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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:51
“Lula’s win was a win for the Amazon,” one global human rights leader said of his environment and Indigenous ministers. Environmentalists and rights advocates around the world are celebrating Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s selection of Marina Silva and Sônia Guajajara to serve as the nation’s environment and Indigenous ministers, respectively. Lula, who Continue reading »
Created
Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:51
After the farcical, almost psychotic over-promotion, Robert Freeman says the only place for the Ukrainian president to go from here is down. And, that is surely coming. Soon. When the president of the poorest, most corrupt nation in Europe is feted with multiple standing ovations by the combined Houses of Congress, and his name invoked in the same Continue reading »
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:32
A brief look back… The biggest philosophical news item of 2022, by far, as indicated by Daily Nous statistics, was the discovery of five crates of long-forgotten transcriptions of Hegel lectures in the archives of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. A bit lower on the list, though still in the top 50, was the placing online of a large selection of Quine’s correspondence. But lest you think it is just the past that philosophers get excited about, one of the other big topics in 2022 concerned large language models like GPT-3 and their use by students and researchers, as well as other developments in AI.  “Philosophers On GPT-3,” published two and a half years ago, continued to see a lot of traffic, and was joined by other posts published this year: “Talking Philosophy with ChatGPT“, “Conversation Starter: Teaching Philosophy in an Age of Large Language Models“, “If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: GPT-3 Edition“, “Two Cultures of Philosophy: AI Edition“, “We’re Not Ready for the AI on the Horizon, But People Are Trying,” and “Philosophy, AI, and Society Listserv“.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:29
As I write this we are awaiting the Speaker vote which is looking to be an all-day dumpster fire. Couldn’t happen to a nicer party. Meanwhile, the Democrats are all together, everyone committed to voting against mcCarthy, no game playing at all. Unbelievable. We really are in Bizarroworld. There are some great moments among the crazy, though. Here’s one: Awesome.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 04:16

Leaked files reveal the Anomaly 6 spy firm is providing intelligence to the British military through a cut-out involved in the Kerch Bridge bombing and other acts of dangerous sabotage in the Ukraine conflict. On December 6th, The Grayzone revealed how British military and intelligence agencies were deploying technology created by shadowy private intelligence firm Anomaly 6 to illegally spy on citizens across the globe. The company’s technology effectively transforms every individual on Earth into a potential target for surveillance […]

The post British-run spy tech powers Ukraine proxy war, putting civilians at risk appeared first on The Grayzone.

Created
Wed, 04/01/2023 - 03:21

Setting the record straight and identifying less destructive pathways forward than round after round of interest rate increases.

Economic history is full of episodes in which inflation triggered both intense social conflicts and heated debates among economists and policymakers over its causes. The present worldwide upsurge in prices is no exception: from the moment governments and central banks first contemplated how to protect their citizens from COVID, inflation hawks and doves divided over whether the measures would touch off an inflationary price spiral.

Created
Wed, 04/01/2023 - 02:30
Bernie Sanders has health lobbyists spooked The Vermont senator is immune to their charms (Politico): The Vermont independent is set to take over the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next month. Leading the panel gives the Medicare-for-All proponent oversight authority over some of his policy priorities — drug pricing, workers’ rights and income inequality, and student and medical debt. But Sanders’ well-chronicled antagonism toward lobbyists has some concerned they’ll be unable to blunt criticism of their clients’ profits or corporate executive salaries. They are anxious Sanders might seek to revive policies like importing drugs from Canada and other nations, an idea loathed by drugmakers. Oh, the horror! Lobbyists also worry they’ll struggle to get traction on any push to make changes to a drug discount program involving pharmaceutical companies and hospitals or revisit association health plans after a Trump-era rule around them was voided. “This will not be business as usual for K Street.
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 02:11
NHS staff are professionals, not supernatural entities, says Nathan O’Hagan. They have the right to strike. But we also have the right to ask if our health services could be run more efficiently As millions stepped out of their homes to applaud the efforts of healthcare workers at the height of the pandemic, few would […]
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Wed, 04/01/2023 - 01:24
As China Rises, Europe Falls

Some interesting news in the semiconductor wars:

Now, ASML had indeed opposed US restrictions. They said explicitly that in the case of sanctions, China would learn how to make the machines themselves.