On Saturday, Feb. 21, the Golden Eagles tennis team was able to complete a full sweep, despite less-than-favorable conditions. It was cold and windy as JBU competed against Southwestern University at the JBU Tennis Facility arena.

The match day started with the doubles games in which JBU players Andrew Aylor and Spencer Keeter won 6-2 for an early victory. In the second game, Grant Hinkle and Jonathan Hillock won 6-1. For the third game, Lucas Machado and Santiago Jaime were supposed to play, but Southwestern University didn't have enough players, so the game was won by forfeit.

After the John Brown University men’s tennis team swept the doubles games, the singles games began. Machado dominated the contest, winning the first set 6-3, the second set 6-1.

“In the first few games, I noticed that his backhand was his weakness. After realizing that, I started serving to his backhand to begin the points, which allowed me to open up the court and take control of the rallies. When returning his serve, I focused on hitting through the middle of the court at first, and then I began creating wider angles to his backhand. Overall, my strategy was to target his weakness and use it to my advantage,” Machado said.

For the second single game, Hillock won both sets 6-1 for a quick victory.

In the third single game, Jaime won the first set. Then for the second set, Jaime was able to have a bigger lead, winning the set 6-3.

“I felt really good during the game, and I think I did well overall. In the first set, I didn’t play so well, but in the second set I improved a lot by focusing more and playing smart,” Jaime said.

For the fourth and fifth singles games, which were played by Aylor and William Prochazka, they were able to complete a full sweep. Both won their singles games 6-0 in both sets.

For the last single game, Hinkle won the game by default because they didn’t have enough players.

The Woman's tennis team won by default all of the games because Southwestern University didn’t have enough players to play the games needed.

Photo by David Camacho Padilla

Students interested in Greek mythology—and in literature more generally—will likely be familiar with the myth of “Pandora’s Box.” As the story goes, Zeus creates the first woman, Pandora, and gives her a clay jar; later mistranslated or reimagined as a box, called a pithos. He instructs her never to open it. But Pandora’s curiosity proves too strong and, ignoring Zeus’ warning, she opens the jar and unleashes all the evils of the world: sickness, pain, hatred, suffering and death. Only hope remains trapped inside.

The myth reflects, among other things, an ancient and deeply misogynistic worldview that blamed women for the ills of humanity. Yet, it also offers a haunting metaphor for the human condition: we are often the authors of our own undoing. We open the jar. We release forces we cannot easily contain. And today, that metaphor feels disturbingly apt as humanity races forward with generative artificial intelligence, artificial general intelligence and the possibility of recursive self-improvement.

It seems each week we are confronted with new warnings: whistleblower reports about AI systems behaving unpredictably, public estimates from leading researchers that there may be a significant chance AI could threaten humanity within a decade and urgent calls for regulation from some of the very people building these systems. What frustrates me most about these conversations is not merely the danger itself, but the prevailing attitude that we are somehow powerless before it.

We speak as if we have no agency. As if we are not the ones lifting the lid. As if we are not actively encouraging, funding, designing, deploying and celebrating the very technologies we fear may escape our control. We behave as though the emergence of an intelligence superior to our own is inevitable, not because it must be, but because we are driven by our lust for power, dominance, competition, profit and technological prestige. We fear that if we pause, China—or some other rival—will surpass us. And so we run forward at full speed, shouting warnings as we sprint toward a cliff of our own making.

We are Pandora all over again.

We have learned too little from history. One need only consider Oppenheimer and the invention of the atomic bomb: a scientific achievement of extraordinary brilliance, joined to a moral crisis of almost unimaginable consequence. Nor have we learned enough from myth. We are living through Pandora 2.0.

As Christians, we understand human beings as fallen creatures created in the image of God. Part of that image is the power of creation itself. We can imagine, design, build and bring new things into being. But the question is not simply whether we can create machines more intelligent than ourselves. The deeper question is whether we possess the moral maturity to do so wisely.

Do we, as a human race, have the wisdom, mercy, grace, love, humility and discipline necessary to create something more intelligent than we are? Where is the evidence that we are even close to possessing such wisdom? Where is the evidence of the moral clarity required for such power?

This raises urgent questions for us as Christians and as leaders at a Christian institution of higher learning. Our role cannot be to follow the rest of the world blindly into a dystopian failure of will and imagination. We cannot sit quietly while the world opens a jar it may never be able to close again.

