The Secret Ingredient
The Power and Flaw of Large Language Models
Today I’m joined by my wife, Kim; everyone says hi to Kim, as I’ve been a little bit unwell. Not because I am sick or so, but because I ate too much BBQ, and my stomach can’t handle that. Oops, worth it I guess? “Family Slice” and “Bytes” are written by Kim, and “This Week’s Special” and “Crust of the Matter” are written by me. It’s not the first time that we collaborated - or did you really think that I was original enough to come up with those newsletter titles and images?
Family Slice - School Choice
My oldest son’s first week of school arrived last week. For the last two years, we’ve homeschooled him as we were navigating Big Feelings around multiple moves and finding equilibrium after COVID lockdowns. Especially the first year, I enjoyed having him home with me- getting hugs whenever we needed and getting to witness him learning to read and advancing in math in real time.
If you’re at all familiar with Richmond, or any major city, you may understand the struggle we’ve had as we increasingly realized homeschooling would not last forever. When we first moved to town, our rental apartment was listed for one school but recent rezoning meant it was an entirely different school for the upcoming year. Within the year, we decided to buy a home, and in the chaos that was the housing market, we were limited to the neighborhood we currently live in. While we love it here, schools continue to remain a challenge.
We believe in public schools (Kim is a product of them her whole academic career- including her Masters). But our school is classified as Title I. In addition to needing extra resources to function, they dealt with over 40% of students missing more than sixteen days of school last year. As parents, we didn’t feel equipped to send our children into that space and were affirmed in that decision by many friends and family.
So where did it leave us? This year they will attend a private school. The phrase has felt like a dirty word- and not just because of the language we want to use when we see the tuition bill. It conjures feelings of privilege, of allowing our kids to step away from the dynamics of the real world. Researching didn’t help; we listened to Nice White Parents and cringed at the savior mentality of the more “well-off” parents in the case study.
But in the end, the words of one friend stuck with us: there is no need to martyr our son out of principle. We know our values as a family, will continue to advocate for access to opportunity for all, and most importantly, our son came home his first day saying he wished he could stay longer. For now, that will have to be enough.
This Week’s Special - Join or Die
Last week, two cars were set on fire next to a synagogue, and shortly after, they exploded. This happened in France, and the government acknowledged this as an act of terror and antisemitism. Do you know how uncomfortable it is for me to write about anti-semitism? On my IG I use a menora emoji to show that I’m Jewish instead of other symbols associated with Judaism. I just read two reports that showed that almost half of American Jews minimize their identities, and about 80 percent of European Jews hide their identities in public. What’s interesting about this is that I don’t minimize my identity to protect myself from white nationalists - I know their techniques, and while scary, I’m well acquainted with them. I, and many fellow Jews in America, minimize my identity because I’m afraid of progressives.
In the 90s and 00s, I got into several heated debates with the Rabbi where I worked because I was so uncomfortable with the Zionist approach in our synagogue. My parents, who are ultra-zionists, also received a load of criticism of Israel when I was young. I’m also a pacifist, so I’m not a fan of wars in general. Some could find my opinion of war and criticism of Israel odd because I formed those opinions in spite of my experiences in Israel (I lived there from 1987 to 1992): we had to search for shelter when the air raid sirens would go off during the first Gulf War, terrorists shot and killed our family friends for merely existing, and I saw a terrorist attack derail a bus full of people. On the contrary, having seen violence up close and living in a country that’s on alert 24/7 has given me an aversion to war and violence.
The Netherlands never made me feel too safe as a Jew. Ajax, one of the major football (for my American friends: soccer) teams, was nicknamed a team of Jews by opposing teams. Living in Rotterdam, a rival city, I’ve had to endure chants during football matches like “kanker Joden, kanker Joden, ole ole ole (cancer Jews, cancer Jews, ole ole ole)” or “Hamas, Hamas, alle Joden aan het gas (Hamas, Hamas, get the Jews to the gas).” I remember multiple times during turmoil between Israel and Palestinians that left-wing protests would arise, and people would clad themselves in Keffiyahs, burn Torahs, and chant “Jihad, Jihad.” It was so unsafe for Jews that in order to go to a synagogue, a police car would be on patrol, and you’d have to get a security check just to go worship on Friday.
