Interesting numbers for Google, etc... Are AI Chatbots Changing How We Shop? | Yale Insights: A very recent study on this topic was conducted by a group of economists in collaboration with OpenAI’s Economic Research team. According to this paper, most ChatGPT usage falls into three categories, which the authors call practical guidance, seeking information, and writing. Notably, the share of messages classified as seeking information rose from 18% in July 2024 to 24% in June 2025, highlighting the ongoing shift from traditional web search toward AI-assisted search.

Fascinating… more things like this, please. Scientists turn wood waste into glowing material for TVs and phones: An eco-friendly substitute has been developed for the light-emitting materials used in modern display technologies, such as TVs and smartphones. The new material uses a common wood waste product to create a greener future for electronics, removing toxic metals and avoiding complex, polluting manufacturing methods. Researchers from Yale University and Nottingham Trent University have designed it.

Ben and I are just getting back from his Scouts trip and overnight at the USS Yorktown in Charleston. I've been to the Yorktown several times over the years and have done overnight stays on the ship with middle school groups I've taught, but getting to spend the last few days with my son on board was such a great experience.

Worth the time to read and process… The Great Work (to invoke Thomas Berry here) ahead of us is daunting. Still, we have the opportunity to create something where human and the more-than-human are encouraged not only to survive but to thrive (together), ultimately, if we only speak up...  Is This Rock Bottom?: So yes, the fights over SNAP, ACA subsidies, and shutdowns matter — but they’re symptoms, not causes.

Here's my audio reflection on Marder's thought technology of "The Ecology of Thought"... it's a really powerful notion. This is from my regular tracking and tree-sit journal with a black walnut that I've grown to love and learn from daily.

Beautiful and profound thought here from Michael Marder and Patricia Vieira’s Writing Phytophilia (link to the essay’s PDF). Marder has quickly become one of my favorite thinkers lately and I think we have so much to learn here… 

I grew up in Mullins and attended Little Bethel Baptist down the street from Gapway Baptist, but have been to Gapway many times over the years (and my best friend Eric lived beside the church growing up, so we used the grounds as our staging area for Voltron and Transformer and He-Man adventures)… congrats on 250 years and here’s to the next 250!

As a PhD student… I do a lot of writing. I love ellipses, especially in Canvas discussions with Professors and classmates as I near the finish line of my coursework.  I’m also a younger Gen X’er / Early Millennial (born in ’78 but was heavily into tech and gaming from the mid-80’s because my parents were amazingly tech-forward despite us living in rural South Carolina).

I learned something new today... Impact of baleen whales on ocean primary production across space and time | PNAS: Whales have long been suggested to enhance ocean productivity by recycling essential nutrients, yet their quantitative impact on primary production has remained uncertain. Our study quantifies nutrient release via feces and urine by baleen whales in high-latitude feeding grounds and evaluates its impact on primary production using ecosystem models.

I’d rather have a magnolia or most any vegetal kin over a ballroom to honor my memory, but that’s just me... Trump Rips Out Presidents’ Historic Trees for New Ballroom: Satellite imagery shows that six trees, including southern magnolias commemorating presidents Warren G. Harding and Franklin D. Roosevelt, were axed or removed from the White House grounds this week as Trump abruptly demolished the East Wing.

This is going to be one of those acquisition moments we look back on in a few years (months?) and think “wow! that really changed the game!” sort of like when Google acquired Writely to make Google Docs... OpenAI’s Sky for Mac wants to be your new work buddy and maybe your boss | Digital Trends: So, OpenAI just snapped up a small company called Software Applications, Inc. These are the folks who were quietly building a really cool AI assistant for Mac computers called “Sky.”

I'm talking about plasma and ecology a little more... there's a lot here that needs to be explored. Abstract This paper develops the concept of Integral Plasma Ecology as a framework that bridges physics, cosmology, and ecological theology through a process-relational lens. Drawing from Alfred North Whitehead’s cosmology, Teilhard de Chardin’s evolutionary mysticism, and Thomas Berry’s integral ecology, I propose that plasma, the most abundant and least understood state of matter in the cosmos, can serve as a metaphysical and theological metaphor for participatory consciousness and relational ecology.

I don't like the “consumers” language for ontological and theological reasons, but the intent is still helpful. He’s not wrong here… and it’s something that nonprofits and churches could learn as well if they want to get past the noise and have meaningful engagement with their communities. Connecting with the Consumer in a Distracted Age | Yale Insights: Consumers are overwhelmed a bit with the paradox of information available to them today.

Good points here by Simon Willison about the new ChatGPT Atlas browser from OpenAI... Introducing ChatGPT Atlas: I'd like to see a deep explanation of the steps Atlas takes to avoid prompt injection attacks. Right now it looks like the main defense is expecting the user to carefully watch what agent mode is doing at all times!

We were hit by the Canvas outage at CIIS… it’s amazing that I can have classes for my PhD work with students from around the world, but this is a stark reminder of how delicate those connections are when we rely on centralized technology/power/food production rather than having things local and distributed (as they should be, ultimately… such as solar power networks)...

Speaking of AI… this isn’t only about warehouse jobs but will quickly ripple out to other employers (and employees)... Amazon Plans to Replace More Than Half a Million Jobs With Robots - The New York Times: Executives told Amazon’s board last year that they hoped robotic automation would allow the company to continue to avoid adding to its U.S. work force in the coming years, even though they expect to sell twice as many products by 2033. That would translate to more than 600,000 people whom Amazon didn’t need to hire.

Going to be interesting to see if their new browser picks up adoption in the mainstream and what new features it might have compared to others (I’ve tested out Opera and Perplexity’s AI browsers but couldn’t recommend at this point)… agentic browsing is definitely the new paradigm, though. OpenAI is about to launch its new AI web browser, ChatGPT Atlas | The Verge…

For Merianna on our 12th Wedding Anniversary... 12 Cedar Roses From the cedars in our yard,I gathered what time had folded ascones that had become blossoms,spirals turning the world inwardlike memory, like prayer. 12 cedar roses,for twelve years that have ripened into ring and root.Not perfect, no bloom is,but resilient, fragrant with rain,

Sheldrake is one of my favorite thinkers and a huge inspiration for my own work. Great lecture here from my process theology meets medieval Christian theology point of view... well worth your time: In this talk, Rupert Sheldrake explores panentheism—the idea that the divine is not separate from the world but present throughout it, while also transcending it. With the grip of mechanistic materialism loosening, Rupert invites us to reconsider how we see nature, mind, and spirit.

Fun time this afternoon at the annual Wofford vs Furman football game! Merianna (a Furman grad) was foolish enough to marry me at Wofford 12 years ago in Mickel Chapel at Wofford. Rev. Skinner would be proud that all of our children pull for the Old Gold and Black!

You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them. -Ray Bradbury

One of those amazing thinkers and scholars who helped shape my own theological journey (first read her work as an Undergrad at Wofford College, and it both answered and provoked questions I had been and continue to wrestle with), along with countless others. Her work on rhetorical criticism and the book of Jonah is still one of my favorites and a must-read.

Great podcast episode here with the incredible Helen Bond and the always insightful Mark Goodacre, who may or may not have been a listener of Thinking Religion in the Thomas Whitley era... Since the mid-twentieth century, it has been routine for scholars to see John as independent of the Synoptics – Matthew, Mark and Luke. Yet a recent book by Professor Mark Goodacre suggests that John should be read as the fourth and final 'Synoptic' gospel which knew and used all of the Synoptics.