2025-11-25: Today, I Learned

Image Source: Nano Banana, Gemini

Summary

Today's learning centered on four interconnected themes: spiritual humility through the Naaman story, Christian engagement with AI, the economic transformation AI is driving, and practical strategies for retaining what I read. The through-line is humble, active engagement whether surrendering to God's simple commands, stewarding AI rather than ignoring it, building for human flourishing over products, or doing the work of retrieval practice.

Spiritual Formation: Humility & Obedience

Source: Seven Times Down (Naaman story)

Summary:

Naaman's story is interesting, and I can imagine this being descriptive of myself. Often, I have found myself in positions where I didn't understand or being faithful felt futile. It would have taken an enormous amount of humility, patience, and faith to experience this. I'm saddened by how often I lack that in my walk. It is terrifyingly easy for me to visualize myself getting to the fourth or fifth dip and wondering, did God really command me to do this, surely not? 

My Highlights:

  • Naaman's healing came from obedience to a simple command, not the river itself, the act of surrender was the point
  • "Naaman didn't need another medal. He needed mercy. And mercy only flows where pride has drowned."
  • Every man fights between self-reliance and surrender; the fight is won by faith, not force
  • Spurgeon: "The proud sinner will not obey the simple gospel"
  • Pattern: we overcomplicate what requires only submission
  • Obedience is greater ritual; God honors the heart posture, not the performance
  • It wasn't until the 7th time Naaman immersed himself that he was healed

AI, Faith & Christian Engagement

Source: AI, Faith, and the Future

Summary:

This was an incredibly good podcast with sound reasoning. It was helpful to me in many ways, but specifically around the concepts of humanity shepherding, cultivating, and managing AI, not the opposite. I strive regularly to envision ways to use AI to benefit humanity. These are areas that I care deeply about. Obviously, being a Christian, this topic is highly relevant to me. As a technologist, I love AI and have already done some very exciting things with it. There are some unsettling aspects, as a security and privacy leader, that are constantly at the forefront. Humanity is not ready to navigate many of the outcomes, attacks, alteration of truth, and many other facets of this technology. Another of my passion areas aligns with the concept they discuss of embrace, educate, and empower. Regardless of your spiritual posture, this is worth a listen.

My Highlights:

  • AI demystified: it's "just math" — massive tables with probabilistic weights, not magic
  • AI is NOT morally neutral — training data shapes its worldview; what you feed it (Wikipedia vs. Scripture) determines outputs
  • Ontological gap preserved: humans created AI, so we maintain superiority; AI can be functionally smarter but not naturally intelligent
  • Cognitive decline risk: outsourcing thinking to AI shrinks brain capacity; don't become "data clerks"
  • Christians must engage proactively — don't bury heads in sand like with social media
  • Faith must be integrated into all domains, not compartmentalized from technology
  • Biola is building biblically-grounded AI trained on Scripture, Augustine, Calvin — a model for proactive Christian stewardship

AI & Economic Transformation

Source: AI Rewiring the Economy / Fintech Brain Food

Summary:

Similar to the section above, excellent information and thinking on the economic impact of AI. The paradigm shift is unimaginable. Realizing there have been significant shifts in commerce with mobile devices, internet, or even cars, AI doesn't leave a lot of untouched areas where it will not dominate and displace the need for human effort. Advertising is going to be ironically odd, pervasive, and immersive in the future. 

My Highlights:

  • Current state: stuff is cheap, services are expensive — AI will flip this equation
  • Sectors most impacted: professional services, healthcare, education, finance, creative services (together = 1/3 to 1/2 of global GDP)
  • These sectors haven't seen automation-driven productivity gains yet — AI changes that
  • Gross Domestic Flourishing vs. GDP — companies building for human flourishing get to define the future
  • Revenue growth comes from improving customer outcomes, not selling more product
  • New mental model: AI as personal shopper/coach/doctor whose incentives help customers become their "better angel, not lesser demon"
  • World-class healthcare, education, finance, and creative services could reach anyone at near-zero cost
  • The bigger game isn't the technology — it's the new business model it enables

Learning & Retention Strategies

Source: How to Remember Everything You Read

Summary:

This is a highly valuable paper and the impetus for this exercise. I read a lot. I remember very little of what I consume even with using Obsidian as a Knowledge Management System, Readwise for spaced repetition and more. I hope that following the guidance from this paper helps me create a sustainable system and practice to increase the value of the time I spend reading. 

My Highlights:

Pre-Reading

  • Preview first (5-10 minutes per chapter) — scan headings, abstracts, conclusions
  • This gives your brain a framework to hang details on
  • Write down questions you want the material to answer

During Reading

  • Active > Passive: jot questions, reactions, and connections as you go
  • 20% highlighting rule — if highlighting more than 20%, summarize instead
  • Understand before judging — you can't agree or disagree until you can summarize the author's position
  • After each section: pause and write a one-sentence summary from memory
  • Don't stop at hard parts on first pass; do a "superficial read" then return

Post-Reading

  • Blank Sheet / Feynman method: write main points from memory after finishing (no peeking)
  • Progressive summarization:
    • Layer 1: Initial highlights
    • Layer 2: Mark top 15% of highlights ("highlight of highlights")
    • Layer 3: Write one-page executive summary from Layer 2
  • End-of-day recap: skim notes or recall key points same evening
  • Teach it to someone that same day — accelerates integration

Long-Term

  • "Skim a lot, read a few, re-read the best"
  • Search your own notes first when learning something new — reinforces prior knowledge and integrates new information (flagged as a key personal miss)
  • Make connections: tie new ideas to existing mental models at every opportunity
  • Convert reading into usable output: notes, essays, models, decisions, teaching

Quote of the Day

"Mercy only flows where pride has drowned."