While much of the current critique of AI is still framed by science fiction dystopias, the way it is being used now is increasingly dangerous. We now rely on machines to make decisions for us and thereby increasingly substitute data-driven calculations for human judgment. - MIT Sloan Review
“We live in an era where the best way to make a dent on the world… may be simply to stand up and say something.” And yet, TED’s archive is a graveyard of ideas. - The Drift
Under the right circumstances and in the right doses, physical pain and emotional pain, difficulty and failure and loss, are exactly what we are looking for. - The Wall Street Journal
Julia Riew's senior thesis at Harvard is "complete with script, screenplay, and more than 15 original songs. Her Disney-inspired work tells the story of a Korean princess named Shimcheong, who’s based on a character from a Korean folktale." Hollywood has noticed. - MSN (Boston Globe)
Sure, "we like stories about education that feel true" - but this one simply isn't. And keep in mind that "those who want us to forget (or mis-remember) the past are very much committed to our giving up hope." - Hack Education
They confirmed, for instance, that on average, all over the world, animal species seem to be getting smaller. This runs contrary to a theory of evolution called Cope’s rule, which posits that species should increase in size over time. - Wired
What if these objects had survived? What might that alternative world be like? This idea of a parallel material universe, in which some of our problems are solved by the mere existence different objects, is tantalizing. - The Baffler
Personhood is a property of the whole body, and the whole body is implicated in how both personhood and an individual person can persist in the face of perpetual forgetting. - Psyche
Why is it a problem for a so-called dominant culture to utilize the forms and features of another? The short answer is that it isn’t. Rather, human history is replete with inspired interaction among various ethnicities and the sharing of creative traditions. - American Institute for Economic Research
Campaign group Berlin Autofrei has proposed a law to limit private car use within the Ringbahn train line in the German capital, an area of 34 square miles. The city government will now formally consider the petition, with a decision due to be announced in February. - Dezeen
When some commentators call for a return to classical liberalism, they forget that it rested on the moral foundations of Jewish and Christian monotheism and the historical contingency of Western global power. Today Europe is post-Christian in its moral culture. - New Statesman
Can you prove you’re not in a simulation? You might think you have definitive evidence that you’re not. I think that’s impossible, because any such evidence could be simulated. - Nautilus
Arthur Brooks: Engaging with art after worrying over the minutiae of your routine is like looking at the horizon after you’ve spent too long staring intently at a particular object: Your perception of the outside world expands. - The Atlantic
