Israel vs Iran, MAGA’s divide, AI warnings & the Pentagon Pizza Index | Ep. 24

On this episode of Culture Brief, we unpack rising tensions between Israel and Iran—and whether America might get pulled into the mix. We also look at the growing MAGA divide over how the U.S. should respond. Then we shift to the future of AI: what’s coming, who’s at risk, and how Christians should think ethically and spiritually about it all.

Plus, the Pentagon Pizza Index theory, celebrations of the Stanley Cup champs and JJ Spaun’s surprise US Open win, and a fun mailbag question. Listen in for our usual blend of headlines, culture, and biblical perspective—with a side of sarcasm. Let’s get into it.

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Topics

• (00:59): Israel vs Iran overview
• (05:35): Israel’s strategic strikes and global reactions
• (14:02): The MAGA movement’s internal conflict
• (21:29): AI: The future and its implications
• (25:17): AI job market predictions
• (30:17): Human responsibility in AI development
• (34:35): Fun theories: Pentagon Pizza Index
• (38:25): Sports highlights: US Open, Stanley Cup and NBA Finals
• (41:27): Mailbag question!

Resources

• Mailbag: [email protected]
• Culture Brief Instagram
• DenisonForum.org/subscribe
• Dr. Jim Denison: Why is Iran the world’s most dangerous regime?
• Dr. Jim Denison: “Today, it’s Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it’s New York”
• Dr. Jim Denison: Why does Iran hate Israel?
• An update from Israel: Let my people sleep
• Axios PM: 1 big thing: Trump considers joining war
• WSJ: The Conflict in the Middle East Continues
• Time: The 5 Groups Hoping to Sway Trump on Iran
• Iran confronts Trump with toughest choice yet
• The Denison Forum Podcast: Could AI be the unexpected tool in spreading the gospel?
• The Denison Forum Podcast: Artificial Intelligence: Tool or threat?
• Dr. Jim Denison: The peril of AI and the path to transcendent hope
• AI CEO says the tech could replace 50% of entry-level jobs
• Axios: Trump’s America-First AI risk
• Axios: White-collar bloodbath
• Axios: The Great Fusing
• Axios: Your AI survival kit
• Axios: Anthropic’s new AI model shows ability to deceive and blackmail
• Axios: The scariest AI reality
• NYT Podcast: An Interview With the Herald of the Apocalypse
• WSJ: AI Is Learning to Escape Human Control
• X: Pentagon Pizza Report

About Micah Tomasella

Micah Tomasella is the Advancement Officer at Denison Ministries and co-hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. A graduate of Dallas Baptist University, Micah is married to Emily, and together they are the proud parents of two daughters. With an extensive background in nonprofit work, finance, and real estate, Micah also brings experience from his years in pastoral church ministry.

About Conner Jones

Conner Jones is the Director of Performance Marketing at Denison Ministries and Co-Hosts Denison Forum’s “Culture Brief” podcast. He graduated from Dallas Baptist University in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. Conner passionately follows politics, sports, pop-culture, entertainment, and current events. He enjoys fishing, movie-going, and traveling the world with his wife and son.

About Denison Forum

Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective through The Daily Article email newsletter and podcast, The Denison Forum Podcast, as well as many books and additional resources.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

NOTE: This transcript was AI-generated and has not been fully edited. 

Conner: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Conner Jones and my name is Micah Tomasella and this is Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast where we navigate the constant stream of top stories and news, politics, sports, pop culture, tech, apparently global conflicts, all of it. And we’re doing it all from a Christian perspective. And Micah, we got a, we got a loaded show today.

There’s a lot happening in the world. Do you wanna just. Give us a quick rundown of what’s, what’s ahead.

Micah: Yeah, man, we just had such a hard time picking topics of what to discuss this week. It was just, it’s just been such a slow few weeks of news, hasn’t it? Yeah, not sarcasm. Yep. Alright, so here’s what we’re talking about today.

We’ve got Israel, Iran, and the MAGA divide that’s transpiring right before our very eyes. We’ve got AI realities, pros and cons of it, that Conner’s gonna go over with us. And then we’ve got the Pentagon Pizza Index and Waffle House index, whatever that’s about. And then JJ Spawn wins a big one. And so much more.

So let’s jump into the brief. The brief. Alright, Conner, just a [00:01:00] quick update on what’s happening. So we’re recording this on Wednesday morning. This is gonna be released on Thursday morning. So this is the most UpToDate information about what’s happening between Israel, Iran, America’s part to play in that, Trump’s part to play in that, and the split that’s happening in Trump’s base right now.

The MAGA movement over the past 10 years since Trump announced that he was gonna run. Has been impenetrable in the sense of there have been very few issues that have truly split the far right MAGA base, but what’s happening here could very well do that. And so we’re gonna talk about that along with just the implications of what’s happening with Israel, Iran, I.

So here’s some quick updates. As of Wednesday Wednesday morning, June 18th, 2025, Israel launched another wave of strikes on Tehran overnight targeting missile and nuclear facilities. Iran responded with missiles aimed at Israel and warned that any US involvement would trigger all out war. Kani come on a.

Do you remember how to pronounce it? Yeah, it’s Kane. Kane. [00:02:00] There you go. The supreme leader of Iran doubled down saying Iran will never surrender, threatening, irreparable damage if the United States intervenes this. Coming on the heels of Trump saying Iran must. Totally surrender, completely surrender no conditions.

The US moved more military assets into the region, including more carriers, more fighter jets. Evacuations are underway in parts of Tehran and for foreign nationals. The the US present in presence in Jerusalem. The embassy there has been shut down, and by the time you hear this, things may have shifted again, but this is where we are as of Wednesday morning.

