Diffcult things that make me ponder

The rise of such voters itself raises two questions. First, why are swing voters more open to radicalism? And second, why did it accelerate so much in the past few years?

The new agreement removes mention of developing tools “for authenticating content and tracking its provenance” as well as “labeling synthetic content,” signaling less interest in tracking misinformation and deep fakes.

Back in 2016, it was Google that I was focussed on. Google was prompting users to search for results on whether the holocaust really happened and when they did, they were being sent straight to Stormfront, a Nazi website.

Last year, the Guardian ran an entire advertising campaign with the tag line ‘Not For Sale’. It put up billboards in the streets pointing out it was ‘reader funded not billionaire backed’.

So, why would it seek to sell off a huge chunk of the organisation and 70+ journalists….to a financially precarious start-up financed by a bunch of VCs and billio... See more

The New York Times knows all of the above because there is an abundance of excellent reporting on its site that lays it out. But this is what was actually on the front page of the New York Times on Saturday night: on the left hand side is a solid summary of the ongoing illegal seizure of power and its consequences. On the right, is a feature about ... See more

The whiplash from yesterday’s front page is even worse. “Putin Has Long Wanted More Power in Europe. Trump Could Grant It” sits side by side with “Egg Muffins are the Perfect On-the-Go Breakfast”.

New Zealand's parliament was brought to a temporary halt last week by MPs performing a haka, or traditional dance, in opposition to the bill.

Since then, Prospera and Crawfish Rock villagers have battled over ground water, and tense public meetings have boiled over into fistfights between Brimen’s employees and locals, she said. Brimen himself has visited the community to collect signatures in support of the project and offer loans. Another Prospera leader once rolled in with two pickup ... See more

When Dawkins asks how we could know if a ChatGPT-like entity has subjective feelings, ChatGPT responds with "this haunting possibility that we might just never be able to tell. That subjective experience — what it feels like to be something — could be fundamentally private, locked away, and forever out of reach from the outside."