Podcasts about willing slaves

This episode was a particular joy for me. I had the honor to talk with Jacob Howland. We start with LSD—talking about it, that is — go back to the steam engine in ancient Greece to return to the 20th century's nuclear bomb and today's artificial intelligence. What is the interplay of the human condition with ever more potent technology? What constitutes progress, education, and how can we deal with the challenges of our time? Jacob Howland served as Provost and Dean of the Intellectual Foundations Program at the University of Austin from 2022 to 2025, and before that, as McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. He is the author of five books on Plato, Kierkegaard, and the Talmud, and over sixty articles on literature, politics, and the academy for general readers. He will be a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas during the academic year 2026-27. I was intrigued by a conversation Jacob had with Jordan Peterson talking about the CIA gets its hands on LSD. Jacob described the situation as “This is potent stuff, what can we do with it?” Was this a special case or is this our general approach to innovation? Is innovation thus simply reasoning backwards? What is technology? Since when do we speak of technology? “The marshalling or harnessing of significant social resources for the explicit purpose of advancing and applying science.” Mastering and possession of nature, as Descartes put it, is a core aspect of that. During that process, is the focus put too much on the means, while the ends might get lost? “The means justify the end? […] We can do this, therefore we should do it.” Innovation and the mindset of the time — do people even understand what was just invented? Example: the steam engine in antiquity. How does the world appear to people in antiquity, in the Christian tradition, and later in the modern age? Or in other words: when did transforming the world become an objective? Descartes already understands that: “Desire is implicitly infinite.” This shifts the relationship between man and world. In what way specifically? “When we take away the limits of desire, we open up an infinite and unlimited desire for wealth, an unlimited desire for new devices, conveniences and so forth.” Descartes already expresses that if we become the masters of nature, we might be able to find a way to limit the infirmities of old age and to extend life. What was the role of Francis Bacon in The New Atlantis? What role did he play for science? Contemplating the history of technology and science, it appears we are treating new inventions and innovations like children — even those with extraordinary potential. How could we have survived this attitude? “Technology contains its own fatality.” What changed between the nuclear bomb and the advent of artificial intelligence? “We are going to have to trust AI more and more, but we don't actually know if it is trustworthy.” What can we learn from Greek mythology about these complexities of technology? What is Pandora's box? “We exchange one kind of fatality for another.” Technology can be transgressive and totalising. How? “If the idea is to remove all limits, which would be a way of being like God, then, because we are human beings, we will just descend into chaos. […] You can take human beings out of chaos, but you cannot take the chaos out of human beings.” Is it true that interesting things happen at the edge of chaos, as Stuart Kauffman expressed it? “When you just have order without the vitality that comes from transgression, you have decay, you have fossilised formalism.” Henry Adams stated, about 100 years ago: Can the speed of change become too fast for human societies and thus fundamentally destabilising? “We have a hard time holding two opposing thoughts in our mind.” But this seems to be increasingly important — a fundamental human skill, in fact. How is this important to assess progress? What changed in the attitude towards progress, especially with young people? “Moderns and late moderns (us) believe that we can solve problems.” The way we address complex problems was discussed in other episodes. Noteworthy seems a quotation by Thomas Sowell: “There are no solutions, only trade-offs” Can we actually solve a problem in a complex “wicked” environment? How does this help us to understand how technology works? Why is maintenance at the centre of a