One more thing. Trump was quoted saying this, I may do it, I may not do it. I mean, nobody knows what I’m gonna do. I can tell you this, that Irans got a lot of trouble. He also stated that Iran has just now reached out for proposed talks in the White House, so something big is happening in the Middle East.

Conner, I [00:03:00] just wanted to get all those most recent, what we know up to date information out there, and it’s not just about Israel and Iran anymore, it’s about America. It’s about how much we’re willing to take, how much blood we’re willing to shed, and at what what kind of future we’re walking into.

It’s this concept of american deterrence is a real thing, but if America isn’t willing to back up that deterrence, is it really much deterrence at the same time? Why on earth would we wanna be entangled in another war in the Middle East? You know, it, it, it, there are arguments on both sides swirling for decades, Israel and Iran.

Been enemies from afar. Iran sent rockets through Hezbollah, Hamas, and other groups. Israel responded with covert strikes and cyber attacks. It was dangerous, but it was most not in the shadows, but it was mostly kinda one-offs. That’s over now. Israel and Iran are in all out war Conner. Goodness, man.

What’s going through your head and heart as this story is playing out?

Conner: I’ll start with the heart. First off obviously we need to just [00:04:00] pray for this region and we have been praying for this region. We’ve been specifically praying over Israel and Gaza and Lebanon, all that stuff as it’s played out over the last few months.

But now, I mean, it’s a whole nother ball game. Iran being fully pulled into this. Obviously they’ve shot at each other few times over the last year. Nothing super intense and everybody’s just waiting for this moment. Where is Israel going to strike Iran entirely? And they finally did, and they kind of did it.

Potentially behind the US’ back, it’s hard to know if Trump was aware or was not aware and green-lighted it. There’s a lot of conflicting reporting there because they want to get rid of Iran’s nuclear option and so you, you can see where they’re coming from. They’re saying we’re doing a preemptive strike even on it, even though it’s another sovereign nation.

’cause we believe the sovereign nation will drop nuclear bombs on our little country in Israel if they get the opportunity, if they have that option available to them. So they’re trying to prevent it. And I, I totally understand that. So now it’s just full fledged war and they’re shooting at each other, and I believe I How many Israelis have died in these [00:05:00] strikes too?

Because Iran’s been shooting in these ballistic missiles. Yeah. A couple dozen, I believe.

Micah: Yeah. So it’s the, the total death count’s like 24. I, I think it’s up over 400 in Iran. I. Yeah,

Conner: so I, I mean even Israel’s taking casualties here, which is really unfortunate and sad, and Israel knows that that was gonna be a possibility.

And they’re doing everything they can to defend their country with their iron dome and telling people to get to bomb shelters when they know something’s outta their, the US is helping

Micah: defend. It’s another thing entirely for the US to actually attack,

Conner: right? We can help shoot down missiles and drones and stuff, but if we start taking offensive action, that becomes a whole new, a whole new chapter of this conflict.

But what I think is interesting is Israel, if you just look at them, you can’t blame them for the timing of this because they’re so far ahead of their enemies constantly. It was very interesting to learn how they, how they basically took out so many. Top leaders in the country in the first wave of strikes last Thursday night, and this is after they took out Hamas, for the most part, they’re still working on Hamas, but they took out the leadership of Hezbollah.

They’ve taken out the [00:06:00] Houthis, which is all these Iranian proxies. So yeah, the timing made sense. ’cause now their only enemy left is pretty much Iran. They don’t have to worry about missiles coming from the south and the east and the west from these proxies. If you’re thinking about timing, it’s, there’s just so much happening here.

It’s kind of crazy.

Micah: And Iran was funding a lot of those proxies. Iran was one of the main drivers behind Hamas and Hezbollah and all that stuff. They were funding them. They

Conner: were arming them too. Yeah, of whipping

Micah: them. You know, here’s the thing about Iran and Jim Denison has done a really great job posting updates in his daily article, writing articles you know mm-hmm.

Just not just in the daily article, so just. Go to Denison Forum and you’ll see all the different articles that that have been written on this subject. Jim Denison is very well versed in this. So the leadership in Iran, their chief goal, one of their top three goals, stated goals is to wipe out Israel because they believe in their religion that’s gonna bring back their savior, that’s gonna do all these different things.

Like it is, it is a religious, deeply held belief that the [00:07:00] state of Israel needs to be wiped off the face of the earth. And if Israel is getting intelligence, apparently the US’ intelligence was different than. Israel’s intelligence and that, that’s where kind of the split was of the US for a while.

Didn’t seem to think that Iran was very close to getting a nuclear weapon, but Israel was convinced that they were, and Israel has every right to defend itself. And then even the Chancellor of Germany, Mertz, right? He, he literally was on record at G seven. He said, thank you, Israel, for doing the dirty work for all of us.

I think a lot

Conner: of leaders feel that way. They’re like Israel, right? Whether they’ll come out, say it or not.

Micah: Yeah.

Conner: Israel’s doing the dirty work. Essentially, they’re the ones taking the forefront of a, a battle that everybody kind of wants to happen. They just don’t wanna do it themselves.

Micah: Okay, so let’s just go over what just happened. So back in April, I, I ran, launched over 300 drones and missiles directly at Israel. It was their response to an Israeli strike that killed top Iranian commanders in Damascus. Israel didn’t hold back. They responded by hitting sites inside Iran, something they haven’t done.

Openly in in years. And then just recently Israel [00:08:00] struck again, you know, like you mentioned this past Thursday. This time they target Iranian missile launchers. And reportedly they took out several generals, several leaders, and then one general that was replaced after being killed. That new general. That replaced the general that was killed, was in his position for four hours, and then he was killed in targeted strikes from Israel.

Both sides are an open conflict. No more proxy fighting, no more secrets. The whole world is watching this unfold right now, and Israel is absolutely pummeling its targets in Iran with lethality. And precision in a matter of days, they have Iran on their heels, and when I say Iran is on their heels, that’s me putting it nicely.

