Great rant against those faux-reasonable AI defenders.

I have a sneaking suspicion the “Faculty AI Summit” slated for our mid year meeting in January will feature the talking points demolished here. Glad to have this perspective going in.

A medieval art historian asked LLMs to replicate his research. You will be shocked (shocked!) to learn that it ignored clues and hallucinated evidence to support the status quo. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/o...

The. Process. Is. The. Goal. Been saying this to AI-friendly colleagues for months. Moreover, we already have experience with “testing” a tech (social media) with developed brains and finding to our horror that the impact on developing brains is much more severe. AI’s impact will be much worse

I was in Aspen CO for a rugby tournament. After the day’s games had concluded, I was walking towards the pitch at Wagner Park to meet some teammates for dinner and a police officer asked me to take a different route. Looked over his shoulder to see a brown bear sitting in a tree by the pitch.

He wielded neither sword nor lance!

This is terrific. I’ve seen some friends and colleagues I generally like and admire talk about AI as a fair accompli; this is a terrific rebuttal.

And yet..:

More material for my ongoing task of being an uncomfortable skeptic in my school’s AI conversations.

I love her work - she’s hilarious! I snorted my tea at KILmarnock.

An excellent historical analogy, right down to the worst and stupidest being authoritarian militarists and retrograde conservative religionists.

More on the ethical problems with AI that I’ve seen overlooked in far too many conversations.

Given the choice between ChatGPT and the Skull of St. Thomas Aquinas…

A perfect encapsulation of my concerns. I’m also a coach and athlete (football and these days mostly rugby) and I liken using AI to bringing a forklift to the weight room.

Yesterday I posted about the analogy I drew between AI discourse ignoring ethical questions of environmental and IP justice and a 19th century discourse on sugar that ignored slavery. I mulled a bit about the parallels, and upon consideration, they seem more apt than I first realized:

I flustered the chair of our AI Policy group a bit today asking how our students ed. guidelines will grapple with the ethical issues of copyright violation and disproportionate impact of data center placement on poor and minority communities.

More grist for the AI Policy Group meetings. Though I fear things are are accelerating as we try to keep pace with AI adoption by our students. My fear is the pace will leave us acting before fully considering all these problematic issues.

Sharing to save for my role on my school’s AI policy group. I known the AI fans will be digging up shady research and trying to flog it as legit consideration for our work.

I feel this ties in with right wing commentator “outrage” over liberals’ vocal disinterest in being friends with them. I’ve felt conservatives (elites at least) want liberal acceptance more than the reverse. Also gives perspective on those who run to conservatives when liberals scorn them (eg Maher)

More info for the AI policy working group I’m part of at my school. I joined the group because they need some skeptical voices, and I’m it.

Introduce yourself with five concerts you’ve seen: Runrig Andy M. Stewart and Manus Lunney Phil and Johnny Cunningham Flogging Molly The Young Dubliners

This is a great resource. I'm really enjoying seeing other faculty's ideas for AI-resistant or AI-proof writing assignments, and I hope to see the selection grow as we strategize together to promote real learning against the tide of technological bullshit. against-a-i.com/assignment-i...

Fascinating

Sharing to save; this will be helpful for my school’s AI policy committee.

I really found this article thought-provoking. I have a longer set of thoughts about how this idea of civic virtue connects with the classical Greek notion of the idiot (not the same as our modern idea!) But that’s a post for when I have a bit more time.

The common thread in the destruction of architectural symbols of our nation’s greatness, whether by murderous terrorists or would-be autocrats, is a hatred of our pluralistic way of life.

I feel like there’s a thread between Trump’s appalling destruction of the White House Rose Garden and the current demolition of the East Wing. Both are legacies of well-regarded Democratic presidents (JFK and FDR) whose popular historical reputations have always been resented by conservatives.

I feel like the second part of this idea often gets overlooked by many well-meaning liberal and progressive people. The arc bends because people put pressure on it, both for justice and for injustice. And there are lots of folks pushing on the unjust side. We need to be active in opposing them.

Aluminum Zeppelin

Happy Juneteenth!

I made it safely home from Disney Comcert Hall downtown after my school’s graduation, luckily avoiding the menace of… *checks notes* …some lunchtime office workers, two kids on bikes, and a guy filming a TikTok video. Sure glad we’re spending $150 million to bring in the National Guard. /sarcasm

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”When he heard this, Jesus said, “Well, we’re all going to die! For heaven’s sake, folks!” Joni 11:1,3-4

The Wire Babylon 5 Hill Street Blues Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Taking suggestions for the fifth! Firefly is so short…

In my defense, I spend a lot of time interacting with high school aged boys.

A heartwarming story to wrap up your weekend.

Posting to save for the future. It’s unclear whether OP teaches several 25-student classes or if 25 is his teaching load. But still a worthwhile post for Teacher Appreciation Week.

My wife works for a research institute at UCLA that studies Latino History. Her work on the origins of Cinco de Mayo is well worth repeating today. Threaded in the comments.

This key fact is often lost in the right wing braying about privatizing the USPS - our postal service intentionally sacrifices efficiency for universal service. That’s the mission. Also overlooked: this is *constitutionally mandated*. This message brought to you by the son of a letter carrier.

We started a unit on medieval Europe last week, and the appearance of another society featuring a warrior aristocracy got me thinking about Hegseth, his eye-rolling screed “War on Warriors” and the general conservative fixation on “warriors” and “warrior spirit” in our armed forces. (Thread)

Among the many ways you can categorize folks along the lines of “there are two kinds of people in the world”, I think one of the most important is: those who agree with Blackstone that it is better for ten guilty people to go free than for one innocent person to be punished, and…

Starting our unit on medieval Europe today and I’m reminded yet again what a historically illiterate title Hayek’s Road to Serfdom is. Serfs must depend on wealthy private elites because the government does not provide them with the services they need. The free market fundamentalists advocating…

Not an original thought, but a useful one in these times: it’s a helpful thought experiment to imagine what one’s reaction would be if the things the current US regime is doing were done by a foreign gov’t to American citizens. If the answer in one case is outrage, outrage should follow the other.

Here’s a great list for DMs always pressed for NPC names..:

What a great list. Reposting to save and revisit.

Lots of gearing up for the economic blackout tomorrow. Please bear in mind that while “Buy Nothing!” is a great slogan, we’re trying to affect big corporations, not the corner store, independent bookshop, or local indie café. So skip Amazon, but not the little guys-they need our support too!

There’s a lot of talk, mainly, but not exclusively, in conservative circles, about “common sense”. It’s usually deployed to dismiss expertise, or defend simplistic takes on complex issues. Here’s the thing. For millennia, it was common sense that the sun orbited the earth.

I’m very late to the game in finding (and enjoying)Ted Lasso, but among the many delights of the show is the subtle message that no matter how charming they may appear at first, the billionaires on the show, be it Rupert or Edwin Akufo, or Jack, are, at the end of the day, terrible people.

After being disappointed by Apple and Google, I’m making the move to MapQuest, too.