Where is our university leadership on this issue? Where are the voices of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities? Where are our churches, denominations, pastors, theologians, ethicists and scholars? Thus far, some of the clearest and most forceful moral statements have come from the Vatican. But this cannot remain a conversation led only by technologists, corporations, investors and governments. It must also be a moral and theological conversation.

Students, it is your generation that will have to live with what my generation has unleashed. You must step forward and lead. Ask hard questions. Demand moral seriousness from those in power. Call your elected representatives. Vote. Press your institutions, churches and communities to speak with clarity and courage.

Above all, remember the commands at the heart of Christian moral life: “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Be your brother’s keeper. Be your sister’s keeper. Be the generation that refuses to open the jar without first asking whether love, wisdom and justice require us to keep it closed.

Illustration by Frederick Stuart Church via Wikimedia Commons

Over the past few months, and even the past few weeks, the world has lost many celebrity icons and role models. Many of these people who have passed are people we grew up watching on the screen or listening to their music and speeches — they were people whose work shaped our lives and how we grew up. Whether that was teaching us to be courageous in the face of our fears by watching actor Sam Neill in “Jurassic Park,” to be confident in who we are by listening to country singer Dolly Parton, or even how to be appreciative of the beauty of what surrounds us from author Wendell Berry. No matter what form, these peoples’ lives have made a lasting impact on our own, and it is our honor to respect their impact with a few kind words.

Catherine O’Hara was a Canadian-American actress and comedian. She is widely recognized for her roles as the mother in “Home Alone” and Delia Deetz in “Beetlejuice” as well as her roles in multiple comedy shows, including “Schitt’s Creek.” O’Hara was known to be a kind, loving and generous person to everyone she met and was a huge advocate for cancer awareness, supporting the Terry Fox Foundation. She also participated in the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” to raise money for Upward Bound House, an organization aiming to end homelessness in Los Angeles. O’Hara died Jan. 30 at the age of 71.

Chuck Norris was an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force in Korea, Norris began to learn and practice martial arts, becoming a teacher several years later. In 1964, Norris began his martial arts career, losing several matches within his first few years before quickly becoming almost unbeatable. He was known for his martial arts films “The Hitman,” “Delta Force” and “Delta Force 2.” He worked for multiple charity organizations such as Funds for Kids, Veterans Administration National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans, the United Way, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Kickstart. He died March 19 at the age of 86.

Sam Neill was a beloved actor from New Zealand, known for his many blockbuster roles, and his versatility with different characters. He is primarily recognized for his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Stephen Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park,” which he reprised in 2022 with “Jurassic World: Dominion,” and Jane Campion’s “The Piano.” Neill, while suffering from blood cancer, partook in an Australian clinical trial involving CAR T-cell therapy, a kind of treatment that targets specific antigens within blood cells. After its success, he became an advocate for its wider access in Australia. He died July 13 at the age of 78.

Tim Curry was an acclaimed actor and singer, known and beloved for both stage and film roles. Well known for his parts on stage as King Arthur in “Spamalot: (Inspired by “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”), his role as the Pirate King in the “Pirates of Penzance” and for creating the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Some of his notable films included “Clue,” “Muppet Treasure Island” and the 1990 miniseries of Stephen King’s “It.” He also was known for his voice roles. He voiced the antagonist in Don Bluth’s film “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” and the Mouse King in Barbie’s first film “Barbie in the Nutcracker.” He died at 80 years old in his home in Los Angeles on Aug. 25.

Dolly Parton was a beloved American country singer, philanthropist and humanitarian, becoming one of the greatest artists of all time and creating multiple charity foundations. Her foundations focused on children’s education, disaster relief and healthcare. She captured the love of generations with her music and her dedication to making the world a better place. Not only was Parton an inspiration for women in the workplace, but someone who advocated for all people to follow and pursue their dreams. She was adored for her humility, compassion, love and generosity, traits that were clearly displayed in her work. Parton died Aug. 25 at the age of 80.

Wendell Berry was an accomplished American author, poet, farmer and environmentalist. Originally from Henry County, Ky., Berry was known for his stories about the conservation and cultivation of nature, primarily through his works of elegiac poetry and fiction. Throughout his life he was an advocate of environmental care, frequently stating in interviews how important it was to take care of rural America. He died Aug. 31 at the age of 92, in his home in Port Royal, Ky.

All of these people and many more will be dearly missed.

Although not all people can be recognized for their impact (otherwise we would have a never-ending list of all the great things people have done for others) it is important to remember the good things people have done and the legacies they leave for future generations.

Photo by Felix Mooneeram on Unsplash