In my previous column, I made the case that the AI revolution has forced our most weighty questions wide open. What is a person? What is healthcare? What is education and mentoring? What is friendship? These and similarly foundational topics are always relevant to our public discourse, but most often — especially in the age of technocratic middle managers controlling such discourse — they rarely get addressed. But AI is changing all that.

What is war? What does it mean to honor the dignity of one’s enemy? Are there any actions that can never be done, regardless of consequences? Especially as we celebrate 250 years as a country, are there any moral principles to which we are fundamentally committed as a people?