Live data from Hacker News

Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org

51–60 of 82 posts

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#51
post #21
post #7

Putting aside the weird beliefs, the principles themselves are actually pretty decent and widely applicable. Strange place for principled thought leadership to come from :-/

Look at the former careers of the leadership of this church. * Russel Nelson - Former surgeon, known for performing the first open heart surgery west of the Mississippi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson ) * Henry Eyring - Former Stanford professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Eyring ) * Dallin Oaks - Former Lawyer, Judge, and University of Chicago professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

OK? Is this meant to somehow absolve mormonism's long and well documented record of being an abusive cult? (which the "leaders" are ultimately in no small part responsible for?)

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#52
post #21
post #7

Putting aside the weird beliefs, the principles themselves are actually pretty decent and widely applicable. Strange place for principled thought leadership to come from :-/

Look at the former careers of the leadership of this church. * Russel Nelson - Former surgeon, known for performing the first open heart surgery west of the Mississippi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson ) * Henry Eyring - Former Stanford professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Eyring ) * Dallin Oaks - Former Lawyer, Judge, and University of Chicago professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Money&Power is attraction for smart and educated people to get deep into internal power struggles of the Church.

The Church has $265 billion in assets. Their power and influence goes way beyond that. The Ensign Peak portfolio alone is over $50 billion and they vote in board meetings.

They suck money from their members with annual tithing, but they are now so wealthy that the overall church’s investment income now exceeds that (they give only tiny fraction of their income to humanitarian work)

LDS is a religion as a business.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#53
post #51
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the former careers of the leadership of this church. * Russel Nelson - Former surgeon, known for performing the first open heart surgery west of the Mississippi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson ) * Henry Eyring - Former Stanford professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Eyring ) * Dallin Oaks - Former Lawyer, Judge, and University of Chicago professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

OK? Is this meant to somehow absolve mormonism's long and well documented record of being an abusive cult? (which the "leaders" are ultimately in no small part responsible for?)

No, it was just stating the fact that they seem to have technical expertise.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#54
post #51
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the former careers of the leadership of this church. * Russel Nelson - Former surgeon, known for performing the first open heart surgery west of the Mississippi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson ) * Henry Eyring - Former Stanford professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Eyring ) * Dallin Oaks - Former Lawyer, Judge, and University of Chicago professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

OK? Is this meant to somehow absolve mormonism's long and well documented record of being an abusive cult? (which the "leaders" are ultimately in no small part responsible for?)

You can admire them for their competence.

Mormons are spiritually pure amoral capitalists. Religion united with wealth and politics. A Perfect American Religion.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#55
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Most people think of it as strong feelings they have in situations. This is a simplification. I can be angry--that's a strong feeling. But that doesn't mean I've felt the Spirit speak to me. Feelings are certainly a part of it though. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't found a perfect simple description for the experience. Similar to asking someone to describe what "salt" tastes like--it's not the easiest th…

It seems similar to ordinary "best judgement", "careful consideration", "wisdom" etc wrapped up in some externalizing language for the most part. not to trivialize that, it is quite a feat if you can reliably cultivate those qulaities at scale

When you're "seeking revelation" there is the expectation that you'll work it out as best you can on your own. Revelation is not intended to be an easy/lazy shortcut--in my experience it's taken significant effort. But having the Holy Spirit communicate to you is different from coming to a conclusion on your own. If I get analytical about it, while receiving revelation has been a personal experience for me, there is (at least what feels like) an external force at play (that I attribute to the Holy Spirit) when it happens. From the outside looking in, I can understand this may cause concern for those who haven't experienced it--"you're listening to voices/feelings in your head!" But it's led me to "good" things (be a better person, live more honestly, have greater hope, have greater peace, repair a wrong I made, take on more responsibility, get off the couch and go help someone, hold to my principals, etc).

I know people may complain about hearing this, but if you're genuinely curious it's easiest to understand if you actually experience it for yourself. Carrying from the previously mentioned analogy, I can spend hours trying to communicate to you what salt tastes like, but I won't be able to do it justice. That doesn't mean I'm not willing to try. But if you are curious I'm happy to discuss further in a more private way. I've had my experiences that have led me to my beliefs, but they are experiences I only wish to share in environments where respect can be communicated/felt between myself and the person I'm sharing them with.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#56
post #51
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the former careers of the leadership of this church. * Russel Nelson - Former surgeon, known for performing the first open heart surgery west of the Mississippi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_M._Nelson ) * Henry Eyring - Former Stanford professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_B._Eyring ) * Dallin Oaks - Former Lawyer, Judge, and University of Chicago professor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

OK? Is this meant to somehow absolve mormonism's long and well documented record of being an abusive cult? (which the "leaders" are ultimately in no small part responsible for?)

It was a response to the following:

> Strange place for principled thought leadership to come from

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#57
post #7

Putting aside the weird beliefs, the principles themselves are actually pretty decent and widely applicable. Strange place for principled thought leadership to come from :-/

Religion is a strange place for principled thought leadership to come from ? One might say that it has been the quintessential source of principled thought leadership.

For sure. Ask Giordano Bruno and he will certainly confirm that to you.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#58
post #18
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You believe only what you've been told to believe. Everything else is deepfake.

This comment is in direct conflict with the actual teachings of the faith. From the introduction to the Book of Mormon, a central Holy Scripture to the faith: > We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony…

Beautiful fig leaf right there. Let's just say that my experience with the mormon church was much about emotional manipulation and praying on the vulnerable and less about seeking of the truth.

Re: Guiding Principles for the Mormon Church's Use of AI

#59
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Mormonism the Holy Ghost basically equates to one’s intuition

I'm of this faith and I've never heard anyone describe it this way. Feelings are involved, but there's more to it. See https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topi... .

I'm also of the faith and of course we don't describe it that way in most church discourse because it'd lose one of the most valued functions: framing human experience in a sacred narrative and privileging LDS participation and perspective.

Probably not correct to chalk all transcendent experiences up to that, and sometimes church discourse also steers towards real effort in genuinely engaging fine points of recognition, cultivation, and (occasionally) limits of extra-rational faculties and their integration into overall efforts at perception and understanding (and I consider this a helpful formative part of my development), but frequently we behave in a way that doesn't take the topic seriously as much beyond a vehicle for institutional affirmation & sacralized participation, and that's leaving alone times when we discount or even outright discard that study-it-out-in-your-mind step.

But hey, I get it, maybe keeping revelation yoked to a few valued goals is reasonable enough, because the quality of self-reported holy spirit guidance is best case bell-curve shaped and the lower 50% slopes crazy. Pretty sure every Latter-day Saint has heard some crazy stuff passed off as personal revelation (from either a kooky ward member or that handful of leaders that you're not sure the call was quite right on) and learns how to talk around that. Maybe it's better to have a low ceiling with a high floor.

Post reply on HN