Sam Liebeskind

The difference between schools and libraries

From John Taylor Gatto’s The Underground History of American Education (via Austin Kleon):

To begin with, libraries are usually comfortable, clean, and quiet. They are orderly places where you can actually read instead of just pretending to read.

For some reason libraries are never age-segregated, nor do

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To be stable and effective, both democracy and democratic publics require people to be socially embedded in ongoing relationships rather than temporary mini-publics. Such relationships may be less efficient in the short term, so that some optimal policies remain out of reach, but they are better over time at generating political compromises that... See more

In this world, control is primarily in the hands of people and organizations; indeed, a greater and greater proportion of what people do in their jobs is AI control.

Though people aren’t rational, I believe everyone is reasonable. As in, they always have their reasons, and those reasons always make sense within their worldview. More often than not, I wouldn’t do what someone else does — because I’m not them. But if I can understand the circumstances through which someone lives and sees the world, then I can... See more

“We would never rely [solely] on the AI-generated summaries,” said Seward. “Reporters are going back and listening to the real [podcasts] but using the report basically as a kind of tip line, or as a nudge to look at something more closely.”