In this episode...

Tim and Tally sit down with Jessy Jordan, professor of philosophy at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to dig into what AI is doing to critical thinking. The conversation starts with discussion around the Pope's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Jessy pulls out the three things that matter most: a moral vision centered on human dignity, a pointed warning about AI monopolies and the danger of leaving transformative technology in the hands of a very few.

Then Jessy takes the conversation into the trenches of university education. He describes the university as an intellectual gym and explains why students who outsource their cognitive work to AI aren't just cutting corners on a paper, they're skipping the reps that build judgment, structure, and confidence in their own competence. Tim connects that to what he's seeing in the workforce too, where experienced professionals are accepting AI outputs without validation and people who have been doing their jobs for years are hitting the easy button without ever checking what came out the other side.

Topics Covered

• The Pope's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and what it says about AI
• AI monopolies and who controls transformative technology
• The IKEA chatbot example: automation paired with reskilling
• What a university education is actually for
• The university as an intellectual gym
• Cognitive offloading and what students lose when AI does the thinking
• Why generalists are going to be in high demand
• Using AI as a thinking partner without losing slow reflection
• Practical AI use cases: summarization, audio tools, and slide creation

Resources

Articles and News Mentioned

• Pope Leo XIV's Encyclical: Magnifica Humanitas
• Time: Pope Leo Uses First Major Papal Text to Warn About Dangers of AI
• PBS NewsHour: Pope Calls for Robust Regulation of AI
• Fortune: Barnes & Noble CEO Clarifies Stance on AI-Generated Books
• PYMNTS: IKEA Turned 8,500 Call Agents Into Design Consultants
• Mississippi Statewide AI Framework

People and Organizations Mentioned

• Jessy Jordan, Ph.D. — Mount St. Mary's University
• Algorithmic Justice League
• Mind Over Machines Resources

Tools Mentioned

• ElevenReader by ElevenLabs
• Miro

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