“Where everything else felt exhausted, the classroom was overflowing, plentiful. All we needed was a poem, a few hours each week, and trust in what we could do, in what we did do, together.”

@johannawinant.bsky.social on the real power of close reading in a growing age of austerity:

AI always calling your ideas “fantastic” can feel inauthentic, but what are sycophancy’s deeper harms? We find that in the common use case of seeking AI advice on interpersonal situations—specifically conflicts—sycophancy makes people feel more right & less willing to apologize.

"The untold billions firehosed by investors into its development; the water-guzzling data centers draining the parched exurbs of Phoenix and Dallas; the yeti-size carbon footprint of the sector as a whole — and for what? A cankerous glut of racist memes and cardboard essays."

Bear all of this in mind when someone starts parroting in your direction all the utopian and progressive-buzzword-laden talk about AI’s potentials. I’m looking at you, fellow academics.

"Rent spiked by 20 percent in Los Angeles County after wildfires ravaged the area, according to a Washington Post analysis of listings data from RentCast, a property analytics service, raising alarms of price gouging in the midst of a housing crisis."

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

"Any attempt to encourage people to treat AI systems with respect should be understood as an attempt to make people defer to corporate interests." Julien Crockett interviews Ted Chiang about the dangers of AI. lareviewofbooks.org/article/life...