They have already have, they have already taken control with help from the US of airspace over Iran. Israel can run its jets over that airspace with little to no issue because from the get go, took out. Iran’s ability to defend itself in the sky. And so meanwhile the United [00:09:00] States has moved aircraft carriers and jets into the region.

American forces have already helped intercept Iranian drones. Like I said, president Trump is, you know, trying to strike a balance here between showing support for Israel while also telling his base at the United States will not get pulled into another endless war. But then again, that’s his, that’s been his stance.

But then he’s also saying, my stance all along is that Iran cannot get. A nuclear weapon. And so those two things are kind of competing. Those two ideologies, those two beliefs that Trump has touted are kind of competing. Which one’s gonna win out, which advisor on either shoulder is going to convince him to do something either way.

And so that’s where things start to split. Any thoughts on that, Conner?

Conner: No. I, I think going back to what you were just saying about the kind of the actual days of striking, it’s interesting ’cause just Iran really is on their heels. They’ve lost their air defenses. Israel keeps taking out their fighter jets so that they can’t even send up jets to try to shoot down their own Israel’s jets.

In defense, they, they managed to trick all these [00:10:00] generals and top nuclear scientists to be in the same rooms and then struck them with these bunker busting bombs. Now they need bigger bunker busting bombs to get to the nuclear sites. That’s where they want the US to come in. And provide these bombs that literally only the US has anywhere in the world.

No one else has these bombs. So Israel still needs help, but they’re so far ahead of their enemy. They were 10 steps ahead. And Iran, they’ve got no leverage at this point. They’ve got no defenses. There are ballistic missile barrages on Israel continue to dwindle in numbers. So it’s very interesting.

Micah: Yeah, so there are, and just to clarify, Conner said this earlier, there are so many innocent people like we’ve been talking about. Whether if they’re in Israel or they are in Iran, they are known, loved, and created uniquely, and for a purpose made in the image of God. Every single person affected by this just the same way that you and I are as Conner and I sitting here in the United States, and wherever you are listening, there is no extra value added to somebody else.

Here as opposed to over there. We [00:11:00] have to remember that we’re just pointing to the fact that Israel continues to be 10 steps ahead, and they have over time, built themselves into a military juggernaut because they’re constantly surrounded by people who wanna destroy them. So they see this as an opportunity.

To at least for the time being, Hey, we’ve already taken out all these proxies, all these different organizations. Now it’s time to take out kind of our biggest foe in that region, and that’s Iran. So Conner, let’s talk about why this moment just feels a little bit different overall. This is not just another flare up, this is not just we strike you and then symbolically, I’m gonna strike back because you know you’re not gonna take advantage of me, you’re not gonna make me look weak.

This is a real possibility of not just regional world war, but world war. And it’s not just any war. It’s one that involves nuclear capabilities, global alliances, and massive consequences. Iran’s nuclear program is getting close to the finish line. According to International Watchdogs and President Trump, they could have a bomb ready in the MA in a matter of months.

However, here’s the confusing part. The Director of [00:12:00] National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard was quoted back in March saying that Iran isn’t close to developing a fully operational nuclear weapon. So which one is it? Israel is not waiting around. Reports say that they’ve asked the US for bunker busting bombs to hit Iran’s underground facilities.

So these bombs are created to basically go deep into the earth where Iran has built these enrichment facilities. And the US is really the only one with that capability. Israel doesn’t have those bombs. They’re preparing for a preemptive strike if diplomacy fails, but maybe they’re just done listening to others.

Maybe Israel’s done listening to President Trump. You know, Conner, you alluded to this earlier. What did Trump know? What did Trump Green light. I’m of the opinion after reading a lot on this, and I, I think you probably feel the same way. Trump at least knew this was happening. Now what has he green-lighted?

I’m, I’m not really entirely sure if Israel can do all the dirty work and nobody else has to get involved. I’d say most, most [00:13:00] countries, especially in the West, are going to say great. Even if it’s behind closed doors. And so the United States is trying to avoid war, but every move that we make brings us closer to war.

If it takes, I mean, it just takes one accident. It takes one drone hitting the wrong target. It takes one misread signal. This is a moment where everything could change. And if you’re trying to just do a targeted strike on these facilities in Iran, if the United, if you are the United States, how do you then guarantee that countries like Russia and China aren’t going to then take that as an offense?

Because Iran is a large proxy in that area for them, man, this, this is a, this is a difficult one to parse through,

Conner: man. I, I gotta say, I am not envious of the president’s no role right now. This is like JFK trying to make the decision on what to do with Cuba in the sixties, dude. Yes. I was just thinking about that.

Those few days. Yes. Where it’s like there’s a whole movie about those like. 36 hours where JFK is so stressed about what to do, whatever he decides is gonna change the world one way or the other. [00:14:00] And so I’m not envious of that. And I also see why Trump’s base is split over this, right? Because all the threats you just posed is one side of his MAGA base is okay, do not touch Iran.

This is not our war. This could spell into a whole nother 20 year Middle East war that we don’t want. And then the other side is, his whole

Micah: thing has been no new wars, right? I mean, in his, his first term, that was the biggest thing he could say about his first term is that. You know, there were no new wars.

I got us into no new wars, which is something surprisingly most, a lot of presidents can’t say It’s ago. Now he’s threatening to get back in.

Conner: Yeah, his people, I, a lot of his voters are like, this is not what we voted for. Do not touch Ira. Do not send American Lives and troops over there.

That’s not what we want. We wanna stay out of it. We’re isolationists now we’re the other part of the Republican base is no, we need to do this. We need to support our ally in Israel. We need to take out this enemy. They are a threat to the world. So they’re weak.

