backlash from viewers, with some branding it the country’s “worst ever”. Look Mum No Computer, also known as Sam Battle, represented the UK in Vienna, Austria, with his song “Eins, Zwei, Drei” – a zany electronic-pop song that makes heavy use of synths, while dancing energetically with people dressed as computers on Saturday night. At one point, Battle attempted to get the crowd to sing with him, chanting: “When I say eins, you say zwei.” The YouTube star wore a pink boiler suit as performers in fluffy headwear danced in a mock workshop, while he played a synthesizer, and ended up in a cardboard box. But the 37-year-old has received some damning criticism on social media following his “bonkers” performance. Look Mum No Computer, also known as Sam Battle, is representing the …

Man Behind Simulation Hypothesis Warns That Extinction of Humanity Is a Risk We Have to Take

Man Behind Simulation Hypothesis Warns That Extinction of Humanity Is a Risk We Have to Take

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Even if you don’t know Nick Bostrom’s name, you’re almost certainly familiar with the idea he’s most famous for. Back in 2003, when he was at Oxford, Bostrom penned an influential philosophical paper with the incredible title of “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?” Loosely speaking, his argument was that sufficiently advanced civilizations will eventually build sophisticated simulations of their own ancestors — and that, given enough time in the simulation, those simulated beings will develop their own simulation inside the simulation, where a new set of simulated ancestors will do the same thing, ad infinitum. You probably get a sense where this is headed: with all these layers of simulated reality, Bostrom thinks that it’s very unlikely that us humans are actually living in the original “base” reality. Instead, we’re statistically probably in some tranche of an Escher-esque cosmic videogame. Needless to say, the whole thing sparked decades of debate. Big names including Elon Musk have …

Rivals boss addresses adaptational changes with show’s gay love story: “I have a humanity agenda”

Rivals boss addresses adaptational changes with show’s gay love story: “I have a humanity agenda”

Published by Daniella Wilson

Rivals executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins has opened up on why the series’ divergence from the original novel and addition of a gay love story is “really important”. The first season of the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1998 novel Rivals, which was released in autumn 2024, introduced a secret romance between Charles Fairburn (played by Gary Lamont) and Gerald Middleton (played by Hubert Burton) that isn’t present in the book. Speaking with Gareth McLean for Radio Times ahead of the release of season 2 later this month, Treadwell-Collins said of the storyline: “In the book, Charles and Gerald are both gay characters, but they never actually cross. What was really important to us was alongside the heterosexual love stories, telling a big, swooping gay love story.” Charles and Gerald’s storyline in Rivals is set against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis, as well as Thatcher’s Section 28 policy, which banned schools from teaching children about homosexuality. But when asked if this is an example of what some quarters will argue is ‘pushing a gay agenda’, …

Protesting For Our Humanity | Blog of the APA

Protesting For Our Humanity | Blog of the APA

Published by Jenni Sidey

Every Sunday for two years, from October 2023 to October 2025, protesters gathered in the center of Melbourne, Australia, to march against Israel’s war on Gaza. With numbers sometimes swelling to up to 25,000, the protests became a recurring moment for those horrified by the IDF’s actions to come together and share their anger and their grief. These mass displays of outrage and solidarity were met in some quarters, however, by a mix of irritation and bemusement: What could such protests possibly hope to achieve, here on the other side of the world, in a state that—if we’re being honest—ranks as a middling power at best? In 1985, philosopher and environmentalist Val Plumwood went canoeing in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory of Australia. Alone and far from any human habitation, Plumwood was attacked by a saltwater crocodile—arguably the most ferocious of Australia’s native animals. After miraculously surviving, here is how she described that encounter: “This was a strong sense, at the moment of being grabbed by those powerful jaws, that there was something …

‘The Audacity’s Sarah Goldberg searches for the humanity in Silicon Valley

‘The Audacity’s Sarah Goldberg searches for the humanity in Silicon Valley

Published by skeptic

When The Audacity star Sarah Goldberg first met with series creator Jonathan Glatzer, he summed up the show in an unexpected fashion: The real-life tech titans whom The Audacity skewers are so focused on creating immortality that they can’t face the fact that everyone — including them — has, at some point in their lives, pooped their pants. SEE ALSO: ‘The Audacity’ tears Silicon Valley a new one: Review That juxtaposition — a “denial of our base humanity,” as Goldberg described it in a Zoom call with Mashable — attracted her to The Audacity‘s warped take on Silicon Valley. In The Audacity‘s ensemble of tech founders, Goldberg’s Dr. JoAnne Felder is the odd person out. She’s a therapist to the Valley’s “billionaire man-children,” a renter in a sea of obscenely wealthy homeowners who don’t care if their Napa house burns down, because they have several other homes to run back to. Due to her outsider status, you might think JoAnne would serve as The Audacity‘s voice of reason. But by the end of the show’s …