complex techno-social society? What does that mean specifically? How does politics work, and why will we never arrive at morally perfect situations? Why is impatience rising and creating unreasonable expectations? Why is humility of huge importance in dealing with complex problems, for instance in science? On the other hand, why is it a bad idea to be afraid of your own shadow? “I am more concerned by what the bomb is doing already to young people,” C. S. Lewis. So, how do we go along, surrounded by radical uncertainty? What does this mean for science? “Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts,” Richard Feynman. “You are dealing with a real scientist when that scientist says: here is what we don't know.” In contrast to this, remember Anthony Fauci: “I am Science.” What is the role of generalists versus specialists to resolve or manage some of these issues? What about different perspectives of time? “The emphasis in our lives today is on the present. What is happening right now.” Where is expertise, what is the interplay between specialist knowledge and generalist “connecting tissue”? “I have never let my ignorance interfere with anything I wanted to study.” How is this relevant to living a decent and flourishing human life? But to make it even bolder: Do we have such stagnation in science and society because we have so few generalists? As a closing question: If the mission is to save (American) education, what are we supposed to do, and do we even have a chance still? “Harvard College taught little, and that little, ill. But it left the mind open, supple, and ready to receive knowledge,” Henry Adams. Could we at least get back to this situation again? “How many universities can we say that about? We have not succeeded in that. […] At the end of the day, we are suffering from a crisis of meaning. Any way we give people more meaning is significant.” How can we do that? In company with other people, ideally. There is hope, as Jacob states at the end of the conversation. We are at the start of a reconstruction, as Douglas Murray put it: “We should be the reconstructionists. The deconstructionists knew something about how to take things apart but, like children with bicycles, had no idea how to put them back together. […] We have the choice either to live in the wastelands or to rebuild them.” Other Episodes Episode 148: Künstliche Vernunft? Ein Gespräch mit Jan Juhani Steinmann Episode 145: Reflexion und Rekonstruktion! Episode 137: Alles Leben ist Problemlösen Episode 134: Das Werdende, das ewig wirkt und lebt? Transzendent oder Transient Episode 129: Rules, A Conversation with Prof. Lorraine Daston Episode 125: Ist Fortschritt möglich? Ideen als Widergänger über Generationen Episode 118: Science and Decision Making under Uncertainty, A Conversation with Prof. John Ioannidis Episode 116: Science and Politics, A Conversation with Prof. Jessica Weinkle Episode 110: The Shock of the Old, a conversation with David Edgerton Episode 107: How to Organise Complex Societies? A Conversation with Johan Norberg Episode 74: Apocalype Always References Homepage of Jacob Howland Jordan Peterson & Jacob Howland, Ancient Stories That Bridge The Heavens & The Earth (2025) René Descartes, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences (1637) Francis Bacon, The New Atlantis (1627, posthum) Stuart Kauffman, At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity(Oxford University Press, 1995) Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1918) Thomas Sowell, A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles (1987) F. A. Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society (1945) Horst Rittel, Melvin Webber, Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning, Policy Sciences 4 (1973) Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (ca. 350 BC) C. S. Lewis, “Is Progress Possible? Willing Slaves of the Welfare State” (Essay, 1958) Richard Feynman, “What is Science?” (presentation 1966, published inThe Physics Teacher, 1969) Erwin Schrödinger, What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell (Cambridge University Press, 1944) Plato, Timaeus (ca. 360 BC) H. J. Paton, The Good Will: A Study in the Coherence Theory of Goodness (1927) Bryan Caplan, The Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money (Princeton University Press, 2018) Douglas Murray - "The Age of Reconstruction Has Begun!" | ARC 2025