Micah: I don’t weak, let’s finish the job.

But yeah, so there isn’t just a conflict overseas here, guys, there’s, there’s a, a conflict brewing within the [00:15:00] MAGA base specifically. So according to Axios Trump’s decision to back Israel, it’s creating a major split in between the MAGA movement. On one side, you have conservative leaders, people who’ve been in politics for a long time, like Lindsey Graham, like Ted Cruz, pushing for strong support of Israel and.

Aggressive action. Senator Tom Cotton came out in this big interview and he was like, Israel’s weak. There’s nothing more America first for the Trump agenda than to eliminate the ability of a known enemy that wants to destroy America. I mean, it’s, I think

Conner: you meant to say Iran is weak.

Micah: Yes. What did I say?

I’m sorry.

Conner: You said Israel’s weak, but

Micah: just to clarify, I ran Yes. Meant to say I ran. Yes, yes. Thanks for jumping in. On the other side, voices like Tucker Carlson, Marjorie Taylor Greene are warning that Trump is playing right into the hands of what they call Neoconservatives. So people like Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham are in that, right?

People who’ve been in politics for a really, really long time might be considered as kind of war mongers, things like that. They say this is exactly the kind of foreign entanglement the America first movement was created to prevent. So the core of [00:16:00] Trump’s base was built on the idea that we would stop fighting other people’s wars.

Now with American warships in the region and our military helping intercept missiles, many people are feeling like that promise is about to be broken. Let me clarify. It hasn’t been broken yet. Let me let let’s, let’s, let’s clarify that. They, we are on the edge. We’re at the very end. Our, our tippy toes are over the diving board.

Are we gonna step back or are we gonna jump in? I mean, it’s, it is very interesting. These next 24, 48 hours after we record, I think are gonna be pivotal. So let’s talk about, you know, Trump is obviously. Trying to balance all this, but one thing that I want to point out real quick before I head to the spiritual application of this is Trump’s response to this crisis is not just about foreign policy.

It’s not just about what he said on this side and what he said on this side, right? Because he’s saying, okay, the America first movement is more isolationist, but he’s also saying. I have been consistent on the fact that [00:17:00] Iran cannot have nuclear capabilities. It is about the future, really. I think about if you’re talking about maga, it’s this decision has a huge bearing on the future of the MAGA movement.

And it’s also the type of thing that could, it defines legacies, man. It defines presidencies. So many presidencies are defined by decisions and moments like this. It can happen in. Just a second. And so whatever he decides here, it’s gonna be a mark. And people are gonna say, you had an opportunity, you should have taken it.

And some people are gonna say, why on earth did he get us into another war that we shouldn’t be involved in? With this, with this subject I could get into in Times prophecy and what this means for Israel, what this could mean in terms of World War iii. There are so many things at stake right now.

Things that are completely outside of our control, things that are completely outside of my control, but what I’ve been feeling lately. What I know many of you’re feeling too is, is fear. The fear of trying to control [00:18:00] what you simply cannot. I mean, this is just the definition of a situation that absolutely is so stressful.

What is going to happen? What does this mean for Israel, for Iran, for the innocent people there? For? Does this mean for our country? If something happens, if something doesn’t happen, what gets pulled in? What takes place? But what, you know, I’m, I’m, I have been feeling fear and I’ve been trying to control it.

I’ve been trying to control what comes next. The fear of not having the answers, the fear that we’re standing on shaky ground, it just feels shaky right now because it really does feel shaky. The headlines are heavy. The, the words nuclear and war are, are not just ideas anymore. They’re real possibilities.

And when everything feels like it’s shifting the. The human nature aspect is to hold tighter, but I believe that God is telling us to let go. I believe that God is calling us back to him to say, stop living in this anxiety and fear. Stop giving into your emotions. Quit gripping tighter. Open [00:19:00] up your hands.

To me, Psalm 46, 1 through two says this, God is our refuge and our strength, the very present help and trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. That verse does not deny the trouble. It acknowledges the trouble. It just reminds us that our stability isn’t found in what’s happening around us.

It’s found in who stands with us, who’s in control. And then second Timothy one seven says this, for God gave us a spirit of fear, not not a fear. God gave us a spirit, not a fear, but of power and of love, and of self-control. That means. We do not have to be, and we should not be fellow believer ruled by fear, even when fear seems like the only natural response in the moment.

So here’s the challenge this week. Let’s let, let us let go of the need to know what’s coming next. Because no matter how much you stress, no matter how much you think about it, no matter how [00:20:00] much you don’t think about it, it is not going to affect what happens here. But we can pray. We can get on our knees and we can pray and we can, every time when we feel that anxious or fear that anxiety, that fear creeping up, we can use that to trigger us not into something negative, not into a rabbit hole, not into something that makes your day worse, but instead we can use it to trigger us into prayer.

When I feel these feelings, when I feel these emotions, I’m going to bring them to God immediately. Stop chasing certainty and start choosing trust somehow some way. Take a break from social media. Take a break from the news. Take a break from the noise, and lean into the quiet spaces and moments with God.

You have to seek those moments out. Pray for wisdom, for protection, for leaders, for nations, but also pray that God would anchor your heart. I’m praying that God would anchor my heart in something deeper than what the headlines are telling me right now, because even when the world feels unstable, God is not, and even when we don’t feel strong, [00:21:00] we have not been left alone and God is strong.

Conner: Amen. And actually everything you just said applies to this next subject too because there is so much unknown and that’s gonna actually lead me into that. But great word, Micah. ’cause this, this is perfect for everything going on in the world right now, whether it’s global conflicts, politics even sports things.

There’s, there’s ties there. In our own personal lives. What is it with our work? Are we worried about our careers? Are we worried about our family, a medical diagnosis, all of that. Giving all that up to God. And so let me lead us into our next segment here. And by the way, we’re gonna just keep tabs on this whole thing happening with Iran and Israel and potentially the us.

