Device & Virtue

Can we live humbly and still post that photo on Instagram? In the digital age, humility isn't so straightforward. With the smartphone at our fingertips, is pride just one selfie away?

Many of tech’s biggest names have been anything but humble. Tesla, Edison, Jobs, Zuckerberg, Musk. Does that mean their inventions will re-make us in their image? Or is there a way to hold humility in one hand and our smartphones in the other?

Drawing from Christian wisdom, Greek virtues, and modern theologians, Adam and Chris look for the borderland between pride and pusillanimity, between vainglory and self-abasement. And they explore how those borders are shifting thanks to social media, smartphones, and artificial intelligence.

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The word "temperance" may make us think of prohibition, but this virtue isn't some outdated legislation. Today's technologies are creating all new challenges. Should we be prohibiting them now?

It’s the season of Virtues! We’re exploring the old-school virtue of Temperance—including how a technology in the 1800s changed the course of American politics, spawned hundreds of Christian organizations and even changed the US constitution!

Plus, why ice cream could be an moral issue.

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THE WILLARD FOUNTAIN.Children Invited to Contribute Their Mite to the Fund for This Gift.The commission for “Willard Fountain.” which is to be a gift to the city of Chicago from children all over the world connected with the Loyal Temperance Legion Department of the World’s W.C.T.U.,…All money raised should be sent to Miss Anna Gordon, Evanston, Ill., and it is earnestly desired that little people everywhere should be impressed with the thought that the mission of love and money which they might perform by giving a cup of cold water to men who might otherwise be drawn into the saloon, can be carried out by this patient little figure, which will never grow “weary in welldoing.” It rests with them to send their pennies if they would be thus represented.

Cold Water Girl Fountain—Chicagology

…the self indulgent man is so called because he is pained more than he ought at not getting pleasant things (even his pain being caused by pleasure), and the temperate man is so called because he is not pained at the absence of what is pleasant and at his abstinence from it.The self-indulgent man, then, craves for all pleasant things or those that are most pleasant, and is led by his appetite to choose these at the cost of everything else; hence he is pained both when he fails to get them and when he is merely craving for them (for appetite involves pain); but it seems absurd to be pained for the sake of pleasure. —Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

• We’re using the list of virtues from Stanley Hauerwas and his book, The Character of Virtue: Letters to a Godson. Buy a copy and read along with us!

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Can we live simply without tossing our smartphone-life in the trash? We found answers in Sister Act II and walk-in closets. This season, we're doing something new, and it begins with the virtue of Simplicity.

We live in a complex world. Can technology help simplify it? Or does it only make things worse? Chris and Adam look at Simplicity in the face of social media, smartphones, and artificial intelligence.

If you ever feel fragmented, this episode is for you. Drawing on insights from Stanley Hauerwas, Richard Foster, and the Sermon on the Mount, we explore...

Plus, learn how past technological developments have already shaped our relationship to Simplicity.

Filled with philosophical insights and practical advice for integrating simplicity into modern life.

We’re using the list of virtues from Stanley Hauerwas and his book, The Character of Virtue: Letters to a Godson. Buy a copy and read along with us!

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Wow, we've got a new set of episodes coming our way—and Adam & Chris have decided to unveil a twist—while possible moving even closer to the Platonic ideal of Device & Virtue.

Support our new season at https://www.deviceandvirtue.com/patreon

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If not, what about our soundboards and electric guitars? If you thought the answer would be straightforward, you don't know us! Adam and Chris deep into the intertwining histories of church music and technology. From early debates over instruments in worship services to the effects of platforms like Spotify on today's songwriting, they explore the tensions between tradition and innovation.

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Watch the TikTok Worship Song clip: https://www.tiktok.com/@jonathanogdenmusic/video/7221950505486945541

Read Chris' AI worship song about the blind man in John 9

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Pulpit AI could save your church hours of social media work every week. Could it kill the sermon in the process?

We interview pastor and entrepreneur Michael Whittle. He wants to make the sermon more valuable than ever, and he created Pulpit AI to do it. We talk to him about his new AI platform does and the future he’s dreaming for it. 

Plus, Chris and Adam discuss how Pulpit AI might affect pastors, preaching, and the work of discipleship.

Megachurches have used social media to build massive platforms and stir up plenty of controversy. If Pulpit AI gives that platform to every pastor, how will it affect the church?

Michael Whittle is the Founder and CEO of PulpitAI and Vast Media. He’s obsessed with the intersection of faith, business & entrepreneurship, a topic he explores in his podcast, "Kings & Priests." Over the past decade, he has built companies spanning media, advertising, and consumer products in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, and Singapore. Michael also serves on the pastoral team at C3 Los Angeles and resides in South Pasadena, CA with his wife Jillean and their two children, Rook and Willa.

Learn more about Pulpit AI on their website. 

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Ownership is not an option.

Forget magazines—does it seem like today we subscribe to just about everything? You’re not wrong—from reading books to driving cars—80% of new businesses offer a subscription. Has software changed ownership forever?

Chris & Adam explore how technology has changed how we pay—and all the implications.

No longer do we buy Microsoft Office in shiny boxes from Best Buy! That model that used to be magazines and the CD of the month club has moved to practically every digital product in our daily world. Chris’s business degree 101 taught him that all purchases fell into two two obvious categories—product or service. But now? Who knows!

Add complaints about inkjet printers, Tesla, and thought on the spiritual implications of ownership, and we’ve got a roving convo that mixes tech, economics & daily life.

This episode features a talkback voice message from listener Toby B. Thanks Toby!

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When’s the last time you got a handwritten letter, or stared out the window, or went on vacation without checking email? Did the Internet kill the good ol’ days, or is this just nostalgia talking?

Chris and Adam dive into the book 100 Things We Lost to the Internet and explore the difference between true wisdom and mere wistfulness. Tech has become the de facto symbol of progress, but is everything new a true advancement? How could we know the difference.

Among the 100 Things We Lost are…

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THREADS is the all new social network launched by the founders of Facebook, and it launched big and fast—over 100 millions accounts in the first week. Chris reflects on how social networks work like societal mirrors, and reflect some of the same issues that vexxed the early Christian church.

Short Circuit episodes skip the argument—Adam or Chris grab the mic on their own for a more personal reflection on technology & faith. These shorter entries are a bonus to our full-length Device & Virtue episodes. Enjoy!

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This month, Apple announced the new Vision Pro headset. 10 years from now, will we look back and say it changed our life? Can we ever know whether something is a Flop or the Future?

Think about it. When they first came out, did folks know that the electric refrigerator or the microwave oven would change modern life as we know it? How about when Apple launched the iPhone? Sure—today we think about that as a turning point in history. But then?

Discerning and predicting new tech is hard. You’ll find naysayers and you’ll find worshippers from the first minutes it appears. Who’s right? And how would we know?

“In the same way that Mac introduced us to personal computing, and iPhone introduced us to mobile computing, Apple Vision Pro will introduce us to spatial computing.” …“The first Apple product you look through, and not at.” — Tim Cook

Watch the 2 hour event (Apple Vision Pro begins at 1hr 20min)

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything” — Steve Jobs

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