A planned society will always tend to the tyranny of technocracy

After coming to Christ, we often wonder what comes next … What is our calling? And how do we serve Him with our lives? Well, today on Know The Truth, we're unpacking God's call for us to belong fully to Him and His kingdom of order as joyful and willing slaves. Learn what that means for your life, today on Know The Truth!

What does it practically look like to belong to Jesus? You'll be surprised that the picture given to us in the Bible is actually slavery. Today on Know The Truth, we're discussing God's call for us to belong to Him and His kingdom and what that means for our lives as willful slaves of Christ. Join us today on Know The Truth.

We all yearn to deeply and significantly bond and belong. And to fill that void, we often attach ourselves to harmful or addictive things, which in turn, enslave us. Today on Know The Truth, Philip De Courcy reminds us how God has freed us from slavery to sin and death, and has called us to belong to His kingdom as joyful and willing slaves. That's today on Know The Truth!

In 1958 CS Lewis wrote an essay titled, “Willing Slaves of the Welfare State”. Reading through it, I realized just how prophetic it was for the current round of curfews, lock-downs, and restrictions hitting us across the country. We discuss in full in today's podcast, but a few excerpts from the essay to entice! "I believe a man is happier, and happy in a richer way, if he has "the freeborn mind." But I doubt whether he can have this without economic independence, which the new society is abolishing. " "The question about progress has become the question whether we can discover any way of submitting to the worldwide paternalism of a technocracy without losing all personal privacy and independence. Is there any possibility of getting the super Welfare State's honey and avoiding the sting?" "The modern state exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good—anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name 'leaders' for those who were once 'rulers.' We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, 'Mind your own business.' Our whole lives are their business."

Willing Slaves - Take The Call at Kindred Community Church

Galatians 4:8-20 - Willing Slaves of the Weak and Worthless (22 March 2020) Recorded in John's Office instead of regular worship even due to Covid-19 Social distancing shutdown.

James Macbeth

Many people want to study the great books of the western world in a group setting, but are unable to study at a Great Books college like St. John's, and it's not easy to find people willing to commit to read and meet to discuss the books regularly. I was in that club until I found a new company called Online Great Books. It provides both the books and the people to discuss them with via video conferencing software, all on a schedule that normal, busy folks can keep up with. I want to let people in on the fun I've been having, so I invited OGB founder Scott Hambrick to join me on the show. OGB's latest enrollment period began on January 28th (the day before this podcast came out) and will stay open for about seven days. Get in there using discount code “catholicculture” for 25% off your first three months!  Links Join Online Great Books via this referral link https://hj424.isrefer.com/go/ogbmemberships/tmirus/ Learn more about OGB https://onlinegreatbooks.com/ Mortimer Adler's list of the Great Books of the Western World http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/gbww.html Online Great Books Podcast https://onlinegreatbooks.com/onlinegreatbooks-podcast/ The Underground History of American Education https://www.amazon.com/Underground-History-American-Education-Investigation/dp/0945700040/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 Today's reading: C.S. Lewis, "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" http://liberty-tree.ca/research/willing_slaves_of_the_welfare_state This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

The NYU Department of Sociology Presents: "Internationalism and Democracy after the Eurozone Crisis" Monday, January 30thSince 2008, Europe has been mired in an institutional and political crisis that shows no signs of abating. If the 2008 financial meltdown shook the Eurozone to its foundations, the combination of austerity and the uneven recovery of member-states in its wake has once again brought questions of sovereignty and democracy to the fore. The consequence has been a series of escalating conflicts over Europe's future, exemplified by the tensions that surrounded the imposition of drastic austerity measures on the populations of Greece, Italy, and Spain, and by last summer's "Brexit" vote in the UK. Meanwhile, in many countries, growing hostility to the EU has fueled the rise of xenophobic and Euroskeptic forces on the far right, as parties like the French National Front have managed to gain traction with nationalist appeals that stress opposition to global financial elites, immigrants, and Islam. In this context, debates over the trajectory of economic and political governance in Europe have taken on a new urgency. This event features of France's leading left-wing social scientists and "public intellectuals" discussing the roots of the present crisis, the response of the social movements, and the implications for democratic politics. Using the experience of post-2008 mobilizations against austerity across Europe - and last spring's Nuit Debout protests in France in particular - they ask what a viable left strategy for dealing with the crisis might look like. To what extent are internationalism and democracy still compatible in the era of European integration? And what does the crisis signify about the future of the national state, at a time when the growing salience of exclusionary nationalism has spurred a steady rise in support for the far right? Speaker Bios: Frédéric Lordon is an economist and philosopher. He is Director of Research at France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a researcher at the Center for European Sociology (CSE). He is the author of several books, including, most recently, Willing Slaves of Capital: Spinoza and Marx on Desire (2014), La Malfaçon: Monnaie Européenne et Souveraineté Démocratique (2014), and Imperium - Structures et Affects des Corps Politique (2015). Last year, Lordon was a prominent figure associated with France's Nuit Debout protest movement. He writes a regular column on European politics and the Eurozone crisis for Le Monde Diplomatique. Cédric Durand is an associate professor of economics at the University of Paris 13, a member of the Center for Economy at Paris-Nord, and a researcher with the Center for the Study of Industrialization (CEMI-EHESS). He is on the editorial board of the journal Revue d'Économie Industrielle and the online magazine ContreTemps. He is author of the forthcoming book Fictitious Capital: How Finance is Appropriating Our Future (Verso 2017). English translations of several of his recent writings are available at the Verso Books website, https://www.versobooks.com/authors/2178-cedric-durand

