Sunday 3 August 2025
St Thomas’s, Canterbury
I like to think that the Anglican bells of Canterbury Cathedral apply even to Catholics on a Sunday morning. Including me, walking past the gatehouse and along Burgate, to St Thomas’s Church.
This was my first Mass in Canterbury since I was received into the faith. At Easter I’d had a reserved front row seat. This time I had to play the game of second guessing where the regulars might sit.
Sure enough, seconds after finding a space on the edge of a deserted row, I got shuffled mid-prayer towards the middle. Next time I’ll sit in the bleachers, off to the side.
The readings were from Luke 12: 13-21. Vanity of vanities.
No other subject stares back at you in the mirror. Or screams at you from your bank account. Or echos in your head as praise from a friend. Like a lot of homilies, this one was coming with me for the rest of the week.
I don’t think I’m motivated by power, or pleasure, or even money. So by process of elimination that must make me virtuous. Except for these blind spots which step into the light with sobering frequency.
I have used the internet to procrastinate all my adult life. the time I spend watching YouTube is beaten only by time spent looking for things to watch on YouTube.
And now there’s AI.
AI will answer every one of my questions. It will do so in the affirmative, and with a combination of sycophantic flattery and insight which can be intoxicating.
The effect is like having too much cake. I like it, but the point where I stop is determined by me. And I rarely catch this moment in time.
I wonder if this isn’t the most insidious element of AI technology. Not that it will take over the world, but that it will pre-occupy us with ourselves — our very own favourite subjects.
And without the mutual exchange of friendship or conversation offered by real life.
AI is permanently on hand — in our hand — to tell us what we want to hear. It never gets bored. It never disagrees. It finds us fascinating and wants to hear more. And that, means it offers a lot more than some people do.
I ran into Father A on the way out, who is always genuine in his gladness to see you. Then a friend from RCIA, along with his wife. Married for less than two weeks, they both beamed with the joy of being together.
I must have spent less than two minutes with them in total. I felt full of faith and gladness as I walked back along Burgate with my vanity stowed. A feeling AI can’t replicate. At least not yet.