Leila and Phil respond to Edward Feser re: The Dilemma of Voting for Trump; AI: existential threat, cult, or tool? Books and conversation!

Show notesTrump has put social conservatives in a dilemma by Edward FeserTim Sheehy on the issues. As you will see, he is anti-abortion as I said (and very conservative on all the issues), making him an important choice for the Senate. He is correct in identifying his opponent as wildly, extremely pro-abortion. Sadly and inconsistently, Sheehy is also pro-IVF. IVF results in the deaths of many human lives for every live birth that occurs (and would be evil even if somehow, improbably, it could occur without this outcome).“I stand in strong support of IVF as a path for Montana families to grow and thrive when they struggle to conceive naturally, like my brother and sister-in-law who battled infertility for three years, and eventually were blessed with my nephew through IVF. I will fight against any effort to restrict IVF treatments for women and families.”As with LGBT issues, having family members involved in immoral practices risks compromising our willingness to stand for principle. According to the CDC, Approximately one in every 50 kids born in the United States today is conceived in a fertility clinic or lab. We need to anticipate this and decide ahead of time what we will say and how we will respond (and start now by being able to explain why it’s wrong so you’re ready when someone tells you they are considering it). It will happen — we need to be brave. All the babies in petri dishes in their icy prisons are counting on us to keep others from ending up there.Tucker Carlson’s interview with Amjad MasadWIRED: Meet the ExtropiansArtificial Intelligence (Summary and Conclusions) by Thomas B. FowlerGod’s Hotel: A Doctor, a Hospital, and a Pilgrimage to the Heart of Medicine by Victoria Sweet (affiliate link)Leisure, the Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper (affiliate link)Happiness and Contemplation by Josef Pieper (affiliate link)Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed the podcast, please re-stack it here and share it with your friends and on your social media!Happy Despite Them and The Home Front are reader-supported. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Happy Despite Them at leilamarielawler.substack.com/subscribe