ArchiveArticles
What Canada’s Collapsing Health Care System Means
It means that people die who might have lived if they had access to health care
Why Generative AI Will Not End Up Running the World
Business prof Gary Smith and computer engineering prof Robert J. Marks talk about what we should and shouldn't believe about claims that computers taking over
TikTok is Back, Thanks to Trump. The Battle Against Tech Addiction Continues
TikTok has gone through a chaotic whirlwind over the last few days.TikTok has gone through a chaotic whirlwind over the last few days. The app was briefly banned in the U.S. as of Sunday, but is now back online after President Donald Trump took office and vowed to sign an executive order allowing it to function in the country. The 170 million Americans who were on the platform, for a short time, were no longer able to get on the addictive app and scroll through miles of video footage of strangers, influencers, cringe-inducing dances, and the variant menu of other brain-rotting footage. President Donald Trump has said he will roll the ban back and allow the company more time to re-negotiate a deal. TikTok was ordered to sell off to an Read More ›
Terminator Salvation (2009): A better film than Terminator 3
With three Terminator movies talking about the future, it was about time for the future to finally show up
Sloppy Science is a Statistical Sin
Evidence of sloppy science encourages readers to wonder if the entire research project is compromised
TikTok is on the Verge of a Ban. Now Users Are Flocking to Another Chinese App.
National security and the mental health of a generation are at stakeA federal ban of the wildly popular social media app TikTok is set to take effect on Sunday, unless a last-minute intervention occurs, or an American-owned business buys the company. The FBI, as well as several state authorities around the country, have said the app represents a national security threat, as it allows a foreign adversary to access the data of the 170 million Americans who use it. Apart from the issue of national security, plenty of people, particularly sociologist Jonathan Haidt, have pointed out TikTok’s profound negative impact on kids and users in general. TikTok uses an advanced algorithm system to hook its users. Haidt and his research assistant, Zach Rausch, list out the multiple harms: Executives within the Read More ›
AGI Is Not Already Here. LLMs Are Still Not Even Intelligent
Recent tests continue to show huge failures in comprehending common sense issues
Can AI Really Code the Value of Humans?
The new book Soulless Intelligence urges that we program all AI systems to treat all humans as infinitely valuable – the only exceptions being criminals and aggressors
Why Do Insect Mini-Brains Work So Eerily Well?
The extremely small brains of microinsects do not apparently affect their behavior, even when it is complex behavior
Progressive Columnist Almost Embraces Sanctity of Human Life
Some ethical codes are so important they need to be adopted by society to protect the general welfare and guard liberty
Is Your Online Data for Sale? The Tik Tok Hearings May Shed Light
To enable total state surveillance, telecom companies in China, for example, must supply data that can include everything from bank accounts to keystrokes
Monday Micro Softy 9: To Flip or Not to Flip?
Probability theory can sometimes help with seemingly impossible questions. But how?
Do High AI Startup Valuations Mean Great Success, or Desperation?
The answer is important but is not as clear as we might think. First, let's look at the backgroundConsider a recent news report: “Anthropic is in advanced talks to raise $2 billion in a deal that would value it at $60 billion, more than triple its valuation from a year ago” says the Wall Street Journal. Anthropic’s last venture capital (VC) funding round, less than two months ago, raised $2 billion, bringing its total funding to $9.6 billion. OpenAI had raised $6.6 billion, last October just a year after it raised $10 billion from Microsoft the previous year and just months after it also raised funds on the debt and secondary markets. So that $6.6 billion round was the largest VC funding round ever, a little larger than the $6 billion that Elon Musk’s generative AI startup, xAI, raised in 2023. Read More ›
Is Science in Our Frame of Reality Inevitably Incomplete?
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that human consciousness isn’t a material phenomenon like any other; it has one foot in time and another in eternity
Are Churches Becoming Victims of Stockholm Syndrome?
In a new book, John West looks at the problem of evangelical church leaders adopting the belief systems of their opponents, perhaps to stay safe
Music in the Mind
The need for poetry in totalitarian times
Terminator 3, Parting Thoughts: A Father’s Lie Dooms the World
When John and Kate get to Crystal Peak, they find that it is really a fallout shelter for the country’s leaders, but the leaders never made it. And yet...
Trudeau Resigns: Canada’s Media Control Bills Are Stymied For Now
Is the Woke war on reality beginning to stall? In Canada, it is a war not only on math, science, and biology, but also history