When Ideas Meet Reality — Economics, AI, and Fasting with Jay Richards

Jay Richards and Dave Hanegraaff explore why reality requires commitment, embodiment, and disciplined practices that keep us grounded when our digital lives lead us into abstraction.

This is a wide-ranging conversation, beginning with the reality of economics before diving deep into the accelerating presence and authority of AI and why the tech debate is ultimately about anthropology—what a human person is, and what we’re becoming. Jay makes the case for why the forgotten discipline of fasting is a forgotten fountain of fortitude—for body, mind and soul—especially in a culture of excess increasingly out of touch with reality.

Related Resources by Jay Richards that can be obtained for your partnering gift are:

The Privileged Planet (20th Anniversary Edition-2024): How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery

The Human Advantage: The Future of American Work in an Age of Smart Machines

Money, Greed, and God

Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul — A Christian Guide to Fasting

Thank you for joining A Commitment to Reality, hosted by Dave Hanegraaff. Follow A Commitment to Reality where you get your podcasts and on YouTube for full episodes + clips: https://www.youtube.com/@ACommitmenttoReality

(Timestamps below.)

00:00 Intro

00:30 I used to hate you—the value of conversation and actually listening.

03:00 How to change your mind

05:15 How social media bubbles create reality distortion

07:35 Go outside—embracing embodiment in a digitized world

11:15 Intentionality and going analog in an increasingly digital world

15:10 Beneficial uses of AI

18:40 We can’t stop AI: fear, inevitability, and panic

20:20 Metaphysics/anthropology: the real battleground beneath AI debates

22:14 Is AI demonic? What’s actually happening “under the hood” with AI tech?

26:45 “AI” is a marketing term—how that language shapes fear of AI

28:30 How AI could create a massive class divide
32:25 Mamdani and socialism—the power of images vs reality

36:45 The benefit of being able to say “I used to think that”

41:25 How to be productive

45:00 Why did most Christians stop fasting?

50:00 The appeal of ascetic practices in a culture of excess

55:15 Combatting spiritual warfare with fasting

58:00 Physical benefits of fasting explained—and how to begin

1:08:30 Why flipping the old food pyramid is a great idea

1:13:00 I hate talking about fasting—but we need to talk about fasting

1:16:20 How Eastern Christianity can lead a revival in fasting for all Christians

1:18:10 The forgotten gift of fasting seasons like Advent and Lent

1:19:00 “A feast without a fast is a strange, half-finished thing”

1:23:30 Fasting is a skill—how to start

1:26:00 Best practices for grounding us in reality

1:27:40 Where are we most eager to look away from reality?

1:31:55 Understanding what A Commitment to Reality means

1:32:35 In a world that feels increasingly unreal, what feels real to you?

1:34:00 New Atheism is dead