So when I moved to America in 2012 I couldn’t believe my eyes that even regular grocery stores had aisles with Kosher food, most people I’ve met knows someone that is Jewish, and a lot of interfaith work was being done. For example, The Hebrew Congregation in Reston, VA, rented their building out to a Mosque and would join forces whenever interfaith dialogue was needed. I was perhaps most proud to see people like Rashida Tlaib in the House. I live in a country where a Palestinian girl can see someone like her in the House serving alongside plenty of Jewish people, some even from her own state.
However, this minimizing of my Jewish identity has only increased since October 2023. And I can hear the voices say things like “while there is suffering in Gaza, there is no place for calling attention to anti-semitism.” And that’s reasonable. I oftentimes myself say that antisemitism hurts less than bombs. The shift in public perception of Jews, though, has been bothering me lately. I regularly hear people say something along the lines of “criticism of Israel is not anti-semitism” or “anti-zionism is not anti-semitism,” and I always cringe to think what the next sentence is. It’s like saying, “I’m not trying to be racist… but…”
And you know what? They’re not fully wrong. Criticism of Israel is most certainly not anti-semitism. But when, for example, a Cornell professor standing in front of a flag that says anti-zionism does not equal anti-semitism says it’s exhilarating that Hamas killed Israeli civilians … well, make up your own mind, here’s what he said:
“Hamas has challenged the monopoly of violence. And in those first few hours, even as horrific acts were being carried out, many of which we would not learn about until later, there are many Gazans of good will, many Palestinians of conscience, who abhor violence, as do you, as do I. Who abhor the targeting of civilians, as do you, as do I, Who were able to breathe, they were able to breathe for the first time in years. It was exhilarating. It was energizing. And if they weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated
It bothers me because it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to resort to a join-or-die movement. If people don’t protest the same way you do, they’re not automatically colonizers or enablers of genocide. Unmetaphorically, I want all Palestinians to thrive and prosper. I want them to be free from control. I want them to live to the fullest extent of their life. Do you notice how I can say that without resorting to vitriol?
You know, ya’ll, I’m so tired. When I try to sympathize with progressives to call for peace in Gaza, I find I’m on the side perpetuating blood libels, and when I try to show solidarity with Israeli victims and the hostages, those around me call for carpet bombing Gaza… I’m just so tired, and I feel so stuck.
The Crust of the matter - Apartheid and Complementarianism’s common ancestor
What do Apartheid and Complementarianism have in common? Abraham Kuyper, that’s what. Ok, ok, let me take a step back. In case you don’t know, Apartheid is a system of racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa enforced through legislation by the white minority government from 1948 to 1994, and Complementarianism is a religious view that men and women have different but complementary roles and responsibilities in marriage, family life, and religious leadership. They seem to not have a lot in common, but in reality, they have a common ancestor in the theology of Abraham Kuyper.
You may think, “But Miche, even in your description above, Apartheid has nothing to do with theology,” but I’m here to tell you that the people who dreamt up and implemented apartheid used theology to justify their beliefs. You see, the scholars who proposed the language for Apartheid utilized Abraham Kuyper’s Theology of Sphere Sovereignty. Spheres, in this theology, essentially means “realms,” and in short, it says that God ordained certain people to be in certain spheres or realms. For example, women were not made for the harsh spheres of politics and business, and also, black people are descendants of Ham (Kuyper was referring to the Zulu people) and are without any grace, and it is, therefore, God-willed that they shall be, in a subservient sphere.