In this episode of Consider the Ray Gun, Daniel is joined by Godbomb author and serious Robocop fan Kit Power in discussing a YA trilogy that meant a lot to Kit as a young man: The Tripods Trilogy. It's basically a romp through a faux-medieval Europe in which a century prior human beings were conquered by a race of invading aliens who use mind-control caps installed at puberty to create docility among the population. They have a wide-ranging conversation about the characters in the series, the way it's structured, what young adult fiction is meant to do, and the way slavery and imperialist ambition is portrayed in the series. They're also pretty sure John Christopher is a pretty right-wing asshole.  Get the books here.  Check out Kit Power's Patreon, where you can find links to all his other stuff. 

Truly Living: Romans 5-8

Matt Fuller (Senior Minister) – 7PM ServiceTruly Living: Romans 6:15-23

Find THIS episode directly here. Please visit: AllAboutJack.Podbean.com This is the forth and final show that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn't true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O'Flaherty's special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This last episode examines three women in Lewis's later life that he was closest to: Ruth Pitter, Dorothy Sayers and Joy Davidman. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Listen to Lewis & Women #3 - The Fictional Women Listen to Lewis & Women #2 - The "Factual" Women Listen to Lewis & Women #1 - Miniseries Overview Read Dr. Hurd's Blog Series on C.S. Lewis and Women Read Gina Dalfonzo's article on Joy Davidman Visit Dr. Hurd's Blog Visit Legendarium ((Dr. Hurd contributes)  Visit Breakpoint.org (Gina is editor) Visit Dickensblog  Purchase Hunting the Unicorn Purchase Socratic Digest Listen to interview about Socratic Digest OTHER All About Jack Shows Dr. Hurd has been a Guest: The Singing Bowl (Dr. Hurd interviews Malcolm Guite) NarniaCast Special - Both Parts of The Silver Chair Movie Discussion NarniaCast: Ep. 1 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader (20 minute talk by Dr. Crystal Hurd) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State with Dr. Crystal Hurd (Essay Chat) OTHER All About Jack Shows Mentioned: Douglas Gresham Interview (50th Anniversary Reflections) A Life Observed (with Dr. Devin Brown) C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship (Colin Duriez) C.S. Lewis - A Life (Biography by Dr. Alister McGrath) Visit EssentialCSLewis.com

Find THIS episode directly here. Please visit: AllAboutJack.Podbean.com This is the third of four shows that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn't true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O'Flaherty's special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This third podcast examines women that Lewis created in his stories. The focus is mostly on Narnia, but Crystal also addresses equality between the sexes. . Listen to Lewis & Women #2 - "Factual" Women Listen to Lewis & Women #1 - Miniseries Overview Read Dr. Hurd's Blog Series on C.S. Lewis and Women Visit Dr. Hurd's Blog Visit Legendarium ((Dr. Hurd contributes)  Visit Breakpoint.org (Gina is editor) Visit Dickensblog  Purchase Socratic Digest Listen to interview about Socratic Digest OTHER All About Jack Shows Dr. Hurd has been a Guest: The Singing Bowl (Dr. Hurd interviews Malcolm Guite) NarniaCast Special - Both Parts of The Silver Chair Movie Discussion NarniaCast: Ep. 1 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader (20 minute talk by Dr. Crystal Hurd) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State with Dr. Crystal Hurd (Essay Chat) OTHER All About Jack Shows Mentioned: Douglas Gresham Interview (50th Anniversary Reflections) A Life Observed (with Dr. Devin Brown) C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship (Colin Duriez) C.S. Lewis - A Life (Biography by Dr. Alister McGrath) Visit EssentialCSLewis.com

