Why Is the Vatican at a Tech Conference? (bbc.com)

An anonymous reader shares a BBC report: As Bishop Paul Tighe sat down for our interview, he joked that not only is he probably the only priest at South by Southwest, but also the only person with grey hair. His presence here marks the first time the Vatican has attended the South by Southwest Interactive conference, and their panel - titled Compassionate Disruption - is one of this year's most talked about events. "In a world where increasingly [we're] not invited to part of conversations, I think if people are interested in having us, we're delighted to be here. "I want to learn and get a feeling for what are the things that are driving a generation of people who are in many ways shaping the world as we know it. He glanced around the room. "Really deep down, I see a lot of people looking for some sort of connectivity." That's certainly true -- though I get the sense for delegates here that means good wi-fi, rather than a strong sense of faith. So Bishop Tighe's mission is to get this industry to find real value in both.

Comments

Is it a tech conference?

[chispito]

I thought it was more of an arts/entertainment conference. The Wikipedia page says it focuses on "music, film, and interactive."

Or am I the only one that wouldn't call that a tech conference?

Information about talk itself

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Speaking of whoring karma for the afterlife, here's the talk itself (missing from the reliably crappy article summary):

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2017/events/PP67508

When your community numbers over 1.2 billion people and you’ve been in operation for over 2,000 years, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to integrating new media and technology. The Vatican's iterative engagement of the "Digital Continent" stands in contrast to the velocity of mainstream technology adoption. Yet its unique approach to Twitter, Instagram and digital video have helped make the Pope the most influential world leader online.

This first-of-its kind SXSW discussion will shed light on how the world's oldest and largest community is adapting to and leveraging new media to encourage a new form of disruption: one guided by understanding, empathy and compassion.

MAR 12, 2017 | 12:30PM – 1:30PM
Primary Access: Interactive Badge, Platinum Badge
Secondary Access: Film Badge, Music Badge
Format: Panel
Event Type: Sessions
Track: Brands & Marketing
Level: Advanced

Re:a more pragmatic reason this is happening

[Maritz]

I didn't think catholicism was popular in the south. Not psychotic or literal enough.

Re:So they can hide their pedos better

[Anonymous Coward]

"Age of consent in Vatican city was recently raised, to fourteen. Only priests live in Vatican City."

Which is probably why they didn't bother updating it until 2013. According to Wikipedia: "When the Vatican City was first formed, it adopted the then-Italian age of consent of 12 as per the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Until July 2013 it had the lowest age of consent in Europe, but after that month, when the Pope made his decree, it became the highest."

This is not unusual

[dlleigh]

It's not unusual for large religious organizations to send representatives to tech conferences. As other have mentioned, they have technology needs too.

I remember having a nice chat with a priest from the Vatican Observatory when we attended an astronomy conference, At a conference on human-computer interaction, I spoke with a gentleman from the Mormon church's genealogy arm.

These were actual technology conferences with peer-reviewed publications, unlike the more arts and entertainment focused SXSW.

Re:Vatican denies evolution while undergoing it

[bsolar]

Vatican does *not* deny evolution: it actually stated it doesn't conflict with chatolic faith in 1950 and accepted it as "more than hypothesis" in 1996.

Reminder of Origin

[cwarrior]

Slashdot was founded by students at a Christian college on a Christian college campus ... Hope College in Holland, MI.