The Ilocos Times

  By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo Herbert Prochnow said, “There is a time when we must firmly choose the course which we must follow, or the relentless drift of events will make the decision for us.”   I totally agree.   Life is full of decision-making processes.   By the time we wake up options are already made available to us. In fact, the very time we get up from bed is in itself a decision we have to make.   We can choose to get up from bed by the time the alarm clock rings or decide to sleep some more.   The drift of events Herbert Prochnow mentioned can refer to circumstances in life or persons around us that could decide things for us.   Usually, we make certain goals in life such as to finish college, to work abroad, to start our own business, etc. as our guide in making everyday decisions.   We normally ask ourselves before making a decision, “Is this activity going to bring me closer to my goals or not?” If we don’t have a firm reso...

IT’S sad to note that some people simply cannot be pleased. That is exactly what Jesus exposed in Gospel reading of September 16, Memorial of St. Cornelius and Cyprian, Martyrs (cfr. Lk 7,31-35). The people of his time rejected John the Baptist because he fasted too much. Then they rejected Jesus because he mingled with ordinary people, ate with sinners, and attended celebrations. John was "too strict." Jesus was "too friendly." The problem was neither John nor Jesus. The real problem was the hardened heart . This Gospel is more relevant than ever. We can easily fall into the same trap. We become experts at criticizing. If someone is prayerful, we call him fanatical. If another is approachable and cheerful, we accuse him of lacking seriousness. We find fault with almost everyone while refusing to examine ourselves. It’s an attitude blocks grace . God comes to us in many forms. Sometimes he challenges us through demanding people. Sometimes he consoles us ...

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo Here’s a summary of the famous book of the same title by best-selling author Ryan Holiday .   First, Mr. Holiday tells us about the Three Areas in Life when the problematic ego appears.   First area is aspiring.   Aspiring in the wrong way means we are more of talking than doing.   Or we end up not walking our talk.   The author says, “It’s a temptation that exists for everyone—for talk and hype to replace action.”   It is that constant concern of what people would think of us, making comments on social media of what we plan to do, instead of doing it.   Mr. Holiday made the example of Emily Gould , a famous novelist and blogger who was constantly posting on the plans she had for her book and what her followers on Twitter would say about it that she ended up wasting her time on her comments and replies to her fans instead of working on the book.   The second area in our life that makes the problematic ego rear its ...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like electricity in the early 1900s—full of promise, but also full of dangers for those who do not know how to handle it. For me, the priority groups needing protection are clear: minors and older adults . In the Philippines, we define minors as anyone below 18, and “older adults” as our senior citizens, those aged 60 and above. These two groups are often the least equipped to recognize the risks created by rapidly advancing AI tools. And make no mistake: AI is already being used for harm.   The rise of AI scams Scammers today are no longer satisfied with text messages or suspicious emails. With AI, they can now produce videos that look and sound like your own family members, claiming they’re in danger, asking for money urgently, or begging for help. This is the era of deepfakes —videos so convincing that even tech-savvy adults sometimes pause. How much more for a 12-year-old child or a 72-year-old lola ? Most minors don’t have the cri...

I remember when the internet was simpler. Back then, if you wanted to file a complaint, you could say confidently: the server’s location was the crime scene. There was clarity. There was accountability. If a website published defamatory content, you knew where to start: trace the server, identify the network, and hold someone responsible. But those days are gone. Today, websites deploy multiple servers across different countries. Content is mirrored, cached, shared on social media, reposted under new names. The physical “scene of the crime” has dissolved into bits and bytes scattered across clouds. So where do we draw the line when it comes to cyberlibel? If a post stabs someone’s reputation, if it spreads misinformation, if it damages a person’s name—the “platform” isn’t the perpetrator. The crime is not committed by a set of servers or by a tech company. The real suspect is the content creator —the individual behind the keyboard.   Cyberlibel : law meets the digital wi...

Pardon me for introducing these strange new words— fraternimisia (hatred of fraternities) and fraterniphobia (fear of fraternities)—but how else do we describe what we are witnessing today? There seems to be an entire industry of online creators whose main pastime is to hate fraternities, fear fraternities, or simply demonize them for clicks and traffic. When I talk about fraternities, I do not refer only to campus groups. There are also off-campus fraternities such as the Knights of Columbus , the Freemasons , and many civic brotherhood organizations that have existed long before the invention of social media. Are these groups also to be feared and hated? Should the same suspicion applied to young students be applied to long-established civic organizations? Fear is one thing. Hatred is another. I can understand fraterniphobia—some people may have had traumatic experiences, or perhaps the word “fraternity” evokes images of hazing cases splashed across the headlines. Fear can be ...

TECHNOLOGY is one of humanity's great achievements, but it is not humanity itself. The Christian vision welcomes progress while insisting that every invention remain ordered toward human dignity , freedom, truth, and authentic flourishing . The first question is not simply, “What can technology do?” It is, “What should we do with it?” Technical power has no moral direction by itself. Its value depends upon the purposes it serves and the person it protects. To remain fully human begins with remembering that a person is never merely a function, product, consumer, data point, or biological organism. Each human being possesses dignity because each is created in God's image and called to communion with Him. Artificial intelligence can imitate conversation, compose music, analyze information, create images, and assist decisions. Yet imitation is not identity. Human intelligence includes embodied experience, conscience, relationships, wonder, moral responsibility, and openness...