Dis Coarse Discourse 0
At the Psychology Today website, T. Alexander Puutio explores how partisanship (he uses the term “politics,” but partisanship would be more accurate term) debases dis coarse discourse. He makes four main points (emphasis added):
- Politics hijacks identity, making us protect group belonging over truth or accuracy.
- Partisan cheerleading leads us to knowingly defend false claims to signal loyalty.
- Motivated reasoning lets us justify beliefs first, then construct logic afterward.
- Better thinking starts with distance, deeper reading, and seeking opposing views.
Methinks his piece a timely read, as we are seeing what he describes happening even as I type this.
Devolution 0
Farron looks at the damage that the Trump maladministration has done to medical research and the public health.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society’ 0
Yet another “responsible gun owner” performs a random act of politeness.
All the News that FIts 0
The EFF is joining the fight against the Trump maladministration’s attempts to turn television news networks into its personal P. R. pimps.
QOTD 0
John Nettles, in the voice of DCI Tom Barnaby:
When killing become entertainment, we all lose touch with reality.
Think Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
“History Does Not Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”* 0
David listens to Markwayne Mullin’s confirmation testimony and hears a rhyme.
__________________
*Mark Twain.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
Truthful? At that Psychology Today website, New York University professor Vasant Dhar argues that truthfulness and accuracy are not their creators’ primary concerns.
Here’s a bit from his article:
We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that LLMs are not designed to be truthful, but to ensure that the narrative “makes sense” in any context. Given a context, LLMs are trained to generate what should come next in the developing narrative. Confabulations—plausible- sounding distortions or fabrications—are part of its repertoire, regardless of whether they correspond to truth or facts in our world.
Given the hype about (and the unquestioning faith that some are placing in) AI, I commend it as a timely and worthwhile read.
It’s a Smart, Smart World* 0
There’s a reason that, when I need to buy a new appliance, the first thing I say to the salesperson is, “I don’t want anything smart.”
________________
*With apologies to Harry Shearer for stealing the title of one his regular features.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
As you prepare to board public transit, demonstrate politeness to your fellow riders.
So many guns. So much stupid.
The Injustice League of America 0
-
It is right and proper to prosecute a person who violates a just law.
It is wrong to persecute persons just for being who they are.
Yet Trump maladministration spurns the first, embraces the second.
This methinks is the very definition of the rule of flaw.
The Bully’s Pulpit 0
At the Las Vegas Sun, Tom Harper argues that Donald Trump doesn’t realize that “that bullying, arrogance and going it alone doesn’t get the job done . . . ..”
Methinks he has a point.
Afterthought:
Probably because, as Mary Trump pointed out in the previous post, it’s always worked for him in the past.
Dire Straits (of Hormuz) 0
Mary Trump discusses the implications of other western nations’ refusal to support Donald Trump’s war on Iran.
The Rule of Lawless 0
It appears that we can now look forward to the initiation of the inquisition.