December 11, 2025

By Jim Towey

Christmas renews humanity. Its time-honored traditions that have been passed along for millennia teach the world that life has meaning, goodwill is possible, and that we humans need each other. Gift giving, tree trimming, the exchange of cards, decoration of houses and town squares, and charity to the less fortunate all make this season so special. Despite the all-too-familiar commercial excesses that abound, the central figures of a young Jewish mother and her infant serve to remind humanity that God still loves the world.

Christians and Jews believe that every man, woman and child bear an imprint of divinity because we are made in the image and likeness of our Creator. This greatness of human dignity conferred from on high unites peoples of all races, creeds, and colors into one family where each member is a child of God. Properly understood, Christmas is a celebration of humanity.

Just as the Christ child faced imminent danger at his birth from a tyrant, the people of this age face the dehumanizing tyranny of technology and AI. I have spent the last several years documenting the shameless lying of the AI’s masters – Altman, Andreesen, Musk, Zuckerberg, Cook, and their ilk. May God have mercy on them and their profiteering enablers who cynically acknowledge the ethical perils of their handiwork but nonetheless barrel ahead to the next brazen, blind, dazzling technological innovation. There was no room in the inn for Jesus, and in Big Tech’s dystopia, all of us, and particularly the poor, also are unwelcome.

Herd mentality

The AI herd mentality fueling the bull market on Wall Street reminds me of the conventional wisdom of the expert class when the Covid pandemic was incipient. Then it was the nonsense mantras of “flattening the curve” and “six feet apart, or else!” that justified the ruinous lockdowns, shutdowns and public health showdowns.

But now, AI and Big Tech have taken these tactics to new heights, casually arguing that if the West doesn’t barrel ahead, caution be damned, the Chinese will win the AI race and, ultimately, enslave us. This Covid-like-fearmongering has captivated government leaders and catapulted the world into a maddening frenzy of one-upmanship where investments are only taken seriously when measured in trillions instead of billions. This mad dash has created a financial bubble that, if you squint, has the shape of a giant mushroom cloud.

Fast demise

While Jesus’ birth occasioned a journey of wise men bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh, Big Tech brings to its savior bitcoins, microchips, and algorithms.  Jesus once said that he saw Satan fall like lightening from the sky. Be assured that Big Tech’s trillion-dollar hype will suffer a similar, breathtakingly fast demise, and things will get messy for a while. But AI will not prevail. It is founded on lies about man, the intrinsic worth of work, and the nature of authentic progress.

Pope Leo XIV seems to know this. Trained as a mathematician at Villanova University and schooled for decades by the poorest of the poor in Peru, he is eminently qualified to speak to this moment in history and illuminate the debate about what AI means to our world. Recently he convened members of the artificial intelligentsia.

What he said bears repeating. Excerpts:

“The advent of artificial intelligence is accompanied by rapid and profound changes in society, which affects essential dimensions of the human person, such as critical thinking, discernment, learning and interpersonal relationships.

“How can we ensure that the development of artificial intelligence truly serves the common good, and is not just used to accumulate wealth and power in the hands of a few? This is an urgent question, because this technology is already having a real impact on the lives of millions of people, every day and in every part of the world… (A)ddressing this challenge requires asking an even more fundamental question: What does it mean to be human in this moment of history?

“Human beings are called to be co-workers in the work of creation, not merely passive consumers of content generated by artificial technology. Our dignity lies in our ability to reflect, choose freely, love unconditionally and enter into authentic relationships with others. Artificial intelligence has certainly opened up new horizons for creativity, but it also raises serious concerns about its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, and capacity for wonder and contemplation. Recognizing and safeguarding what characterizes the human person and guarantees his or her balanced growth is essential for establishing an adequate framework for managing the consequences of artificial intelligence.”

The Christmas season reminds us how to love, give, forgive, sacrifice, serve, rejoice, endure; in a word, how to be human. God’s children bear a divine imprint that AI can’t delete or copy and paste. Heaven and nature sing this truth, and in it, humanity finds comfort and joy. Merry Christmas!

(The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors.  Jim’s blog will return January 6, 2026.)