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IDEAS

You Know Who Predicted The Grimmer Aspects Of ChatGPT?

Philip K. Dick, of course. And it's called the "rhetorizor." - Salon

Hannah Gadsby Is Australian, And Sometimes, Her Aussie Comedy Doesn’t Translate

At least not to the U.S., where sincerity is important. "To make sense of this, allow me to explain the Australian cultural phenomenon that is the elegantly simple 'yeah, nah.'" - Slate

At Last, Apple Will No Longer Autocorrect Swear Words

"In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too." - NPR

Temple Grandin: We Should Think Of AI In Concrete Terms

"To most people, A.I. is an abstraction, something akin to magic. That's dangerous. We would do better to think about it as we do with physical infrastructure, like roads or processing plants, with their vulnerabilities and real-world consequences." - Slate

The Problem With Thinking About Misinformation As A Virus

We do not actually have an immune system for misinformation, and there is good reason for this. Unlike viruses, there is nothing inherent in false information that ought automatically to trigger any sort of natural response on the part of the brain. - Washington Post

How Librarians In The 1970s Redefined How To Search

It’s easy to see why librarians of the 1970s set out to revolutionise search. Work across the academy was expanding to such a degree that, soon, there would not be enough human librarians to support all of it. - Aeon

Dawn Of AI: Time For A Reset For Humanity

The technocultural norms and habits that have seized us during the triple revolution of the internet, smartphones, and the social web are themselves in need of a thorough correction. Too many people have allowed these technologies to simply wash over them. - The Atlantic

Is This What America Looks Like In A Cultural Collapse?

In the past 50 years, despite overall economic growth, the quality of life for most Americans has declined. The wealthy have become wealthier, while the incomes and wages of the median American family have stagnated. As a result, our social pyramid has become top-heavy. - The Atlantic

If Pinocchio Doesn’t Freak You Out, Why Does AI?

At issue: "We still take our emotional responses to AI too seriously. In particular, I worry that we interpret our emotional responses to be valuable data that will help us determine whether AI is conscious or safe." - Wired

Journalistic Objectivity Isn’t Real, But It’s Still Important

It was invented by NYT publisher Adolph Ochs in the late 1890s, and now it's certainly under assault. "But giving up on such an important guiding principle after experiencing the cheapened version of it is like renouncing all forms of air travel after flying easyJet." - The Atlantic

How IP Ruins Most Movies

Yes, even ones that have nothing to do with Marvel or DC, like Barbie. And yet: The newest animated Spider-Man has figured out a way around the high walls of the IP garden. "There’s no house style to match, because there’s no house." - Slate

Don’t Learn To Code

"Computers that we can all 'program,' computers that don’t require specialized training to adjust and improve their functionality and that don’t speak in code: That future is rapidly becoming the present." - The New York Times

The Pseudoscience Of Extending Our Lives

Most of us want to live as long as possible but would like to avoid the deterioration of aging. So it’s only natural that antiaging remedies abound. Sadly, most of them are just false hope, hype, and snake oil. - Skeptical Inquirer

In India Chatbots Are Answering Questions As Gods

At least five GitaGPTs have sprung up between January and March this year, with more on the way. Experts have warned that chatbots being allowed to play god might have unintended, and dangerous, consequences. - Rest of World

David Brooks: The “Merit” System We Built For Universities Is Working Against Us

It’s ridiculous that we’ve built a system that overvalues the sort of technocratic skills these universities cultivate and undervalues the social and moral skills that any healthy society should value more. - The New York Times

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