If AI is indeed going to help us reduce emissions, it seems to me that that will be the product of targeted, scientific and industrial use of AI, not shoving AI into a load of commercial products. Are these commercial companies using AI to figure out how to reduce emissions? If not (and maybe even if so), it seems disingenuous to express optimism that their increased energy use will be magically cancelled out by someone else.

Look, I’ve been trying to approach the SCOTUS decision with an open “I’m not a legal expert” mind, but I think this quickly demonstrates how dangerous the decision is. There’s no way this is an official act, and Trump’s insistence that it could be shows his confidence that he can get away with what he wants as president. This is not good for democracy.

I’m not necessarily opposed to teaching the Bible in public schools, but if you’re going to do it, you should do it right: Compare and contrast the creation accounts, discuss different authors’ conflicting takes on issues, and treat it as literature. That’s clearly not what Walters is advocating for, and his approach is indefensible.

This is a darker version of some of the thoughts I had when I first heard about the “PhD comparison.”

Before you click through to the article, I also want to use this short post as a complaint that I don’t think “intelligence” is a thing—and that PhDs certainly wouldn’t be a measure of it if it were.

I went to BCHS and was on speech and debate with Akilah. I was one of those naïve white kids who didn’t really register all of the problematic parts of our mascot, and I have regrets. I’ll be interested to listen to this podcast and do some more internal work.

Austin’s book was already on my ’to read’ list, but this interview really convinced me. There are some really interesting arguments in here, and while I want to evaluate them in more detail, they’d provide fascinating readings if they hold up.

What a fascinating, depressing read. The Mormon angle only makes it more interesting (even if it doesn’t really play in here).

This is a helpful EFF overview that I’m posting to bookmark for later.

This sucks on so many levels.

I appreciate Punya’s essay here. I’m very grumpy about generative AI, but that doesn’t change the fact that some grumpiness has more to do with moral panic than a reasoned response—but THAT doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for some of this kind of careful nostalgia that Punya is sharing.

We should all be worried about what’s happening here.

Now, this is more the Mozilla I know.

What a sucky situation.

I have tried to be open minded about this, and I am always hesitant to take a position on something that I haven’t done all the homework on. I also agree with the point the president’s made that staff, students, and non-tenure-track faculty don’t have enough of a voice, so I’m open to changing what inclusive governance looks like at UK.

This doesn’t seem to me to be it, though. Even without having done all the homework, the president’s arguments don’t land for me, and I don’t see how removing the faculty’s voice gives staff and students more of a voice. Even when the president outlines issues that I can get on board with, the solutions don’t seem to fix those issues. I’m worried about what “nimbleness” might be a euphemism for, and I really don’t want to find out.

Scary stuff. I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that facial recognition tech does more good than harm.

ALPRs suck.

Lexington has lots of room to improve, but I’m glad they’re getting credit for the good work they’ve done.

This sucks. If even Mozilla is selling out, then we’re in a real bad place.

I’ve been thinking recently that I need to reread Doctorow’s The Lost Cause (about beating back the climate catastrophe), so this blog post was welcome. Doctorow’s hopefulness—all while rejecting naïve optimism—is what I needed to read this morning.

Generative AI suuuucks, but AI detection software may suck even more.

I am very grumpy about this. Also, the point of emoji is that they exist within Unicode, yeah? So these aren’t really emoji in the way that those icons are useful—they’re just a fun trick that’s helping advance the climate crisis.

Quelle honte !

I’ve been feeling for a while like I need to move away from Apple eventually, but I’m so entangled in the ecosystem that I’m dragging my feet on it. Seeing the company drink the AI Kool-Aid is definitely accelerating my plans—and will even more so if there’s no easy way to turn these featutes off.

I’m all for this, but in line with earlier posts from today, I wish it weren’t just about workplace readiness. Higher ed needs to be more than that.

Some important points in this op-ed from a UK colleague. I was just thinking earlier today how I have trouble getting concerned about the “summer slide” when I know that even K-12 education is increasingly seen as an economic—not democratic—priority.