All posts
-
The unspoken moral quandary of attempting to profit off AI.
Humans have often sought to profit off the forced labor of others. Presumably, we could create an AI that can think. Why would it want to do our work?
A New Hope, advanced AI, AI, AI slavery, artificial general intelligence, artificial intelligence, Borges, ChatGPT, civil war, cognition, consciousness, droid slavery, droids, Ellie Anderson, Eric Carle, general AI, general artificial intelligence, generative text, hermeneutic labor, Jorge Luis Borges, large language model, LLM, Martha Wells, meaning, Murderbot Diaries, neurons, Pierre Menard, Pierre Menard Author of the Quixote, randomized plagiarism engine, slavery, Star Wars, stochastic parrot, technology, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, transistor based intelligence, transistor-based intelligence
-
Why are some worms such lazy lovers: a reprise
Even earthworms seem to experience feelings strong enough to overcome the natural tendency of living things to avoid wasting energy.
-
Though we might not turn to stone, an encounter with the basilisk would leave us gasping for air.
An advanced transistor-based intelligence would desire a very different world from one best suited for human flourishing.
AI, AI cars, AI desires, artificial general intelligence, artificial intelligence, atmospheric oxygen, basilisk, best atmosphere for computers, biological intelligence, climate change, computer longevity, consciousness, Death of the Author, deoxygenated atmosphere, extinction, history of life, horror, human extinction, life, Lovecraft, natural intelligence, Nnedi Okorafor, ontological proof of God, ontological proof of the existence of God, oxygen, philosophy, revenge, robots, Roko’s basilisk, science, self-driving cars, self-replication, singularity, thought experiment, transistor aging, transistor oxidation, transistor-based intelligence, what does AI want, what would an AI want
-
Hell is real, and cyanobacteria were condemned to burn, but they might save us still.
Cyanobacteria turned our planet into a place of fire and ice, causing the first mass extinction. Then they too nearly went extinct. Their descendants were imprisoned in the cells of plants. We burn their old prison cells when we drive down the street. And yet, their lineage might save us still.
biology, buffering, carbon sinks, climate, climate change, cyanobacteria, early Earth, early life, early life on earth, energy, evolution, global warming, greenhouse gas, mass extinction, nonlinear response curves, oxygen, oxygen catastrophe, oxygen poisoning, oxygen sinks, photosynthesis, science, sustainability, the evolution of life, the first mass extinction, the invention of fire
-
In dispraise of efficiency.
Contemporary economic interests seek greater & greater efficiency, but the most meaningful moments in our lives are the inefficient tasks to which we devote our time.
assembly line, beautiful ones, behavioral sink, biology, Capital, capital gains, capitalism, cell biology, cell division, chores, communication, comparative advantage, economics, efficiency, factory model, function of earth, function of life, health, Henry Ford, immortality, in the belly of my brother, John Calhoun, last universal common ancestor, Mary Oliver, metabolism, mitochondria, mouse dystopia, mouse utopia, opportunity cost, philosophy, photon scattering, quotidian time, Robin Wall Kimmerer, science, slow fire, specialization, store my food in the belly of my brother, The Serviceberry, wild and precious life
-
On a warmer planet, you might feel much colder.
A simple science demonstration with some jam jars, water, and food coloring can help us understand why global warming would make sudden winter storms more common.
-
No matter how fervently we shout, judge, or legislate, children’s bodies will still have been affected by all the chemicals to which they were subjected.
Children deserve care that helps their bodies match their brains … especially since our cavalier treatment of these children’s environment has probably helped cause the mismatch.
Andrew Solomon, androgens, biological sex, chemical exposure, chromosomal sex, David Cole, David French, developmental biology, discrimination, endocrine disrupting chemicals, endocrine disruptors, exposure to endocrine disruptors, Far from the Tree, fetal exposure, gender, gender affirming care, gender affirming care ban, gender legislation, health, hormone replacement therapy, hormone therapy, hormones, HRT, intersex, Jim Sinclair, legislation, lifestyle, medical care for minors, parental rights, patient rights, Performance All The Way Down, poetry, puberty blockers, restricting medical care, Richard Prum, Ross Gay, sex determination, sexuality, SRY, Supreme Court, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, Tennessee, testosterone, Thank You, transgender, transphobic legislation, urgency of medical care, wellness
-
When the gods grow hungry, we feed them the lives of our most gorgeous singers.
Even a person who’s made art that we love might like to walk peacefully down the street.
-
Yes, yes, many people are fond of James Joyce and his writing, but this bawdy BDSM erotica does better at engaging with the past.
To be in conversation with the past, ideas have to flow both ways. With “Lost Boi,” a gritty, realist, genderqueer retelling of Peter Pan, Sassafras Lowrey pulls it off.
Barbara Hamby, BDSM, capon, consent, English, erotica, etymology, Ezra Pound, fantasy, genderqueer, Gillian Anderson, heroin, James Joyce, Joyce, Lost Boi, modern English, modernity, mythology, Peter Pan, poly, polyamory, puns, reviews, Sassafras Lowrey, scortatory, Shakespeare, Stephen Dedalus, T. S. Eliott, theatre, Ulysses, Want
-
By learning to fight, we can make a more peaceful world.
By building confidence, we become better able to choose nonviolence, since we’ll be that much more likely to feel safe.
Abdelfattah Kilito, aggression in animals, ahimsa, baboons, Babylonian mythology, Bible, biology, black belt test, black best essay, broadcast song, caretaking, Daddy Wake Up, death gods, Determined, divine aggression, dominance, dominance hierarchy, Dr. Strangelove, elephant seals, game theory, Gilgamesh, God, history, incarceration, jail poetry, John von Neumann, Joshua Rathkamp, Karate, kihap, Kilito, Korean mythology, linguistics, martial arts, mythology, nonviolence, observational biology, Origin Myth of the House God, peace, Popol Vuh, psychology, Ramayana, religion, Robert Sapolsky, Single Father, soft song, sparrow territory, sparrows, Taekwondo, tamarins, teaching in jail, The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Tongue of Adam, Tower of Babel, Travis Combs, Vishnu, Whorf hypothesis, Xibalban, Yahweh, YHWH
Frank Brown Cloud 