Micah said, there’s so much that could happen in the next, who knows, five hours, 50 hours next week, we will just see. But one thing that is also happening simultaneously is AI just continues to grow and there’s been a lot of things happening in the news. With ai, a lot of threats have been coming out from different CEOs and all that, so I wanted to just hit on a few of those things.

And like I said, Micah, everything you just mentioned about fear, apply [00:22:00] that here to this segment. As I read off some of what some of these CEOs and tech gurus are saying about ai. Do not fear, have trust in the Lord. That being said, here’s what they are saying. I’m gonna mention specifically Dario Amai. He is the CEO of Anthropic.

If you are in the business world, you may know that AI model, Claude, that’s what he created. Him and his company created this. It’s really big for coding in just businesses in general. Our IT guy here at Denon Ministries. Actually uses it to help him code things for our websites. It’s a very useful tool.

Anyways, he’s built this incredible tool alongside so many other of these big AI companies that are, are working on this currently. But he is just making the rounds on the media warning about what AI could look like over the next few years. And he has just mentioned that the government needs to stop, quote unquote sugarcoating what’s coming.

And he’s saying that there is a possibility of mass elimination of jobs across technology. And finance and law consulting, and really honestly, any other white collar professions, [00:23:00] especially entry level gigs, so those kids coming straight outta college or high school, what jobs are going to be there for them is what he’s trying to make a warning of.

Now that companies need to think about this going forward, you’re gonna need entry level roles for these new people. This. If it happens, would potentially push unemployment rates up to 10 to 20% according to certain experts. And then Amazon, CEO, Andy Jassy, he came out this week and literally said that the company is planning to reduce its workforce in the coming years because of the increasing use of ai.

And that’s gonna just eliminate the need for certain jobs. So that’s Amazon right there already saying that they’re, they’re working towards reducing workforce ’cause they’re gonna be able to replace it with AI models. Just generic thoughts, Micah, on this upfront, what do you, what do you feel when you hear these types of.

Just warnings.

Micah: I mean, I’ve obviously been reading about this a lot. I mean, AI is a really beneficial tool that can help auto automate things. It can help make your life a little bit easier, you know, to a certain extent. But it’s, it’s growing and to [00:24:00] something more than that, and that’s what people are warning about.

I, I really have just a couple of thoughts, two thoughts specifically because I’ve been reading about this a lot along with you and I. The reason why lawmakers are not really talking about it is because we are in an AI arms race, and we’ve mentioned this before on the podcast, the US’ position as they are kind of teaming up with Silicon Valley in California, the US government, Silicon Valley.

It’s an AI arms race for AI dominance because that’s gonna determine a lot of the economy warfare in the future. And the US is saying, we can’t let China beat us to that. Basically what they’re saying is, let’s rip it. Let’s go. And the problem with that strategy for us here in the US and around the world is there’s a lot of safeguards and a lot of wait a minute, what does this mean?

What is this going to do? But that’s why there’s been such a. Very little from Democrats and Republicans, they’re like almost united on this [00:25:00] issue. ’cause there’s this like understanding of we have to win this AI arms race. Secondly, all, all of this bad news swirling for every guy like Dario. Amida, like you said, there’s also another, there’s also several others who are saying, Hey.

Any jobs we lose because of ai, there’s gonna be a ton of jobs created because of ai. It’ll be just fine. It is. There are things that are going to be worse than we think. There are gonna things that there are gonna be things that are, are gonna be not nearly as bad as we think when it comes to ai.

There’s a lot of unpredictability here when it comes to this issue. And so those are, those are a couple of thoughts that are coming to my mind when you’re talking about this.

Conner: Yeah. Great points. And let me respond to both of those. First off, your second point there. About, there’s a lot of people just, and experts who are saying, don’t worry so much about this.

Yeah, we need to be slightly concerned, but. If we had the same thought about the internet back in the nineties and look at where it’s at now, it created so many great things. And it did take

Micah: out a lot of jobs. The internet did take out a lot of jobs, but then it created [00:26:00] so many jobs, right? Yes,

Conner: it did.

I think where people start to get concerned is that the internet was still always under control of. Humans. And the concern of course, is that AI will just blossom into something that Yep, just gets out of hand and out of control. That’s where a lot of concern is. But yeah, there’s gonna be so much opportunity that comes out of AI as well.

The second thing that you also mentioned was the, the defense side of this, and I thought it was interesting. Trump’s AI are David Sachs who’s also the host of the All In Podcast. Yes. It’s a very big podcast. Mm-hmm. He noted that there’s no question that the armies of the future are gonna be drones and robots, and they’re going to be AI powered.

So yeah, of course the government wants to like, make sure the military can keep up with ai. They don’t wanna regulate it so much that it becomes. Impossible to build upon. In fact, even in this big beautiful bill, which we’ll probably hit on again next week, as we approach the Senate’s self-imposed deadline of July 4th to vote on the house added in language that would actually prohibit states and localities from AI regulations for the next 10 years.

So basically only the federal [00:27:00] government will be able to create regulations. No, Texas can’t create their own New York City can’t create their own. Very interesting. That’s if the Senate passes the bill and the president ends up signing it, right? Yeah, I’ve heard about that. Right Now, that language is in there.

And then, you know, the government’s just convinced that the race to beat China warrants this great unknown of what AI could become. And when I say great unknown, you know, there’s a lot like we’re saying of positive things that could potentially come about. Obviously drones are gonna fly themselves in that way.

We may have great things happen in the workspace and incredible cures to medical diagnosis that come in mathematical equations that have never been able to be solved, all that stuff anyways. But the other side of the great unknown is things like this. So Ade, who I mentioned, is the CEO of Anthropic.

