"Could AI slow science?" Sayash Kapoor and Arvind Narayanan ask, and proceed to poke a sizable hole in one of the major claims about "AI" – about its application in healthcare, in education, and beyond: that "AI" will "enable dramatic scientific progress: curing cancer,
For decades, Johnson & Johnson was one of the most trusted brands in the world. The maker of bandaids and baby shampoo, its name was associated with care for our health and our bodies and, more importantly, for our children. Even when in 1982, one of the company's
There's been plenty of ink spilled in the last week in response to The New York Times's story on NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his college application to Columbia University, in which he ticked both the boxes for "Asian" and "Black or
One of the popular uses of "AI" that I truly do not understand involves "brainstorming" – and okay, I admit, I truly do not understanding using "AI" at all with what we know about its politically, psychologically, cognitively, and environmentally destructive effects. I've
You know how last week I had some good news? Yeah, well... that was nice, wasn't it. Because this week – Happy Fourth of July! LOLSOB – everything isn't just bad, it's dire. Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" will provide tax breaks for
Greetings from Maine where Kin, Poppy, and I are visiting family for a few days. As such – as summer – today's missive is a little shorter than usual. And, quite unlike recent emails, today's newsletter opens with some very good news: Zohran Mamdani's win in
Several weeks ago, a commenter suggested the word "howlround" to describe the dangerous tendency of LLMs to "glaze" their users – to provide responses that are self-reinforcing in both substance and style, that are overly agreeable ideologically and psychologically. A "howlround" is what one hears
While I was pleased to see millions of Americans turn out for last weekend's protests, I have to say I've spent this week more depressed and more worried than ever about the road ahead. Perhaps it was the arrest of NYC Comptroller Brad Lander – the latest
I recently finished reading Geraldine Brooks's memoir Memorial Days, about the sudden death of her husband, author and journalist Tony Horwitz. It was fine, I thought; others have given the book much more praise, suggesting it belongs in the canon of "dead loved one" lit, the
"This is not right. This is not right." @justsayuhatebasketball I know this is a basketball page but I can’t think about hoops 🏀 right now. 🚨PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT🚨 PROTECT YOURSELVES AND YOUR FAMILIES AT ALL COSTS. THEY (ICE) ARE TRYING TO REACH THEIR QUOTA OF 3000 PEOPLE PER
There was a time when Elon Musk was positioned as some sort of tech genius, appearing in the second Iron Man movie with a cameo that implied that he was some sort of a real-world Tony Stark. There were those who questioned the image (and not only because Stark is
"'Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to
How shall we ever conceive However express a new idea If we are bound by the categorization That delivered our problem to us In the first place ? -- Stafford Beer How do you measure intelligence? You take a tape measure, wrap it around someone's cranium, and jot down
Back in 2012 ("the year of the MOOC"), when Sebastian Thrun told Wired that, in fifty years time there would only be ten universities left in the world and his startup Udacity had a chance to be one of them, I admit, I laughed. I laughed and laughed
(I'm interested in questions of agency, and how automation and artificial intelligence serve to undermine this – agents versus agency, I've previously argued. It's particularly striking that "agents" are being marketed as an easy way to optimize one's personal and professional
Political reporters love a Midwest diner. Even though most Americans live in urban areas, even though a third of Americans live in California, Texas, Florida, or New York, even though around 40% live on the coast (east or west), even though more than half are under age 40, the depiction
Yesterday marked my fifth Mother's Day without him. Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of his passing. My beautiful boy, for whom I still grieve and will grieve every day forever; and despite his death, why I still fight. When I was a sophomore in college (about a year
There's a tendency to write about technological change as an "all of a sudden" occurrence – even if you try to offer some background, some precursors, some concurrent events, or a longer, broader perspective, people still often read "all of a sudden" into any discussion
What do folks mean when they talk about AI in education? Most of the time – and I'm certainly at fault here too – no definition or description of AI is even offered. You’re supposed to just known what AI means, what it does – or at the least, you’
On Sunday, Ben Smith published a lengthy investigation into what he describes as "The group chats that changed America" – the private, digital banter of venture capitalists, tech executives, and influencers/journalists that, according to Smith at least, have fostered the "intellectual counterculture" of the tech right
Tressie McMillan Cottom recently offered a neat little summary of how universities have responded to generative AI: "Academics initially lost our minds over the obvious threats to academic integrity. Then a mysterious thing happened. The typical higher education line on A.I. pivoted from alarm to augmentation. We need
On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order: "Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth." You should approach this as a Rorschach Test, of sorts: use it to evaluate what others – particularly those who are trying to sell a vision of education's AI future (with a
I'm not sure if we can call it an official launch – there's no actual product yet – but a new education company Matter and Space unveiled its website last week. The company, co-founded by former SNHU president Paul LeBlanc, MOOC pioneer George Siemens, and clinical psychologist Tanya