Most people in the West feel an uncanny sense that our society is in decay. In his 2020 book, The Decadent Society, Ross Douthat gives words to this malaise. He calls our society “decadent” – successful but stuck. Our institutions, politics, economy and even our entertainment are no longer seeking to go beyond themselves and improve.
Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas warns that artificial intelligence – despite the optimistic prophecies of its architects – may be forcing us into a state of permanent decadence. If we heed his words, we might escape it.
