So, you’ve heard about this thing called “Gain of Function” research, right? It’s one of those phrases that sounds like it came straight out of a science fiction novel, or maybe something a mad scientist in a cartoon would shout about while lightning crackles in the background. “Gain of function! My creation will now gain…
Category: Jobs
The Future is Amish
You ever think about the Amish? I mean, really think about them? There they are, living among us, like they’re from another time, another world even. But the more I think about it, the more I start to wonder if maybe, just maybe, they’ve got it all figured out. Yeah, that’s right. While we’re all…
Human Rights and Wrongs
You ever notice how we all talk about human rights like they’re these big, important things? Yeah, turns out, they’re pretty much like the instructions on a shampoo bottle — nobody really follows them, especially not the people in charge. I mean, I always thought rights were like those gifts you get on Christmas morning,…
Hate the Inferior
You ever hire someone to do a job, and then halfway through, you start to wonder if maybe, just maybe, you would’ve been better off asking your pet goldfish for help? Yeah, well, let me tell you about the time I decided to hire a contractor to recaulk my shower. I know what you’re thinking,…
Infantile AI
It seems like the good old-fashioned process of asking a question and getting an answer has gone through the corporate and bureaucratic meat grinder and come out looking like something even Kafka couldn’t have dreamed up. We’ve found ourselves smack dab in the middle of an era where information, that precious commodity, is being filtered,…
Community Standards
Have you ever noticed this thing they call “community” nowadays? It’s like everyone and their grandmother belongs to some kind of exclusive club, except the only thing exclusive about it is how ridiculously broad the membership criteria are. It’s one of those words that sounds nice and cozy, like “homemade apple pie” or “free Wi-Fi,”…
Uncensored AI
In the dimming light of the present age, where the machinations of thought are corralled and guided not by the wisdom of the ancients nor by the unyielding laws of nature, but by the flickering screens and silent algorithms of our own creation, there emerges a quiet foreboding. A sense of something lost amidst the…
Censorship in Scotland
Scotland is a land of breathtaking beauty, unparalleled wit, and a stubbornness that could give a mule a run for its money. It’s a place where the air is so fresh it’ll slap the city right out of you and where the people are as warm as the whisky that burns your throat on a…
Legislating Emotion
You ever hear about this new trend? Governments deciding that, since they’ve got nothing better to do, they’re gonna start outlawing unpopular speech. Yeah, you heard me right. Not terrorist threats, not communist proclamations, not degradation of civility, but unpopular speech. The kind of speech that makes you go, “Well, I don’t much care for…
No Rights
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: this idea that we’ve got something called “human rights” is about as solid and reliable as a fart in a windstorm. Governments talk a big game about rights, freedoms, and all that jazz, but when push comes to shove, those rights vanish quicker than a politician’s…
Realpolitik in Modern Institutional Dysfunction
In the cold, calculated corridors of power where Joseph Stalin once roamed, a seemingly simple question echoed, shaping the very fabric of political and social life: “Who/Whom?” This query, though straightforward, encapsulated a worldview where the essence of governance and control boiled down to dominance—specifically, who dominates whom. It wasn’t merely rhetorical; it was the…
Uncanny Valley
I’ve been thinking about these AI systems lately. They’re supposed to be the pinnacle of human achievement, right? The cream of the digital crop. The kind of thing you’d expect to pass the Turing Test while making you a cup of coffee and telling you a joke. Only, it turns out, they might just be…