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Fairview, Texas, AI, and Other Challenges

Fairview, Texas, AI, and Other Challenges

Last updated on: June 16, 2026 at 5:40 pm by Dan Peterson

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Fairview, Texas, AI, and Other Challenges 2026-06-16T17:40:16-06:00 Dan Peterson

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Here I am, tucking into the first of several smallish chicken-fried steaks during a recent trip to southern Utah. It was by limiting myself to just three or four of these at a single sitting that I was able to trim down to the svelte physique exhibited in this absolutely authentic Peterson Obsession Board photo that was created taken by my Mini-Stalker.

You might enjoy this one-hour one-minute and thirty-seven-second podcast from Nathan Gwilliam’s Why We Believe series: “50 Years Responding to Church Criticism: Why He’s More Sure Than Ever (with Daniel C. Peterson)” On the other hand, of course, you might not enjoy it. In any case, I’m sorry about the outdated (beardless) photograph that accompanies the podcast. That’s my fault. They asked for an up-to-date photo and, well, I let the request slide.

Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach, California (Wikimedia Commons public domain image) Some of my very earliest (vague) memories revolve around this place.

I submitted to the dermatological surgeon’s knife for a couple of hours this morning. And there’s more to come when the scheduling for it can be worked out. I still love California, where I grew up, but I confess that the swimming pools and the beaches and the hatless, tee-shirted, high-altitude backpacking trips of my youth are now causing me occasional moments of regret (and of intense pain). Scandinavians such as I probably weren’t optimally designed for such things. I choose, though, to look on the bright side: I’m helping my dermatologist to maintain the lifestyle that he’s chosen.

And, speaking of Scandinavians, I really, really like this team photo from Norway, my grandmother’s beautiful homeland, that was taken for the current World Cup competition. My ancestors had their, umm, moral blemishes, but they were pretty impressive in a whole lot of ways:

One of the official portraits of the Norwegian soccer team. I hope that this will qualify as “fair use.” (I’m assuming that they want the photograph to be used.)

And I’m sure that the lingering traces of my Viking descent are among the very many reasons that the Lord hasn’t seen fit to call me to one of the presiding quorums of Church leadership: I would probably not react suitably to the continuing antics of some of the leaders of friendly and hospitable Fairview, Texas: “Legal options exhausted, new town leaders launch fresh campaign against Fairview Texas Temple steeple: Mayor concedes Latter-day Saints have the right to build a 120-foot steeple. Church says he is pressuring its leaders to abandon that right”

Incidentally, several of the photographs of the temple construction site that are gathered here will serve to give y0u an idea of the quaint and sparsely occupied village environment upon which the Fairview Texas Temple is being imposed. Take special note of the small, meandering dirt path (called “Stacy Road”) that the temple will face, on the other side of which humble little peasant-residential cottages bearing homey names like Thai Papaya and CVS Pharmacy and Fairview EyeCare and Ryan Dental Group already stand.

The steeple on the Latter-day Saint stake center that already stands on the property where the temple is under construction is sixty-eight feet high. You can readily see at a glance how that height — which is what the town fathers of friendly and hospitable Fairview are pressuring the Church to adopt for the temple, as well — has already put the character of this small Texas country hamlet at risk. Imagine the wreckage that this monstrosity will cause!

A Zoroastrian plate from Iran, now hanging on the wall of our breakfast room.

“Fake News You Can Trust”: Two current stories from the Babylon Bee and one, if you can access it, on Facebook from Andy Horowitz:

A view at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, where Elder Gerrit W. Gong earned his master’s degree and his doctorate (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo by Steve Daniels)

Elder Gerrit W. Gong, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, recently released an official Church video — really, an interlinked series of shorter videos — under the title “Faith, Dignity and Human Flourishing: Hearing God’s Voice in an Age of Artificial Intelligence.” He would like it to reach (and to have an impact on) a broad audience. In my own negligible way, accordingly, I want to help that happen. In the meantime, here are nine quotations from the video that you might find helpful or worthy of pondering:

1. The Truth That Grounds Us

“We each have divine worth and dignity. … When we truly understand who we are, we can approach AI and other new technologies with greater confidence, purpose, and wisdom.”

2. Remember What AI Can’t Do

“Artificial intelligence can answer questions, but it cannot answer prayers. It can organize information, but it cannot offer revelation, covenant connection, or divine truth.”

3. God Is Never Artificial

“As a creation of God, man can create AI, but AI cannot create God. By its nature, artificial intelligence is, in some ways, always artificial. Deity is never artificial at any time, in any way. …

“God is not a chatbot or search result that answers questions [with] what it thinks we want to hear. God knows our intents, the hopes and longings of our hearts, the anguish and joys of our souls. He listens, He hears, He answers.”

4. This Principle Is Vital

“Here’s a vital principle: The more we work with intent, diligence, and effort, the more and better we benefit from and through our work. … Please do not let AI replace you in work that would otherwise help you stretch and grow. And please do not take credit and claim as your own work what you know AI has primarily done.

“When we apply the principle of individual growth through our work and effort, AI can enhance, deepen, enliven our creativity and capacity.”

5. Focus on What Really Makes Us Human

“For a long time, we’ve defined ourselves on what human beings can do that machines, even intelligent machines, cannot do. Yet, as artificial intelligence makes some forms of intelligence a kind of commodity, we’re challenged to redefine ourselves beyond intelligence. We can place greater emphasis on what really makes us human—enduring characteristics such as faith, compassion, love, humility, empathy, forgiveness.”

6. You Are Divine, Not Data

“You are not a random data point in an unfeeling algorithm. You’re a beloved child of God, a child of the covenant, a disciple of Jesus Christ. Your eternal worth is not calculated by likes, trend lines, or predictive analytics. No machine can measure your divine potential. Each individual matters. All of us are unique.”

7. Agency Is Sacred

“Technology cannot tell us who we are or what we should do. Our individual moral agency means we can choose, with God’s help, our path and priorities. God invites us to act in faith, choose wisely, and grow through lived effort and experience. With God’s help, we can chart a path of personal growth and discipleship that algorithms will never fully comprehend. Let AI inform, but you decide with the Lord. Your identity and your agency are sacred.”

8. Remember to Reach Out

“In our personal lives, please use AI for logistics and drafts, but not as a substitute for trusted relationships. Set boundaries. If you feel tempted to confide more in a chatbot than in a friend, a parent, or leader, may I invite you to reach out today, now, to a real person who knows and loves you?

“Trust in God and those around you who do know and love you. God knows you better and loves you more than you know or love yourself. This is the reason He gives us each other. That can never be said for an AI chatbot.”

9. The Constancy of Divine Intelligence

“In a world of accelerating technology and artificial intelligence, may we never lose the divine intelligence that matters most—the voice of God. May we listen for His whisper amid the noise, love one another beyond algorithms, and steward creation and the environment with reverence.”

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