If you’re an astute reader, you may have already started to see an overlap. Fast forward to the 80s, a bunch of evangelical leaders were “concerned” about the rapidly changing nature of gender roles in the family, traditional family values, and the assertiveness of women due to the rise of feminism. Having asserted that, they went on to highlight all the biblical passages to support their claim. They argued that it was God-willed to have that distinction, and because of that, they set out a very ambitious goal to make this teaching as accessible as possible.
Well, that technique turned out to be highly successful, and it is what we now know as complementarianism. Many conservative evangelical churches hold on to that belief. As a matter of fact, I was hired as a pastor in the Pacific Northwest to help create a program that would include more female leaders in the church, only to find out that they wanted to implement complementarianism. To them, complementarianism was progressive.
The problem is that the moment that you call something God-willed, it’s very hard to argue against it. But who gets to decide what is God-willed? If I read the texts where Paul forbids women to speak, I just read a document that didn’t have female inclusion in mind. I just place the document in the time when there were no women's rights, so naturally, Paul had that worldview as well. But what if you can’t argue with what Paul says? What if what he wrote is true at the time that he wrote and today, without minding cultural context? The reality is that we do have a doctrine that states exactly that, and it’s called the doctrine of inerrancy, which states that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is without error or fault in all its teachings, and you can see how complementarianism and inerrancy work really well together, like chocolate and coffee.
I don’t know about you, but how can a theological framework that has been used to justify racial segregation and oppression be considered a sound foundation for understanding gender roles in the church?
If you want to read more about inerrancy and the origins of complementarianism - I also have a paid newsletter and the last two weeks were exactly about this topic.
Bytes - Our Robot Overlords?
In the last few years, there have been great strides made in the accessibility and application of Artificial Intelligence. Growing in equal measure has been the concern that such technology is on the fast track to taking over the world as we know it.
Let me start off by saying that the tools that most people are using in everyday life are, in fact, LLMs, not AI. LLMs, or Large Language Models, are a part of AI that’s called “Narrow AI” - which is a term to describe systems that have specific tasks, in the case of the helpful chat-based tool ChatGPT, language. There is no self-awareness or understanding, even though sometimes it looks that way.
Let’s continue looking at ChatGPT. After a few rounds of providing recipes you like or ingredients you have, it may floor you that appearing on your screen are brand new dishes you can’t wait to make or the perfect shopping lists for your weekly trip to the store. Suddenly it feels like the computer knows what you’ll crave for dinner before you do! How can this be? Well, simply put, people are way more habitual than we would like to admit. Where our family or even ourselves may not pick up on the way we phrase a sentence or which vocabulary we tend to use most, LLMs can work with efficiency to sift through, store, and utilize that information to predict what we may say or need next.
But Miche, how is that not scary?! Well, consider when someone recently asked ChatGPT for a pizza recipe. It started out well- gather your cheese, tomato sauce, dough, and glue…wait what? Apparently, the person seeking the perfect slice was also into photography because the chat had started to provide the best recipe for capturing an image of pizza. A decidedly different result than what was being asked.
It's important not to downplay that there have been many waves of technological advancements that have changed how we live and work, not to mention the huge amount of power that is required to power those advances. However, next time you’re concerned that AI has started to take over, just remember that ChatGPT will never be able to taste-test its own product.
Pie to Go
🕹️ What’s the first theme that you think about when it’s Labor Day? A taco party, of course! But in all seriousness, tomorrow we’re going to have some friends over, eat tacos, and play a couch coop called Guacamelee. Looking forward to it.
📖 Writing this Substack has really encouraged me to think more about my book, and I think I’m going to ditch 2/3 of the content in favor of talking about ambiguity. So I’ll be reworking my book proposal together with my agent this week. Hopefully, I can give you some news in the next few months about a potential release date. Spoiler alert, publishing is slow.
🍁 Fall is around the corner, and it’s my FAVORITE SEASON! This basic girl has already had her pumpkin spice latte and is contemplating if she should take out the fall decorations early this year. Judge me.