Darryl Burling

In a world of self-improving software, nothing feels more dated than "click here to update the app". This will become more obvious as the rate of software production continues to increase. The only viable software delivery model is the web's: "Hot app replacement".

“Redemption is not just about being saved from sin, it is also about being saved to something—to resume the task for which we were originally created. And what was that task? In Genesis, God gives what we might call the first job description: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.” The first phrase, “be fruitful and multiply,” means to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, governments, laws. The second phrase, “subdue the earth,” means to harness the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music. This passage is sometimes called the Cultural Mandate because it tells us that our original purpose was to create cultures, build civilizations—nothing less. This means that our vocation or professional work is not a second-class activity, something we do just to put food on the table. It is the high calling for which we were originally created. The way we serve a Creator God is by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us. We could even say that we are called to continue God’s own creative work. Of course, we do not create from nothing, ex nihilo, as God did; our job is to develop the powers and potentials that God originally built into the creation—using wood to build houses, cotton to make clothes, or silicon to make computer chips. Though modern social and economic institutions are not explicitly referred to in the Garden of Eden, their biblical justification is rooted in the Cultural Mandate” From Total Truth Thanks to WayneAna Villarreal for posting!

What Christmas is all about. Sinclair Ferguson on the staggering wonder of the incarnation.

The Silicon Valley Billionaires Who Have Designed Our World Have Planned Their Escape Many have their survival bunkers, private jets, and New Zealand citizenships Or in Zuck's case, Hawaii Mark Zuckerberg's compound on Kauai covers 1,400 acres. Underground tunnels connect the main structures. An 18-foot water tank with its own pump system. (Pictured below) Five thousand square feet of underground space. The doors aren't standard security. They're metal filled with concrete, designed to resist blast waves. Escape hatches accessible by ladder. Self-sufficient energy systems. Self-sufficient food production. A 6-foot wall around everything. Workers sign strict NDAs. Those who mention it on social media are fired immediately. Cost: $270 million.¹ Peter Thiel bought 477 acres in New Zealand. Secured citizenship through an "exceptional circumstances" clause anyway. Later called it "a backup plan in the event of a pandemic or global societal collapse."² Reid Hoffman said it became code among Silicon Valley billionaires: "Buying a house in New Zealand is kind of a wink, wink, say no more."³ Between 2015 and 2017, seven Silicon Valley entrepreneurs purchased underground bunkers and installed them in New Zealand. Average price: $3 million. Luxury models with shooting ranges and theaters: $8 million.⁴ Sam Altman was more direct. In 2016, he disclosed his stockpile: "Guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to."⁵ The potassium iodide is for radiation. The gas masks are military-grade. The threats: lethal synthetic virus, AI attacking humans, nuclear war. Ilya Sutskever, former OpenAI chief scientist, proposed building a bunker for OpenAI scientists before AGI release. Quote from internal meeting: "We're definitely going to build a bunker before we release AGI."⁶ Bryan Johnson sold Braintree for $800 million. Now spends $2 million annually on anti-aging. In 2023, he extracted one liter of blood from his 17-year-old son and infused the plasma into his own veins. The vampire metaphor became medical procedure. Performed on family. At extraordinary cost. Hoffman estimated more than half of Silicon Valley billionaires had purchased "apocalypse insurance."⁸ They built Facebook. They built PayPal. They built LinkedIn. They built OpenAI. They built the systems that shape how billions of humans communicate, work, and think. They understand technology's trajectory better than almost anyone alive. And metaphorically speaking, they're digging their own graves ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ¹ Wired, Dec 2023 ² The New Yorker, Jan 2017 ³ The New Yorker, Jan 2017 ⁴ Forbes, Aug 2018 ⁵ The New Yorker, Jan 2017 ⁶ New York Magazine, Dec 2023 ⁷ Bryan Johnson Twitter, Jun 2023 ⁸ The New Yorker, Jan 2017 via Stephen Klein