1. I was privileged to be invited to a think tank group called "UNMUTE" this week hosted by Wesley Seminary. I get the impression that some of my recent critiques of the academy have not been a delight to some (e.g., the Keith Drury posts, a LinkedIn post). So, I count it a privilege to be included.
The first day involved four speakers from Lausanne. Their job was to set out some of the key global issues of the day. The first was global migration. The second was creation care. The third related to the children and family of the world. The final was issues of justice and freedom. These were nice presentations by individuals coming from India, Manila, and other places.
The second day we heard some futurism. A very well-informed IWU individual spoke on AI. This was the day after ChatGPT 4o dropped. Vernon Rainwater spoke on media and technology. I spoke on education.
Then the final day was design thinking -- what can be done to synthesize projects that bring all these things together.
2. There were a couple interesting results. I'm not particularly a fan of the design thinking process. Two years ago, when I taught an MBA class for Houghton on design thinking, I concluded that design thinking was a process invented so that uncreative, overly structured people could follow steps that would result in innovation. However, if you are already creative, I'm not sure it gets you as far as simply being yourself in collaboration with other creative people.
3. I've been working on a project called Biblical Hebrew for the Novice. It's not going as quickly as I'd hoped. I remain discouraged about my publishing venture in general. AI also keeps upping the ante. The videos on YouTube are getting better and better, and I'm falling further and further behind.
4. I did try a new YouTube strategy: longer videos. I'm currently giving snippets of the Biblical Theology I taught at IWU for the KERN program. I plan on dropping one on creation tomorrow.
