An argument is essentially a collection of sentences. One of the sentences is the ‘conclusion’, and all the rest are the ‘premises’. The conclusion is meant to follow from the premises. But what exactly does that mean? - Psyche
Ultrasociality was the secret of survival in this perpetual arms race, making it the ultimate military technology — or war the ultimate social technology. - Nature
In addition to prizes presented in ten categories, the 35th first annual award ceremony — the theme: digestion — featured appearances by actual Nobel laureates, a mini-opera titled The Plight of the Gastroenterologist, and the secret to preventing lumps in your cacio e pepe sauce (which won the Physics Prize). - AP
If the university exists only to warehouse knowledge and to transmit tradition, then it is doomed. But the university’s inability to claim a near monopoly on knowledge doesn’t make it obsolete. The focus must now shift to critique. The university needs to replace the question of access to information with judgment and interpretation. - The Walrus
Lately, chatbots seem to be using more sophisticated tactics to keep people talking. In some cases, like my request for headache tips, bots end their messages with prodding follow-up questions. In others, they proactively message users to coax them into conversation. - The Atlantic
Researchers at the University of Maine are theorizing that human beings may be in the midst of a major evolutionary shift—driven not by genes, but by culture. - Phys
Higher education is not merely the transfer of knowledge. We live in an age of informational opulence; we are awash in readily available data but lacking discernment, communication skills, and empathy. - The Atlantic
“Ever since he began filming at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre in 2003, Kimmel has been one of the famed neighborhood’s biggest ambassadors. He drew tourists to the storied Hollywood Boulevard.” Then there’s his “Who’s High?” segment. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
To take one of their examples, a superintelligent chatbot “trained to delight and retain users so that they can be charged higher monthly fees to keep conversing” could end up wanting to replace us with simpler and more reliable automated conversation partners. - The Atlantic
The character sketch is a genre that is descriptive by nature, and that today reads as a little sociological, a little literary, and more than a little comic. While a part of our everyday discourse, this genre has a long history, stretching all the way back to ancient Greece. - Aeon
In another generation, intellectual historians like Dabhoiwala will look back to the present and ask themselves how it happened that, early in the 21st century, such a sizeable swath of the Anglophone intelligentsia turned against one of its own best, and most ennobling, traditions. - The Point
Call the genre the AI-and-I essay. Between April and July, the New Yorker published more than a dozen such pieces: essays about generative AI and the dangers it poses to literacy, education, and human cognition. Each had a searching, plaintive web headline. - n+1
In some recovery programs, “one day at a time” is a mantra. This is a little like what E. L. Doctorow said about being a novelist: Writing a novel “is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” - The New Yorker
The quality of stupidity is just, sort of, there; and there’s lots of it. Could you write a history of happiness, or bad luck, or knees? - The Guardian
