Thomas Fleischman

The hantavirus ship’s route is niche for very serious birders and extreme country counters—it’s like a population specifically designed to get a pathogen to the actual ends of the earth in 60 days, especially the counters.

🚨 University professors have been saying AI is completely destroying learning and that we'll soon have an AI-powered, semi-illiterate workforce. Here's a glimpse into the educational apocalypse: "Sarah, a freshman at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, said she first used ChatGPT to cheat during the spring semester of her final year of high school. (...) After getting acquainted with the chatbot, Sarah used it for all her classes: Indigenous studies, law, English, and a “hippie farming class” called Green Industries. “My grades were amazing,” she said. “It changed my life.” Sarah continued to use AI when she started college this past fall. Why wouldn’t she? Rarely did she sit in class and not see other students’ laptops open to ChatGPT. Toward the end of the semester, she began to think she might be dependent on the website. She already considered herself addicted to TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Reddit, where she writes under the username maybeimnotsmart. “I spend so much time on TikTok,” she said. “Hours and hours, until my eyes start hurting, which makes it hard to plan and do my schoolwork. With ChatGPT, I can write an essay in two hours that normally takes 12.” - "By November, Williams estimated that at least half of his students were using AI to write their papers. Attempts at accountability were pointless. Williams had no faith in AI detectors, and the professor teaching the class instructed him not to fail individual papers, even the clearly AI-smoothed ones. “Every time I brought it up with the professor, I got the sense he was underestimating the power of ChatGPT, and the departmental stance was, ‘Well, it’s a slippery slope, and we can’t really prove they’re using AI,’” Williams said. “I was told to grade based on what the essay would’ve gotten if it were a ‘true attempt at a paper.’ So I was grading people on their ability to use ChatGPT.” - AI in education is a serious topic, and many schools and universities are blindly jumping into the "AI-first" wave without considering short and long-term consequences. It would be great to hear more from teachers and educators to understand potential solutions. This might be a great opportunity for rethinking the education system and how students are assessed. - 👉 Link to the full article below. 👉 To learn more about AI's legal and ethical challenges, join my newsletter's 94,700+ subscribers (link below).

veganism is not inherently a morally superior position. the vegetables and fruits you consume are also harvested via immense cruelty & exploitation, not to even mention indigenous practices or food deserts. if you care about animals, the position to take is anti-capitalism.

Rare footage of a sperm whale giving birth has offered scientists a window into the behavior of these large, elusive mammals.

Earlier this week, I broke fast at Rikers Island with New Yorkers in custody, Department of Correction staff, Commissioner Stanley Richards, and Councilmember Yusef Salaam. It was a night that will stay with me for quite some time. People sharing what little they have: breaking bread, offering prayer, making space for one another’s dignity even in the hardest place. In a system too often defined by what it takes, I was reminded of what it means to give—mercy, dignity, and humanity. May we extend that mercy as far as we can. Eid Mubarak to all.

The ending of TÁR (2022)