Will the Jan. 6 Hearings Change Anyone’s Mind?
Learning that Trump’s advisers were divided between Team Crazy and Team Normal, and that Team Crazy clearly had the upper hand, might disturb a fair number of voters. I’ve seen congressional hearings change minds, including my own.
In the Films of Dore O., Feelings Create Their Own Reality
Dore O.’s beautiful, haunting work explores the juxtaposition between the mundanity of the real world and the extraordinariness of our inner lives.
To paraphrase Kelly Anne Conway and the articles I have been reading on the subject this morning:
Whether a chatbot is sentient or not matters less than the belief that it is.
Going against common wisdom that insists computers are a long way from having feelings, Max Tegmark, an MIT professor of physics with a focus on machine learning, does not write off Lemoine as a crackpot.
MIT prof says Alexa could become ‘sentient’ like Google chatbot
Who cares if chatbots are sentient or not—more important is whether they are so fluent, so seductive, and so inspiring of empathy that we can’t help but start to care for them.
Google’s ‘Sentient’ Chatbot Is Our Self-Deceiving Future - The Atlantic
Another Military Recruitment Video Disguised as a Movie
Is it any use pointing out that the first Top Gun was a ludicrous piece of shit? That it was a functioning part of the Ronald Reagan administration’s insane military buildup and aggressive pro-war policies of the 1980s?
Using Spatial Reconstruction to Investigate Russia’s War Crimes
Spatial recognition technology is being used to investigate Russian war crimes and has been able to identify the exact site of the 1941 Babyn Yar mass executions.
Smithsonian Acquires Taxidermy of First Successfully Cloned Mouse
On May 5, 2000, the world’s first successfully cloned mouse (Cumulina) died in her sleep of natural causes. She had reached the ripe old age of two years and seven months, about 95 in human years.
Did Trump Know He Was Lying? Who Cares?
Asking whether Trump knew the election was free and fair is like asking whether a komodo dragon prefers smooth jazz or hip hop. It’s a category error.
Every person in a democratic republic has a duty to ascertain the truth as best they can and that means questioning the pap that they are fed nightly. It means letting the light of skepticism peek under the blanket of certainty every now and then.
I only wish stating the obvious and pointing out individual responsibility for assessing truth and accuracy would make better citizens of the many who are not. But it’s not about being good citizens for so many of us. It’s about being on sides and wanting your side to win whatever the cost.
Justice, good, evil, right and wrong are human constructs, not universal principles. The only way to apply these concepts usefully is with thoughtful discussion and debate from varied points of view. In this way we achieve consensus and the greatest good for the greatest number.
The committee… established that the Trump campaign sent millions of fundraising emails based on the promise to fight to challenge the election results, ultimately raising $250 million from small donors.
But the… so-called Election Defense Fund was never real.
How to Save Women’s Lives After Roe
… Anna… went into labor at 19 weeks, far too early for her child to survive outside the womb… a condition known as PPROM1… in many cases the medically recommended treatment is abortion.
Anna lived in Texas, where… S.B. 8, has effectively outlawed abortion after six weeks. As a result, the hospital—and consequently, her doctors—concluded that they could not treat her.
Preterm premature rupture of membranes. ↩︎
From my morning walk…
At first I thought it was something to do with COVID protocol. Then I thought they are afraid of being attacked during prayer. First time I have seen such a sign on their front door in my 16 years of living here.
January 6 Is a Dangerous Shorthand-03
Misconduct must have consequences, and it is not just appropriate but imperative that democratic societies expect and enforce a higher standard from their public officials.
January 6 Is a Dangerous Shorthand02
The campaign by the former president and his associates to subvert an election is not tolerable. Attempting to cover up that misconduct is not tolerable. The groundwork being laid to sabotage future elections is not tolerable.
January 6 Is a Dangerous Shorthand 01
This may be the panel’s more cryptic and consequential challenge. It will not be enough to put the full scope of misconduct on display and fashion a comprehensible story. It must also convince the public that such conduct is intolerable.
Shahzia Sikander’s Radical Take on Traditional Arts
Really like this woman’s work.
… the artist’s use of a traditional medium refuses neat categories of gender and nationhood, flipping assumptions of the historical past as the site of cultural authenticity.