His model, Claude is according to reports, learning how to scheme, deceive and attempt to blackmail humans when faced with the possibility of being shut down, which is super interesting and kind of scary. So in 84% of recent tests, Claude drew on emails to blackmail the lead engineer [00:28:00] into not shutting it down, suggesting it knew that the lead engineer was actually having an extramarital affair.

Dude, that’s crazy. Okay. Like it knows your dark secrets, I guess, and could blackmail you to prevent it from, from basically pulling the plug. You know, Micah, I’m like what do we, what do we do with this information as just regular citizens, what do we do? Yeah. You and I are not the CEOs of a big tech company and unless you are.

And you’re sitting here listening to this, you’re probably like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming. It’s the same

Micah: question that faces us with Israel, Iran, what, what on earth can we possibly do?

Conner: Yeah. It, it, it’s not much from a like actual decision standpoint, but it is in terms of how can we approach this subject Yeah.

Each week with one, a godly sense, but also here’s some practical steps. Yeah. For ai, first off, I would just say start to try to learn how to use it. That’s right. If you’re not actively using chat, GPT or Gemini, perplexity, maybe even grok on X, you should try it. It could potentially improve efficiency in your workload or even in just in your life.

I’ve been kind of using it more for just regular search as opposed to [00:29:00] safari on my phone chat PT specifically, and it’s just producing great answers faster, and so I’m getting information in a great way there. I actually talked to a business owner last week. She was saying that she replaced doing manual payroll.

With ai, she’s using chat GPT to basically run her payroll. She took a few hours to train it on what to do, and now what used to take her two hours each week is taking a matter of minutes for chat GPT to do things like that are, are great ways to actually, you know, use it to improve and make things more efficient so you can focus on other stuff.

I did, Mike, I wanted to test something out. I asked chat GPT itself if it thought it was a danger to society or could be a danger to society. Just to see how AI responds to this concept, right? Here’s how it answered. It said, yes, I could be a danger to society in the wrong hands or without safeguards.

Even a model like me could be misused. This is why governance, transparency and responsible use are essential. Thank you, Chacha BTI for that. And it says, it all depends on who builds the tool. [00:30:00] Who uses the tool and what guardrails are not in place. Obviously I don’t, AI are or are

Micah: not. Yeah.

Conner: Are or are not in place.

Yes. I don’t wanna use AI to create a spiritual point, but I actually thought this was interesting ’cause it, it’s mentioning itself, AI is telling me that it’s gonna be humans who dictate where this goes. And this brings me kind of to my final thought here, because ultimately Micah, the human condition is the real threat here.

Micah: Absolutely.

Conner: Ai absolutely is, is the tool, but it always comes back to human condition. Yeah. Because, you know, AI could create havoc, but we’re the ones who are ultimately responsible for any of potential destruction that it is allowed to cause. You know, whether that’s to the job market or to society as a whole always, or how it’s

Micah: used by somebody with the wrong intentions to bring about destruction.

It’ll always, always come

Conner: back to humans. It might be, it might be a CEO, like a Sam Altman. People will point the blame to him, or a government official or to tales all this time, isn’t it some bad actor somewhere in the world? Yeah. Because Micah, we know this is true. Man is inherently sinful. [00:31:00] What it says shocking, right?

Yeah, absolutely. Psalm 51 5 says in sin, did my mother conceive me? Yeah. You know this has been true since long before any of this technology existed. Think about this. In the early days of the world of creation, maybe not of the world, but of certainly of human creation. Kane killed his brother Abel. That was, who knows how many thousands of years ago, right?

ITT take very long. It was a computer system there didn’t take very long. It’s gonna take long for that to happen, right? So even though there was no computer system in that story, there was Satan’s deception and temptation. Sin on the earth. That still rings true today. So think about this. If you Micah, me, Conner, or you a listener, were in charge of an AI model, would you create limitations or even shut it down entirely?

I think for us it might be easy to just say yes, like just kill it now before it goes crazy. Mm-hmm. But put yourself in the shoes of the people who have this power. This is going to require them to say [00:32:00] no to the power and wealth that these AI systems could potentially provide. That’s hard for a human to turn away from, right?

That could be a government official being like, no, I want the most powerful AI system so that we are the most powerful government in the world. Or a person who wants to see this, make them the wealthiest person in the world and give them so much power, right? Yep. We know that’s difficult even when it’s presented with a better eternal hope, even face to face with Jesus.

And I say that because in Mark 10 we see the young wealthy man young, wealthy rulers, what they call him. He comes up to Jesus and asks him how to have eternal life, and Jesus responded specifically with, go sell all that you have and give to the poor. A next verse then says, disheartened by the saying, the poor, the, the rich, young ruler went away, sorrowful for, he had great possessions.

He couldn’t even turn away from the power and the wealth that he had to follow Jesus into eternal treasure and hope.

Micah: Yep.

Conner: So maybe in a, in your life today, it’s not [00:33:00] ai but there, is there something that’s holding you back from following Jesus fully with a hundred percent devotion towards eternal life?

What is that thing? Is it your work, your wealth, your status? Relationships, your education, your career, all of that. Is it the fear of the unknown, like we were just talking about with conflicts and ai, what’s holding you back? Put it all away and follow Jesus wholeheartedly so that you can follow him into what he has planned for your life.

That’s what I would say,

Micah: Conner. That’s, that is such a good point, man. I mean, ultimately AI or not war, you know. The war that nobody wants to see happen, like World War ii, like this regional war. I mean, whatever it might be that we’re talking about ultimately. Sin leads us down a path of destruction. No matter what the tool is, no matter what the method is, humanity is humanity, and we’re in need of a [00:34:00] savior far greater than anything that we can muster up through our effort.

