Posts in: link

The biggest immediate lesson from the OpenAI meltdown

The fact that the governance of one of the most visible AI companies in the world can change literally overnight should be a reminder that we can’t make our judgements about a company’s trustworthiness based simply on a vibe about their CEO.

This is certainly true. And this is a lesson that should transfer to other large/influential organizations.

Army Ammunition Plant Is Tied to Mass Shootings Across the U.S.

“A Defense Department official, in a statement, said “commercial utilization brings lower costs to the Army and taxpayer, and keeps a skilled work force better positioned to respond to surge requirements.” The official said a 2021 study found that the government received a 10 to 15 percent discount on ammunition by allowing commercial sales.”

The military industrial complex and the government have a co-dependent relationship. As a result, taxpayers save money on defense spending and are subject to the widespread distribution of this ammunition.

Texas Bishop Loudly Critical of Pope Francis Is Removed

“The Holy Father has relieved from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Tyler,” Bishop Strickland, the Vatican said on Saturday in a routine statement of global staffing changes. It added that Francis had appointed Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of Austin as the apostolic administrator of the sede vacante, or temporarily vacant seat, of Tyler.

A divisive & toxic episcopate comes to its end.

Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans

Mr. Miller said Mr. Trump would invoke Title 42, citing “severe strains of the flu, tuberculosis, scabies, other respiratory illnesses like R.S.V. and so on, or just a general issue of mass migration being a public health threat and conveying a variety of communicable diseases.”

This is unfounded & inhumane xenophobia coming from the Trump camp. Gross.

Should this country elect this former president again, we will surely see our democracy become a dictatorship.

As Gaza Hospitals Collapse, Medical Workers Face the Hardest Choices

From an academic perspective, bioethicists often discuss a health care worker’s “duty to care.” Health care workers are good people and are willing to give of themselves in order to care for the infirm and vulnerable.

Reading a story like this brings the agony and terror of negotiating one’s duty to care in the midst of death and destruction from theory to the reality of life. I cannot imagine the burden these health care workers are bearing on behalf of these patients.

“We choose who gets ventilation by deciding who has the best chance of survival,” [Mohammed Qandil] said. “For us as a team, these aren’t easy decisions. It’s a morally sensitive issue with a lot of guilt.”

This is a tremendous amount of moral distress for health care workers. I pray for peace in the region, for the end of suffering, and that health care workers will have what they need to care for those in need.

Can Humanities Survive the Budget Cuts?

Full disclosure: I have multiple degrees in the humanities. 😃🎓

This article focuses on the state auditor of Mississippi and his judgment of ROI for state spending on higher education. I think there should be a healthy debate on the ROI of a degree & I would offer that most people’s sense of ROI is far too narrow. But, I digress…

Here’s the quote that is stuck in my mind:

Mr. White, the Republican state auditor, said his first questioning was whether state spending on degree programs matched the needs of the economy.

This quote demonstrates the limited–and ultimately harmful–perspective of Mr. White and his peers in the GOP. This perspective places education and students in service of the economy. This is backwards. The economy should serve people. State higher education funding should serve people. Thinking of people as a means to achieve the end of growing the economy is ultimately degrading and dismissive of the dignity each is due.

The U.S. would be much better off if state leaders made funding decisions based on what serves people. Funding humanities programs promotes the common good by empowering the citizenry to think carefully and critically about the world around them.

However, an electorate educated in the humanities may well select different state leadership. Perhaps this is the ROI feared by Mississippi’s elected officials.