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🇻🇦We released an emergency episode last Tuesday to break down the newest Encyclical of Pope Leo XIV: Magnifica Humanitas.
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Intro to our Guests & the Point of Today’s Podcast
Zak Slayback is a Venture Capital Investor and well-read convert to Catholicism (2020).
Edmund Mitchell is a serial entrepreneur and is very plugged into the AI world, especially on the Catholic side of the scene.
We brought them on today to discuss their key perspectives on Pope Leo’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas.
We cover a wide range of topics, but we are just scratching the surface, so let me know if you’d like to hear another one of these.
God Bless & Happy Building!
~Silas Mähner
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Select Quotes:
“The fundamental anthropology that is proposed in Rerum Novarum […], is that the primary unit of society is man and his family.” - Zak Slayback
“Unemployment is a grave evil. That is one thing that is noted in the document, citing back to John Paul II’s social encyclicals. Why is it a grave evil? Well, one, because work is a good thing for man.” - Zak Slayback
“Pope Leo doesn’t give us the room to outsource our thinking to this document or outsource our thinking to any, you know, podcast or news clip, right? Like we I think sometimes we want to find a justification for things we’re already doing when often the opposite is the case, these encyclicals challenge us to change.” - Edmund Mitchell
“The social function of credit remains irreplaceable. Finance for its own sake is fundamentally different from finance aimed at the development. Creation and evolution of work.” - Zak Slayback (Quoting from Magnifica Humanitas)
“ROI maxing is not the purpose of being an entrepreneur. It shouldn’t be at least. It shouldn’t be the purpose behind making an investment.” - Silas Mähner
“The call to action from the Holy Father is to develop more sustainable technologies, it’s not necessarily to tear the data. Centers down or to not build them.” - Zak Slayback
“The decision to invest in one place rather than another, and one productive sector rather than another, is always a moral and cultural choice, and that’s italicized in the original document.” - Zak Slayback
“Technology itself is one of the talents that we’re granted. And I was thinking a lot about the fact that we were intentionally put in this time of history to be to use the things that are at our disposal.” - Silas Mähner
“We can use the tools that are at our disposal in our time and our own journey of sanctification is intentionally set up. to be in this time of history.” - Silas Mähner
Key Episode References:
Church Documents & Papal Teachings
Magnifica Humanitas Encyclical | Rerum Novarum | Quadragesimo Anno | Populorum Progressio | Pacem in Terris | Redemptor Hominis | Laborem Exercens | Centesimus Annus | Caritas in Veritate | Laudato si’ | Fratelli Tutti | Gaudium et Spes | Antiqua et nova | Evangelium Vitae | Veritatis Splendor | Casti Connubii | Humanae Vitae | Second Vatican Council Documents | Paul VI - Address to the United Nations (“No war, no more war”)
Popes & Church Figures
Pope Leo XIV | Pope Leo XIII | Pope Pius IX | Pope Pius XI | Pope Paul VI | Pope John XXIII | Pope John Paul II | Pope Benedict XVI | Pope Francis | Fr. Jean Gove, Archdiocese of Malta | Second Vatican Council
Organizations, Projects & Media
“Delete Magisterium AI Debate” by Matthew Sanders and Mark Barnes
Simple Man / Ad Aeternum by Juan Dominguez (episode coming out this week)
Tech Companies, Tools & Frameworks
People & Other References
Join the Catholic Founders Guild Today
Get access to all CF Guild online events, the recordings, paywalled content, the CF Guild community/group chat, and CF Guild member directory.
Many members have reported doing business with other CF Guild members within months of joining.
With an annual membership fee of $100, it’s a total no-brainer to join. Consider this an association of Catholic business owners, not a high-commitment community that will sap your time.
Key Moments: (outline)
(00:00) - Introduction and Setting the Stage: Silas welcomes everyone back to the Catholic Founders podcast and introduces the topic of the newly released AI encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, by Pope Leo XIV.
(04:02) - Getting the Squad Together: Silas brings on guests Zak Slayback and Edmund Mitchell, establishing their backgrounds in venture capital and Catholic tech projects.
(05:05) - Guest Introductions: Zak shares his background as a tech investor and his 2020 conversion story, followed by Edmund introducing his work with Digital Continent and the Faith in AI project.
(06:56) - The Encyclical Tradition and History: Zak unpacks the deep history of contemporary Catholic social teaching, charting the path from Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum to modern papal documents.
(15:21) - Broad Takeaways on Magnifica Humanitas: Edmund and Zak explain that the document is less about specific technology and more about addressing human anthropology within the age of AI.
(17:25) - AI as an Immersed Environment: Edmund references paragraph 110 of the encyclical to illustrate how AI has shifted from a mere tool to an environment we are completely immersed in.
(24:10) - Moving Beyond Political Paradigms: The group discusses why analyzing Church documents through an American left-or-right political lens is a category error, emphasizing that the primary unit of society is always man and his family.
(31:30) - Key Doctrinal Developments: Edmund and Zak discuss authoritative developments within the document, including the practical ban on autonomous weapons, just war limitations, and applying the universal destination of goods to digital data.
(39:37) - Data Extraction and Emerging Business Models: Zak addresses the ethical concerns surrounding the high concentration of power in tech and the challenge for startup founders to create business models that respect personal data.
(45:11) - The Rapid Evolution of Software and Infrastructure: Edmund and Zak analyze the shift toward treating compute as a utility and evaluate the environmental impact of data centers without succumbing to secular catastrophizing.
(56:21) - Intellectual Property in a Knowledge Economy: Edmund looks at the future of intellectual property frameworks, explaining how large language models affect how creators and institutions handle their proprietary data.
(58:45) - The Social Function of Finance and Work: Silas leads a discussion on paragraph 160 of the encyclical, diving into how financial credit and investments must always prioritize providing dignified, meaningful work rather than pure “ROI maxing”.
(1:08:33) - Rebuilding Jerusalem and Overcoming Consumption: Silas, Zak, and Edmund call on Catholic founders and individuals to transition from passive consumption to active, real-world participation in building a civilization of love.
(1:15:30) - Conclusion and Outro: Silas wraps up the episode by reminding listeners that technology is a given talent for our time, announces the next episode with Juan Dominguez, and extends an invitation to join the Catholic Founders Guild.
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