{"id":33732,"date":"2012-03-06T11:09:16","date_gmt":"2012-03-06T18:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=33732"},"modified":"2014-12-30T19:02:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-31T02:02:12","slug":"you-meet-so-many-interesting-people-at-patheos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/03\/you-meet-so-many-interesting-people-at-patheos.html","title":{"rendered":"You meet so many interesting people at Patheos!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So the other day Lizzie Scalia, the Anchoress Mother Superior here at Patheos, sends a note around to all us Patheos bloggers <\/a>introducing Thomas L. McDonald, who has now joined the Patheos team with his blog, God and the Machine<\/a>, which aims to look at faith and technology.<\/p>\n

Naturally, as a Dark Lord who shares a fascination with how faith (in me) can be imposed on a prostrate, begging, and open mind rendered supple to my will by the latest in technology, I immediately wrote him:<\/p>\n

Welcome, Thomas! Congratulations on a fine addition to the Patheos gang!<\/p>\n

Could you do a post on the ethics of using giant killer robots to wade out into the ocean from my Hidden Island Redoubt and come ashore, wreaking havoc in the major metropolitan cities of the world until my demands are met and all mankind is enslaved to my iron will? I\u2019m thinking there must be *some* way to square that with Just War teaching, but I\u2019m kind of drawing a blank. The robots are programmed and ready and I have enough black market nuclear material to power them all, but I just don\u2019t feel like I\u2019ve dotted all my ethical I\u2019s and crossed all my theological T\u2019s yet. I want to have that smug sense of self-righteousness that is the birthright of every supervillain as I embark on my campaign of slaughter in a good cause. I\u2019m hoping this will really get me into the Evil League of Evil. Any insights you can offer on your blog would be really helpful and I may even tell the robots to spare you and your family.<\/p>\n

Signed,<\/p>\n

Yours for a more efficient and orderly world administration
\nMark Shea<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Happily, I hit \u201creply all\u201d. Because Thomas (no doubt busy putting his finishing touches on the Vatica\u2019s Orbital Mind Control Laser Platform) didn\u2019t reply immediately, leaving room for Timothy Muldoon <\/a>to offer some very helpful counsel:<\/p>\n

Dear Mark,<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a theologian, so I can twist meaning any way I want to. How about this:<\/p>\n

1. Let\u2019s do something with language, as that\u2019s all the fashion in academia these days. Instead of \u201csupervillan\u201d let\u2019s go with \u201cPlatonic benevolent servant of all,\u201d and instead of \u201ccampaign of slaughter\u201d let\u2019s try \u201ccampaign of healthy pruning of the good society.\u201d (\u201cEvil League of Evil\u201d is just too over the top for me.)
\n2. The black market nuclear material we can explain away by critiquing the antisocial practices of corporations. Your practice of acquiring the material is a prophetic stand against corporate greed.
\n3. The methods of using robots (let\u2019s just elide the \u201ckiller\u201d part) is a strategy to avoid unjust labor practices.
\n4. It\u2019s not so much about enslaving mankind (better: humankind); it\u2019s about advancing a more just social order.
\n5. Havoc in cities: no problem. We\u2019ll quote Jesus wanting to set fire to the world.
\n6. The big picture: you\u2019re advancing a cause to make the world more just and equal and are willing to be a servant to all, to sacrifice your own selfish interests for the good of the planet. Noble! You are proposing to interrupt the patterns of greed and the other deadly sins (I can\u2019t remember them) for the sake of equal equality for all people. Ave, Mark!<\/p>\n

Tim<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You see? Now that right there is the best ethics money can buy! I\u2019m gonna get me some more of these theologians. They can justify anything!<\/p>\n

Thomas eventually weighed in too:<\/p>\n

Mark: I will be consulting my St. Thomas and get back to you on the ethics of giant robots as a means of world domination. Short, quick opinion? I\u2019m fer it.<\/p>\n

Timothy: I\u2019m only 1\/3rd of a theologian (8 classes left), so I\u2019m just going to say, \u201cWhatever Shea wants, Shea should have, even if it\u2019s a runaway Mechgodzilla pointed at Trenton. ESPECIALLY if it\u2019s pointed at Trenton.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the other day Lizzie Scalia, the Anchoress Mother Superior here at Patheos, sends a note around to all us Patheos bloggers introducing Thomas L. McDonald, who has now joined the Patheos team with his blog, God and the Machine, which aims to look at faith and technology. Naturally, as a Dark Lord who shares […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nYou meet so many interesting people at Patheos!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So the other day Lizzie Scalia, the Anchoress Mother Superior here at Patheos, sends a note around to all us Patheos bloggers introducing Thomas L.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2012\/03\/you-meet-so-many-interesting-people-at-patheos.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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