MSI Press Blog

  For most of human history, intelligence seemed simple. Humans possessed it. Animals perhaps possessed lesser forms of it. Machines possessed none at all. The boundaries appeared clear. A mind could reason, imagine, create, choose, and understand. Intelligence belonged to living beings, and humanity stood at its summit. Today those assumptions are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. Artificial intelligence can generate essays, compose music, write software, recognize patterns, translate languages, and engage in conversations that appear remarkably human. At the same time, research continues to reveal unexpected cognitive abilities in animals, from tool use and planning to communication and social learning. The result is not merely technological disruption. It is a philosophical disruption. We are being pushed back toward questions that once occupied only philosophers, theologians, and cognitive scientists. What is a mind? What is understanding? What is creativity? What is ...

  Excerpt from  Weekly Soul  by Dr. Frederic Craigie: -10-   The heart of most spiritual practices is simply this: Remember who you are. Remember what you love. Remember what is sacred. Remember what is true. Remember that you will die and that this day is a gift. Remember how you wish to live.   Wayne Muller   In May of 1995, actor Christopher Reeve was taking part in an equestrian competition in Virginia when his horse abruptly stopped before a jump, throwing him forward onto the ground. Unable to break his fall because his hands were entangled with the reins, he landed on his head and suffered a broken neck. The former Superman, Reeve was paralyzed from the neck down for the remaining nine years of his life. In the immediate aftermath of the injury, Reeve considered his profound disability and told his wife, Dana, that “maybe we should let me go.” Her response was, “You’re still you, and I love you.” Outwardly, of course, Reeve was not at all who he had ...

In an era of endless connectivity, why do so many feel profoundly alone? Philosophy has long grappled with alienation—what Marx saw as estrangement from labor, what Sartre described as the burden of radical freedom, and what Simone Weil considered the soul’s hunger for rootedness. Today, alienation has morphed, expanding into new domains: social media performance, algorithmic labor, and the commodification of identity. 🧠  From Roots to Rhizomes: Lost Anchors of Meaning Traditional communities once offered deep identity through shared rituals, languages, and sacred ground. Now, these have been replaced by what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls “smooth communication”—efficient but shallow, reducing dialogue to data. We’ve traded anchors for networks, but the latter often lack spiritual or emotional depth. ✨  The Self as Product Where once we were human  beings , now we are human  brands . Philosophers like Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò interrogate the politics of positionality: are w...