Wiser Than the Machine: The Value of Classical Christian Education in an Age of Artificial Intelligence (The Wisdom Toolbox)

“The power of Artificial Intelligence took an enormous leap in its impact during 2023 with the advent of ChatGPT. It got everyone talking. In our online school we were faced with new challenges to know whether written work was done by the student or a machine. Frankly, it was scary. Wiser Than the Machine by Michael Collender and Jonathan Shaw is written masterfully and answers the highest level of concerns any of us might have. Their research uncovers technologies that will further scare you. What’s already possible is terrifying. What’s likely to come won’t be less so. Yet, they provide tremendous comfort by explaining why we need not fear this advancing technology. It seems with every threat we face we also face a new–and extraordinary–solution. They have given us just that.” Marlin Detweiler, Founder and CEO, Veritas Press “AI is one of those subjects that everybody needs to have an opinion on, whether you know anything about it or not. If you want an introduction and analysis from a Christian framework, this is a good place to start.” Douglas Wilson, Pastor, Christ Church “Amidst all the anxiety arising with A.I., Michael Collender and Jonathan Shaw have penned a practical primer that puts technology in its proper place as a tool to extend possibilities rather than a tyrant to fear. Their lived wisdom reminds us all of the enduring Source of our power, intelligence, and insight. Highly recommended.” Craig Detweiler, Dean, College of Arts and Media, Grand Canyon University, Author of Honest Creativity We all have become more aware of a substantial recent leap forward in the capacity of artificial intelligence. Some of those with access to the details of these advancements find them alarming. AI has not only made substantial advances, but these advances have now been turned into useful products that threaten to challenge entire employment sectors of the economy. Many young people are unaware of the risks to their potential future careers. Many conscientious parents wonder what education their children need to survive in this emerging world. Many see the remarkable advances in AI and feel they’ve been caught flat-footed, wanting to know what happened and what to do now. Wiser Than the Machine: The Value of Classical Christian Education in an Age of Artificial Intelligence explains what artificial intelligence is, its history, and how its technologies work. It also addresses why education is crucial in an age when it appears we can outsource learning tasks, like essay writing, to machine learning. Wiser Than the Machine shows from first principles that classical education is the best way to educate people for a world that AI will increasingly dominate. By classical education, we refer to the project of education, begun in ancient Greece and Rome and matured in the Middle Ages, that organized around the liberal arts and sciences and which studied all its subjects around the pursuit of goodness, truth, and beauty. This form of education equipped the Western world with the tools of learning that made the Scientific Revolution possible and produced some of the greatest creative and scientific minds in history. In particular, Wiser Than the Machine shows why the classical Christian variety is the only viable type of education for an artificially intelligent world.