3/16/2026 Monday
It's remarkable that "Clash of Civilizations" predicted by Samuel Huntington was mentioned by 石評天下. I first heard of Huntington from Pak Tong, now I have to read Huntington. Below is Google Gemini summary of the video:
The Five "Lost Cards" of U.S. Hegemony:
- Military Myth: The perceived failure of U.S. and Israeli defense systems (like the Iron Dome) to stop Iranian counter-strikes [15:34].
- Economic Stability: Tech giants (the "Magnificent Seven") may pull capital back from the Middle East, threatening the U.S. AI bubble [16:04].
- Petrodollar: The conflict incentivizes oil-producing nations to move toward the "Petroyuan" and away from U.S. financial dominance [16:33].
- International Relations: Western allies are beginning to distance themselves from U.S. policy to avoid being dragged into a broader conflict [16:47].
- Civilizational Conflict: The escalation has triggered a "Holy War" (Jihad) decree from 99- and 101-year-old Iranian Grand Ayatollahs, signaling a shift toward the "Clash of Civilizations" predicted by Samuel Huntington [17:19].
From the same video link above, @9:44, new vocabulary learned: 蠱惑 (gu3huo4) = 意指以欺騙、引誘手段使人心意迷亂或迷惑人，常作「蠱惑人心」。
I also learned of this 80s novel called: Satanic Verses that provoked the Islamic world, especially Iran.
Also interesting to note that the video brought up religion or China's "atheism" stand. Shi interpreted China's stand not as rejection of God, but more of a "宗教不和凌駕一切" @25:40, religion cannot be superior to everything, i.e. not allowed to judge politics. So I think it's more of an agnostic but idolizing politics/pragmatism.
So I commented this on SOLA Media's episode on ChatGPT:
While I thank you all for most other episodes, the treatment of this ChatGPT stuff is so poor.
The main problem people go to ChatGPT is lack of good pastoral examples. Sometimes it's due to overwhelming work load, sometimes just due to laziness. I remember asking Horton something but never got any response back, so why would I not go to ChatGPT?
Secondly, ChatGPT is really just a tool like one goes to the library. Do you believe everything the books in a library say? So it's just due diligence. Church leaders should educate members to not rely on pastors but on themselves to seek the Kingdom (if you say relying on the Holy Spirit instead, you're not listening even here properly to what I'm saying, forget your own members, you're really off the rail to be on the same page of what I'm talking about because you cannot be a true Christian if you don't believe in the Trinity.)
You guys reminded me of the complaints we keep hearing when cars were out replacing horse chariots. Com'n, you are not Amish are you?