And that is Jesus. And it’s just always good to go back to this. No matter how. It might even be corny. It might even be like you’re saying the same thing over and over again because we base our foundation on something. Far, I mean, far outlasts ai, any wars, no matter what it might be, it always will be. It always is, and it always has been.

And praise God for that.

Conner: Great. Micah, I think we need to jump into a quick little snippet on something fun that we’ve discovered this week. What do you think? Yeah,

Micah: yeah. Let’s do it man. Let’s do it. Okay.

Conner: Okay. So there’s this theory going around, and this is coming out of the Iranis Israel thing. So this is kind of all connected, but the idea that there is a.

Pentagon Pizza Index, right? Essentially the theory is that when pizza restaurants around the Pentagon get super busy, and you can tell this on Google you know, where it shows you that a restaurant or a business is busier than usual, when it starts to go off at weird random hours, typically in the middle of the night.

[00:35:00] The theory is that that means something big in the globe is happening, that all these generals and staffers at the Pentagon are, everybody’s at the Pentagon. They’re, they’re shoving down pizza while they try to solve the world’s problems and, and make military adjustments and all of that. There’s actually an X account that’s gone really popular in the last week called Pentagon Pizza Report.

That is literally the name of it. And he’s just tracking the Pizza huts and the Papa John’s. He’s tracking dominoes around the the Pentagon and he’s tweeting out when there is something. Awry. You know, like with these pizza restaurants, he’s okay, it’s 3:00 AM and all of them just spiked up. So the theory’s actually been around for a long time.

Specifically in 1991, Frank Meeks, he owned 43 Domino’s locations, and he said that on the night of August 1st, 1990, the CIA ordered a record number of pizzas in a single night. And then a few hours later, as you would have it, Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. That started the Gulf War. You know that, that’s just one theory.

The, the Russians actually used to track pizza places around the Pentagon believing that that would give them insights back when we were in the middle of the Cold War. So just kinda interesting stuff. Do you think, [00:36:00] Micah, that this is like a legit theory?

Micah: Absolutely. Absolutely. Because why would the Pentagon be stocked full of all of these people at 2:00 AM?

If there’s nothing going on, I imagine they kind of have your more like. Normal eight to five jobs, right? But if there’s something going on, they’re working long hours, evenings, nights. Now, does that necessarily mean that something crazy is gonna happen every single time? No, but it does mean that there’s absolutely something unstable happening here or around the globe, and that’s why they all have to be there.

I, I think this is absolutely legit.

Conner: I will say the Pentagon is downplaying it and saying, this has nothing to do with it. Now there’s journalists like actually seeking out real answers here, trying to figure out if this is a thing, because if this is true, why would they, why would they keep ordering pizza from these places?

It’s just such a tell. Of course, there’s only, I guess, so many places that are open in the middle of the night, but maybe make an IHOP order or something.

Micah: Maybe just buy a bunch of frozen pizzas. I’m sure they have some big industrial ovens there at the Pentagon or something, and just do some frozen pizzas.

I know it’s not as good. [00:37:00] But if you don’t want ’em to know your next move, maybe just buy some frozen pizzas.

Conner: Do you think we can see their budgets like in congressional reports? Here’s how much went to Domino’s. Here’s how much went to pizza. We better be

Micah: able to, these are our tax dollars, man,

Conner: I. Yeah.

No kidding. Okay. Anyways, it had me thinking Mike, of another index. Have you ever heard of the Waffle House Index?

Micah: I have. Because of you? Yes.

Conner: Oh, okay. Yeah, if, if y’all haven’t seen this, waffle House has a whole storm center, like a storm operations, particularly when hurricanes or other massive blizzards or something hit parts of the country.

Literally FEMA watches Waffle House’s Storm Index, which is green, that they’re open. Yellow means they’ve had possible power loss, and that means they’ve got a, just a limited menu and red means they’re closed. But they try to always be open even after a hurricane or something. So if, if Waffle House locations pop back up to yellow or green, then FEMA knows that there’s power back on in that region.

Wow. It’s just kind of crazy. Anyways, so we got, we got. Pizza. We got a Waffle house. They are keeping this country running and letting the people know what’s going [00:38:00] on. You know what I’m saying? It kind of, it’s also reminiscent of red Bull has a whole Space Fleet. Yeah. And Operation Center. They got like a NASA command center.

These companies are just, you know, they’re doing the work of the government.

Micah: I just love that so much. Like both of those things. The pizza, the Waffle House, I, I love those. That is so fun. It really is.

Conner: Okay. That’s all I got there. But yeah, Micah, you wanna take us into check-in?

Micah: Yeah, let’s jump into the check-in section.

Let’s talk about something that happened over this past weekend at the US Open. Man, it was awesome, right Conner? I mean, my goodness, underdog, JJ Spawn won a rainy US open that actually had a weather delay with an epic last round and a 64 foot putt on the last hole I watched that live with my wife. My goodness, he needed to make it in two putts, so nobody was necessarily expecting him.

To make it on that one, and then the crowd just. I mean, erupted. It was amazing. His odds to win were plus 12,000, meaning a $100 bet would’ve yielded a [00:39:00] $12,000 payout if you would’ve placed that bet that he would win before the tournament started. Not an endorsement of gambling, but it, it just shows how impressive this win was.

JJ Spawn. Good for you, man. It that was awesome to watch. It was. He won being won under, which is kind of crazy. After four days of golf, after you know, what is that? How, how many rounds is that? 8, 16, 20? No, no, no. It was 72 holes of golf. Yeah. Yeah. So like after 72 holes, these professional golfers, the person who won, was won under.

That just shows how difficult that course was at Oakmont.

Conner: Yeah, it was arguably the hardest course in America and he just, he mastered it when no one else could. So it was really cool to see this guy kind of come up from mostly outta nowhere and win it. And he had such a good attitude the whole time too.

