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The Death of the Student Essay—and the Future of Cognition One professor's reflections on the end of an era, as AI tools such as ChatGPT have murdered the student essay (RIP). Here's why that threatens the future of human cognition—and how to save ourselves.

After the latest round of grading papers, I wrote about AI, ChatGPT, the death of the student essay, and what it means for the future of human cognition.

honestly the incineration of waymos and the chucking of lime scooters at cop cars in LA is one of the few things thats bringing me joy in these dismal times.

This US Snitch Line Reports Canadians Providing Gender-Affirming Care | The Tyee It’s a ‘terrifying’ update on an old anti-trans strategy, one lawyer says.

Trans Care BC has removed clinician names from its website and notified staff about the U.S. initiative as a precaution.

This healed the part of me that twinges every time I hear a transplant say Cap Hill

just added another 25 crowd-sourced locations to this passion project of mine, mapping change tables in Vancouver! if you have friends with babies or toddlers, please pass it on: vancouverchangetables.com

Almost as bad as asking if we miss Bush

Four Films to Help the World Make Sense | The Tyee History is like jazz, retracing what came before.

@dorothywoodend.bsky.social: To be blunt, it’s not very fun living through history.

But documentaries are useful for context and even a grim comfort.

Securing your phone before entering the USA. 🧵
At CDC we travel around the globe to confront health threats and have never worried about returning home. Yet more researchers, including US Citizens, are having their phones searched at Customs.

security.ucop.edu/resources/tr...

(1/27) Humans in rainforests….humans in deserts? A thread!

A message from the brave woman - Dr, Teresa Borrenpohl - who was dragged out by unmarked private security in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Do Pandemics Ever End? | NEJM Since pandemics are sociopolitical as well as epidemiologic events, their end is determined not only by epidemiologic criteria but also by social, political, economic, and ethical concerns.

Now that measles is on the rise again in the US, along with bird flu becoming 'endemic', it is worth pondering the question once again: Do pandemics ever end? www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

When Platforms and the Government Unite, Remember What’s Private and What Isn’t For years now, there has been some concern about the coziness between technology companies and the government. Whether a company complies with casual government requests for data, requires a warrant, ...

As more tech CEOs seem willing to put their companies’ culture and technology at the behest of the US government, it’s good to remember which platforms have access to what data.

My first anthropology degree restored the faith in humanity that I’d lost. My second one highlighted how communities help each other through crisis. I think the whole Terminator franchise is based on a flawed understanding of humanity as harbingers of hate and destruction—that’s quite Eurocentric.

So weird

I think so. I was on 25mbps up until 2020 and didn’t notice it being slow until I had to be on video calls. 100 sounds like plenty

A winter wonderland view from my balcony today. Apartment living is so much more enjoyable when surrounded by trees.

The new “Don’t Just Do Nothing: 20 Things You Can Do to Counter Fascism—Yes, You! Yes, Now!” zine makes a great gift for your liberal fam, friends, neighbors & coworkers!

Read, print & distro freely!

Full text & PDFs on @igd.bsky.social:

itsgoingdown.org/dont-just-do...

Alright, everyone who uses YouTube and complains about the algorithm not showing you what you're subscribed to -

I present this magic link. This will take you to the subscriptions feed which is only things you are subscribed to.

www.youtube.com/feed/subscri...

It’s so much easier to choose walking when it involves the forest! I did another walk home from town today and had to stop to appreciate this cedar

The upside of living somewhere underserved by public transit is walking (hiking?) 9km to get home and being rewarded like this
#qathet

Cycle of harm: "Scale and engagement are valuable to Facebook because they're valuable to advertisers. These incentives lead to design choices such as reaction buttons that encourage users to engage easily and often, which in turn encourage users to share ideas that will provoke a strong response."

archive.is/QSCJT paywall-free link to “Facebook is a Doomsday Machine” (The Atlantic, Dec. 2020)

Compared to other takes on social media that treat a platform as one homogeneous space, instead of a tool utilized in particular ways depending on the needs of a community, this is a great analysis.