What could an 1891 papal encyclical possibly teach us about the impending wave of autonomous, "Agentic" Artificial Intelligence?

In this episode, we uncover the prophetic foresight of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark document, Rerum Novarum ("Of New Things"), and apply its foundational defense of human dignity to today's rapid shift from simple AI chatbots to autonomous AI agents. During the First Industrial Revolution, Leo XIII fiercely condemned treating human labor as a mere commodity or a mechanical instrument for profit. Today, as we enter what the Church calls a "cognitive industrial revolution," those same warnings apply to the automation of human thought and decision-making.

We explore how the unchecked rise of Agentic AI—systems capable of autonomous goal-setting and execution—threatens to fundamentally displace workers and erode human autonomy. Drawing on the Vatican’s newest 2025 doctrinal note, Antiqua et Nova, we break down the crucial difference between a machine's algorithmic "choice" and a human's moral "decision". While AI can process massive amounts of data, it lacks the spiritual soul, free will, and "wisdom of the heart" necessary for true moral agency.

In this episode, you will learn:

• The Blueprint of Rerum Novarum: How Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 warnings against unbridled capitalism and the commodification of labor perfectly map onto the modern AI arms race.
• The Threat of Deskilling: Why delegating complex tasks to Agentic AI risks "moral deskilling," reducing humans to passive consumers and eroding our capacity for critical thought and creativity.
• Choice vs. Decision: The profound philosophical distinction between an AI optimizing a statistical outcome and a human making a conscious, ethical decision.
• The Imago Dei & Technology: Why true intelligence requires embodied human experience, and why the Church insists AI must remain a tool to augment human flourishing, not replace it.
• Algor-ethics & Global Governance: How modern Catholic Social Teaching, championed by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV, is fighting for "human-in-the-loop" safeguards and universal AI regulations to protect the vulnerable.

Tune in to discover why preserving our humanity in the age of Agentic AI requires us to look back at the timeless wisdom of 1891, ensuring that technological progress serves the human person, rather than turning us into slaves of our own creations.

Keywords: Agentic AI, Artificial General Intelligence, Rerum Novarum, Pope Leo XIII, Catholic Social Teaching, AI Ethics, Antiqua et Nova, Future of Work, Algor-ethics, Human Dignity, AI Job Displacement, Theology of Technology.

Do you remember the eerie calm of February 2020, just weeks before a global pandemic stopped the world?. According to tech CEO Matt Shumer, we are experiencing that exact same false sense of normalcy right now with Artificial Intelligence. The "virus" has already reached the shore, and most people are about to be blindsided.

In this episode, we dismantle the comforting narrative that AI is just a basic tool meant to make us slightly more productive. Instead, we explore the rapid, under-the-radar transition from "Chatbot AI" to "Agentic AI"—systems that no longer act like simple calculators, but function like autonomous senior engineers.

With AI models now capable of completing complex, hours-long tasks end-to-end without human intervention, the window between a "cool demo" and job replacement is closing faster than anticipated. We discuss how the automation of muscle during the Industrial Revolution has evolved into the automation of thought, threatening traditionally "safe" white-collar roles like lawyers, coders, and financial analysts. AI is no longer just predicting the next word; it is displaying genuine taste, making "audible" calls, and exercising human-like judgment.

In this episode, you will learn how to survive and adapt:

• The METR Time Horizon: Why the duration of tasks AI can handle autonomously is doubling every few months, and what it means for the future of month-long projects.
• Prompting vs. Delegating: Why you must stop asking AI for simple answers and start assigning it complex missions.
• Becoming a Manager of Agents: How to pivot your career value away from doing the work yourself and toward exercising expert judgment over the work AI produces.
• Ditching Free AI: Why relying on free, year-old AI models is a major mistake in a rapidly accelerating landscape.

Don't panic, but don't ignore this cognitive revolution. Tune in to discover how to future-proof your career, rethink your relationship with technology, and ensure you aren't left behind as AI transitions from software to an autonomous workforce.

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Agentic AI, Matt Shumer, Future of Work, AI Job Displacement, Automation of Thought, ChatGPT, Claude Opus, Tech Trends 2026, AI Survival Guide.

"It takes a village" is a nice sentiment, but how do you actually build one? The answer might be in how we pay for it.

Paying For Childcare With Time Not Cash dives into the social power of bartering care.When parents exchange labor instead of money, they build "social capital"—trust and relationships that cash transactions often strip away. In this episode, we discuss:

• The Trust Gap: Why 90% of parents prefer neighbors they know over expensive strangers on apps.

• The ZitaBoard: How local governance ensures that the people you swap time with are vetted by your own community.

• Reciprocity: How swapping time creates a support network that feels like "abundance" rather than a transaction. Stop hiring strangers. Start building a village.