"Lists colonise the mind and impoverish the imagination."

Elena Gorfinkel’s clarion “Against Lists” remains critically relevant. https://www.anothergaze.com/elena-gorfinkel-manifesto-against-lists/

Trump administration demands Columbia University:

put an outside Chair in charge of Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

adopt a new definition of antisemitism

reform admissions

ban masks

overhaul student discipline

comply immediately or risk funding. https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-1921e26f6b5a8585ad5cbda790846324

U.S. researchers consider "Scientific Exile" in France https://benhr.xyz/2025/03/14/us-researchers-consider-scientific-exile.html

General practice use of A.I. scribes is already much more widespread than people realise https://benhr.xyz/2025/03/12/general-practice-use-of-ai.html

“Should Australia’s GPs and patients be excited about the Medicare pledge? Yes and no” - by Mariam Tokhi, via onekind https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/25/should-australias-gps-and-patients-be-excited-about-the-medicare-pledge-yes-and-no https://bsky.app/profile/mariamtokhi.bsky.social https://beige.party/@onekind

“The result of Rehberger’s attack is the permanent planting of long-term memories that will be present in all future sessions, opening the potential for the chatbot to act on false information or instructions in perpetuity.” - Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/02/new-hack-uses-prompt-injection-to-corrupt-geminis-long-term-memory/

Brainrot, 1860s edition https://aeon.co/essays/the-french-modernists-loathed-and-loved-the-mass-media-of-their-day

A wonderful, detailed article about Fugazi’s music and legacy. They were the first band I every saw live (someone dug up the poster but sadly not the recording) and they remain unparalelled. I’m looking forward to seeing the new We Are Fugazi from Washington D.C. doco. https://thequietus.com/interviews/strange-world-of/best-of-fugazi/ https://dischord.com/fugazi_live_series/manly-nsw-australia-102691 https://www.docnrollfestival.com/films/we-are-fugazi-from-washington-d-c/

😳😳😳 Bonkers

"The Labs also lead a comprehensive program in nuclear security, focused on reducing the risk of nuclear war and securing nuclear materials and weapons worldwide. This use case is highly consequential, and we believe it is critical for OpenAI to support it as part of our commitment to national security. Our partnership will support this work, with careful and selective review of use cases and consultations on AI safety from OpenAI researchers with security clearances. Open A.I. - Strengthening America’s AI leadership with the U.S. National Laboratories" https://openai.com/index/strengthening-americas-ai-leadership-with-the-us-national-laboratories/

Take care of yourself, stay cool, and don’t be a numbnut. Check out HeatWatch for evidence-based ways to cool down. https://heatwatch.sydney.edu.au

Menthol cigarette ban overturned by new U.S. Administration

For those who are wondering where menthol bans are coming from, they’ve been recommended by WHO in line with the Frakework Convention on Tobacco Control. I was hoping governments might tackle ma’assel as well - unlikely now. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-24/menthol-cigarette-ban-proposal-withdrawn-by-trump-administration https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/who-study-group-on-tobacco-product-regulation-report-on-the-scientific-basis-of-tobacco-product-regulation-seventh-report-of-a-who-study-group

"Engaging AI in education requires far more resources and time than anyone wants to admit. It also calls for a level of nuance we’re not going to find on our social media feeds. I don’t know enough about generative tools and you likely don’t either to make the important decisions necessary to chart the best path forward for myself or my students with the AI we have today, let alone the AI that is on the near horizon."

Relatable points from Marc Watkins. https://marcwatkins.substack.com/p/ai-is-unavoidable-not-inevitable

Who’s Afraid of the Little Red Book https://benhr.xyz/2025/01/20/whos-afraid-of-the-little.html

"…we compared how ants or people tackle an identical geometrical puzzle. We find that when ants work in groups, their performances rise significantly. Groups of people do not show such improvement and, when their communication is restricted, even display deteriorated performances." https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2414274121

David Lynch was a visionary in an era bereft of them https://benhr.xyz/2025/01/17/david-lynch-was-a-visionary.html

The new are hotdogs sandwiches is are lozenges soup? https://www.thetakeout.com/1758741/progresso-chicken-noodle-soup-drops-review/

Microsoft has partnered with a utility company to restart a reactor at Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear disaster in US history - Behind the Money podcast https://shows.acast.com/behindthemoney/episodes/how-the-ai-boom-is-reviving-three-mile-island

To paraphrase Frederic Jameson it seems to be easier for us today to imagine the thoroughgoing deterioration of human knowledge than the breakdown of academic publishing models. This paper by Williamson, Macgilchrist and Potter tries to conceive what that could look like.

"Legacy AI systems have been removed from publishing infrastructures, and Big Tech partnerships have expired without renewal. Peer reviewers are remunerated and review times have been extended to 4 weeks or more, to protect time for rigorous reading and thoughtful response." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2024.2436835#d1e142

Life moves pretty fast.

An important example of how public knowledge is being controlled through intimidation, doxing and brigading.

Heritage Foundation plans to ‘identify and target’ Wikipedia editors https://forward.com/news/686797/heritage-foundation-wikipedia-antisemitism/