Author's archive
This New Gilded Age 0
Sam and his crew discuss Fran Drescher’s comments on the Hollywood strikes.
Precedented 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Patrick L. Plaisance sounds a cautionary note about chatbots and other AI tools, urging us to not make the same mistake again. A snippet:
Notwithstanding all the benefits of social media connectedness, our failure to seriously address its harms, coupled with the conceited, unrestrained culture of Silicon Valley, has arguably left us diminished in many important ways. The dark side of our digital platforms has contributed to economic disparity (Heuer, 2015), political tribalism (Bail et al., 2018), eroded concentration levels (e.g., Zhao et al., 2021), data exploitation, cyber-bullying—the list goes on.
In the light of the strikes by the screenwriters guild and SAG-AFTRA, as well as suits for copyright infringement, this is a particularly timely piece and well worth the few minutes it will take to read it.
Misdirection Play, Oxymorons for Morons Dept. 0
“No Labels” (capitalized and marketed as a brand, no less) is a label, for Pete’s sake.
Blame Gamers 0
At the Kansas City Star, Jessica Piper cautions that, if you’re going to point the finger of blame, you should point it in the right direction.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
Another case of familial politeness.
A Tune for the Times 0
(Typo undone.)
Twits Own Twitter 0
In a related vein, Paul Krugman wonders why tech bros seem somewhat prone to buying into conspiracy theories. A snippet:
Image via C&L.
“The Slow Civil War” 0
Sam and Emma talk with Dartmouth Professor Jeff Sharlet about the “current fascist moment” and some of the factors contributing to i.
Imagineering 0
At the Portland Press-Herald, James Bilancia ponders the power of imagined grievances.
Fly the Fiendly Skies 0
They explore new frontiers in fiendliness every day.
Vaccine Nation 0
Steve M. wonders why anti-VAXX crackpot conspiracy nut Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is getting so much press coverage. He offers a theory:
Follow the link for his reasoning.