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About the project

This website is one of the fruits of the TWCF-sponsored project on freedom, globalisation, enterprise and civil society in 21st century Catholic social teaching. It is part of a range of initiatives that integrates the mission of St. Mary’s University with societal concerns. St. Mary’s research centres such as The Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery, the Centre for Research into the Education of Marginalised Children and Young Adults, the Centre for Bio-Ethics and Emerging Technologies and the Benedict XVI Centre as well as the Centre for the Art of Dying Well are other aspects of our work to promote a wider public understanding of cutting-edge research. In addition, our collaboration with the Oxford-based Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics helps bridge the gap between academia and the general public.

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Online Course (New)

Our new online, freely available course is intended to address the challenges of Catholic social teaching in our current era. It can also be thought of as a “taster” for the university’s MA in Catholic Social Teaching.

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Latest Blog post

AI & human

(How) Does Artificial Intelligence Think? (What) Does it Know

A recent article reports on work by researchers at Anthropic, the AI lab that developed a ‘reasoning’ AI model, and their ability to look into the digital brains of large language models (LLM). Investigating what happens in a neural network as an AI model ‘thinks’, they uncovered some unexpected complexity that would suggest that, on some level, an LLM might have a grasp of broad concepts and does not simply engage in pattern matching. Conversely, there is evidence to suggest that when a reasoning AI explains how it has reached a conclusion, its account of how it has reasoned does not necessarily match what the ‘digital microscope’ suggests has gone on. Moreover, sometimes, an AI will simply produce random numbers in response to a mathematical problem that it can’t solve and then move on. On occasion, it will respond to a leading question with reasoning that leads to the suggested conclusion, even if that conclusion is false. Thus, it seems, the AI will appear to convince itself (or the human interlocutor) that it has reasoned its way to a conclusion when in fact it has not.

By: Neil JordanRead article >

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Events

Webinar: War and the Wounded Earth: The Impact of Conflict on Creation

industrial fogIn honour of the 2024 Season of Creation’s theme, “To Hope and Act with Creation”, this webinar will delve into the profound ecological consequences of armed conflict on our common home. The panel of experts will aim to examine how warfare and conflict directly contribute to environmental degradation, disrupt international cooperation for environmental protection, and shift societal priorities away from sustainable environmental practices.

Date: Fri 18th October 2024

Time: 1pm-2pm

Venue: Online

Register: Register Via Zoom

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Postgraduates

For St. Mary's Masters courses in subjects relevant to Catholic social teaching such as bio-ethics, education, human trafficking and Catholic social teaching itself, please Click here

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