Find THIS episode directly here. Please visit: AllAboutJack.Podbean.com This is the second of four shows that explores how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Some think he either hated females, or at least feared them. Even those who know this isn't true have a hard time explaining why. Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is William O'Flaherty's special guest to explore this topic. Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. This second podcast examines women that Lewis either knew or wrote to during his life ("factual" as opposed to the fictional females he created in his books). Listen to Lewis & Women #1 - Miniseries Overview Read Dr. Hurd's Blog Series on C.S. Lewis and Women Visit Dr. Hurd's Blog Visit Legendarium ((Dr. Hurd contributes)  Visit Breakpoint.org (Gina is editor) Visit Dickensblog  Purchase Socratic Digest Listen to interview about Socratic Digest OTHER All About Jack Shows Dr. Hurd has been a Guest: The Singing Bowl (Dr. Hurd interviews Malcolm Guite) NarniaCast Special - Both Parts of The Silver Chair Movie Discussion NarniaCast: Ep. 1 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader (20 minute talk by Dr. Crystal Hurd) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State with Dr. Crystal Hurd (Essay Chat) OTHER All About Jack Shows Mentioned: Douglas Gresham Interview (50th Anniversary Reflections) A Life Observed (with Dr. Devin Brown) C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship (Colin Duriez) C.S. Lewis - A Life (Biography by Dr. Alister McGrath) Visit EssentialCSLewis.com

Find THIS episode directly here. Please visit: AllAboutJack.Podbean.com This is the first of a four part miniseries exploring how C.S. Lewis viewed women. Did he secretly hate them or at least had a negative view of females in general? Dr. Crystal Hurd, who has done a series of blog posts on the topic, is my special guest. Another female, Gina Dalfonzo, the editor of Breakpoint.org joins in as guest co-host. Today's podcast presents a general overview by briefly exploring nearly all of the issues related to this subject. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Read Dr. Hurd's Blog Series on C.S. Lewis and Women Visit Dr. Hurd's Blog Visit Breakpoint.org (Gina is editor) Visit Dickensblog  OTHER All About Jack Shows Dr. Hurd has been a Guest: The Singing Bowl (Dr. Hurd interviews Malcolm Guite) NarniaCast Special - Both Parts of The Silver Chair Movie Discussion NarniaCast: Ep. 1 – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader (20 minute talk by Dr. Crystal Hurd) Willing Slaves of the Welfare State with Dr. Crystal Hurd (Essay Chat) OTHER All About Jack Shows Mentioned: Douglas Gresham Interview (50th Anniversary Reflections) A Life Observed (with Dr. Devin Brown) C.S. Lewis: A Biography of Friendship (Colin Duriez) C.S. Lewis - A Life (Biography by Dr. Alister McGrath) Visit EssentialCSLewis.com

Pastor Alan R. Knapp discusses the topic of The Willing Slaves of God, The Prophets in his series entitled Rev The Book. This is lesson number 104 and it focuses on the following verses: Rev 2, 3, 9:20-11:6 among others.

Please visit: AllAboutJack.Podbean.com Dr. Crystal Hurd was another of the individuals reading a paper at the 2012 C.S. Lewis Colloquium at Taylor University. Crystal is an educator and researcher from Virginia who is currently researching the role of artists as leaders. Her 20 minute talk was entitled "C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader." Visit Dr. Crystal Hurd's Website Read Dr. Hurd Paper "C.S. Lewis as Transformational Leader" Listen to Essay Chat on "Willing Slaves of the Welfare State"

"Willing Slaves of the Welfare State" is an essay by C.S. Lewis that was first published July 20, 1958. William O'Flaherty spoke with Dr. Crystal Hurd about it in the following podcast, an ongoing series of "essay chats." Crystal is an educator and researcher from Virginia who is currently researching the role of artist as leaders. The essay is best found in God in the Dock.   Purchase God in the Dock Visit Dr. Hurd's Site