Political Ads, Stan Lee, Killing a Volcano

Does It Really Matter if Political Ads Are Allowed on Social Media? (0:36) Guest: Adam Durfee, Managing Director of YDigital Agency, Brigham Young University Facebook has been fighting hard to remove misinformation about COVID-19 from the site. What it won’t take down? Political ads. CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees Facebook as a public square where the ability to speak freely matters, including through paid political advertising. Heading into this presidential election, Twitter took the opposite stance by banning on all political advertising from its platform. Campaigns should earn their exposure on Twitter, says CEO Jack Dorsey. They shouldn’t just be allowed to reach a bunch of people by paying for it. (Originally aired 11/14/19) Why Some People Get Their Blood Sucked More Than Others (17:50) Guest: Jonathan Day, Professor Emeritus of Epidemiology, University of Florida Winter is officially over. But enjoying the sunshine again means soon we’ll be enjoying mosquito bites. Have you ever noticed that the pesky bugs seem to like some people more than others? (Originally aired 10/2/2019) What’s Artificial Intelligence’s Role in Religion? (33:35) Guest: Ilia Delio, PhD, Franciscan Sister of Washington, DC, Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology, Villanova University.   Lots of churches have gone digital to avoid coronavirus spread. Is technology a help or hindrance to sincere spirituality?  What if the pastor or priest leading service or hearing confession on the other end of your internet connection were an artificially intelligence computer instead of a human? There are already Buddhist priest robots in Japan that will conduct funeral services and in Europe there’s a robot that will quote comforting scripture to elderly patients in nursing homes. Would you seek spiritual counsel from an artificially intelligent machine? (Originally aired 23/11/2019) Excelsior! Remembering Stan Lee (50:43) Guest: Joseph Darowski, English Professor, Brigham Young University The last surviving cartoonist to work on the o