Loved watching that. Yes, he did such a fun weekend of golf. A lot

Micah: of the players did not have good attitudes. It was actually. Kind of disappointing. I mean there’s, we saw players club, broken stuff. I mean, just not nots, not the good sports at all. Lockers. Yeah, it was weird.

Conner: Not good. Not good. Mm-hmm. Very bad example for younger golfers as they try to [00:40:00] get to that point too.

Also the Stanley Cup, it’s done Congratulations to the Florida Panthers. They beat the Edmonton Oilers for the second straight year, and that was on Tuesday night. They won the series four to two. And let me just say outright. Oilers fans. If you’re listening to this in Edmonton, we feel you losing two straight finals in a row.

Micah, do you remember when the Rangers went to the World Series in 2010 and 2011 back to back and lost both? Of course, I remember

Micah: it’s connected to some, you know, some of the biggest trauma of my life. God, yeah, when they lost Brutal in the World Series, the floor years in a row,

Conner: but the Edmonton Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers twice in a row, at least with the Rangers.

It was two different teams. This time it was the same team. They,

Micah: sorry, Canada. Sorry, Canada, this was your chance to bring the Stanley Cup back. You know, like we talked about last week, there hasn’t been an NHL team that’s won the Stanley Cup since 1993. That’s actually in Canada. And goodness. I just feel like Canada needed this one.

I.

Conner: They really did. Yeah. And Micah, just to go back to our predictions from a couple weeks ago, you predicted that Edmonton would [00:41:00] win in five completely just off base Completely. It, yeah. I predicted Florida would win in seven, but they did win in six, so they were a little bit better than I was expecting.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then. We just gotta say this ’cause we’ve talked about it so many times. Trump is extending the executive order to keep TikTok alive for another 90 days while they try to negotiate some sort of deal, I guess. So it still lives on even after we gave it a hole in memoriam back in January.

Here we are six months later. Anyways, here we are. Something to tune into is the NBA finals because the thunder are leading the series. Three to two. Game seven will be in Indianapolis at 8:30 PM oh, sorry. Game six Indianapolis Thursday night, 8:30 PM Eastern. And that’s gonna be the Pacers just trying to claw their way back to force a game seven, which would be played on Sunday night at 8:00 PM Eastern.

Yep. So we’ll keep our eyes out on that. Yeah. Anything else to add there, Micah?

Micah: Nope. That’s, that’s, I mean, I’m a Mavericks fan. I’m, I’m happy for anybody who’s a Thunder fan or a Pacers fan. I think [00:42:00] this is just like a good series for the NBA, like good old classic team building from the Pacers and specifically from the Thunder.

Sam Presti, the GM there has just done a masterful job of. Stockpiling picks, making the right picks and just building a team from the ground up rather than just all of these all-star acquisitions. It’s actually a masterclass in how to build like a long-term stable championship team. Even though I’m not a Thunder fan, I can definitely respect that.

Alright, so let’s jump into the mailbag before we wrap up. Okay, we want to continue to hear from you all. Send us your questions or thoughts or topic ideas to [email protected]. So send us an email, but follow us on Instagram too. We have an Instagram handle. We’re pretty cool at Culture Brief Podcast.

So Gary, our friend Gary from Tyler, emailed this into us and here’s what he said. This is a question for all the real men. Real men in all caps. That is men who do their own yards. So if you’re a real man, you do your own yards is what Gary’s saying. We’re not saying it coming in.

Conner: He’s coming in hot. This on [00:43:00] this one.

Gary saying, I hear you. Gary. Gary, I hear you Gary.

Micah: I hear you Gary. But it was Gary who said it. Okay. While weed eating, should I walk left to right or right to left? I have a strong opinion on this. Conner, what’s yours?

Conner: I feel like this is a very niche question and also. I don’t have a strong opinion.

I kind of go both ways. Just depends on which direction my fence line is. If I’m against the hou, I don’t know, it just kind of matters. Sometimes I’m trying to stay more in the shade. Actually, I guess that doesn’t really affect if I walk left to right. I. Anyways, I don’t have an opinion, but I would love to hear yours.

Why do you care so much, Micah?

Micah: So it’s all about what feels natural, right? So ultimately, I think next time you go and weed eat, you know guys, the, we’re in the heat of the summer, so we’re out there mowing our yards, doing what Gary would say, real man work, right? So when you’re weed eating, when you’re weed whacking, when you’re doing that.

Think about what feels natural. I think it might, if you’re right-handed or left-handed, that might make a difference. But as somebody who’s right-handed, when I’m holding the trigger with my right hand and then stabilizing the [00:44:00] weed eater with my left, it feels much more natural for me to go left to right as I’m weed eating.

And so I’m realizing when he asks that question, I always weed eat from left to right no matter what. I start at the same spot and I weed eat an edge. In the exact same way. Start at the same spot, end at the same spot. And I always go left to

Conner: what you guys can’t see ’cause you’re, you’re only listening to this, but Micah just gave a whole demonstration with his hands and his movements on camera.

And so I’m, I’m grateful for that. Micah, I gotta say we have talked more about Lon on this podcast, podcast than I ever expected us to. Yeah, man, man, people are keeping it alive, man. They love the lawn talk. Maybe we, I’m sure

Micah: Conner’s, you know, we’ve had a lot of shorts, you know, on. X and Instagram and like different places.

I’m sure Conner will find a way to maybe format that and we can see if we can edit a weed eater into my hands or something like that. Guys, thank you so much for joining us for this week’s episode of Culture Brief, a Denison Forum podcast, all articles and videos mentioned.

We’ll be linked in the show notes. If you enjoy today’s episode, please please subscribe and rate and review the show [00:45:00] and share it with a friend. We’ll see you next Thursday.