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A cynic could easily argue that the core purpose of the humanities has become to provide the illusion of progressivism to deeply unprogressive institutions, helping them appeal to wealthy liberal students. Colleges usher in social-justice-warrior faculty through the front door while exploiting workers, piling up student debt, and wooing mega-rich donors in the back. Humanities professors often think we’re critics of academic capitalism and rarely pause to wonder if we’re its unwitting stooges.
The Humanities Have Sown the Seeds of Their Own Destruction - The Atlantic
Tyler Austin Harper
The crisis can be solved only if we learn to invert the present deep structure of tools; if we give people tools that guarantee their right to work with high, independent efficiency, thus simultaneously eliminating the need for either slaves or masters and enhancing each person’s range of freedom. People need new tools to work with rather than tools that “work” for them. They need technology to make the most of the energy and imagination each has, rather than more well-programmed energy slaves.
Tools for Conviviality
Ivan Illich
Nine years later, the company created Tay, an A.I. chatbot designed to mimic the inflections and preoccupations of a teen-age girl. The chatbot was set up to interact with Twitter users, and almost immediately Tay began posting racist, sexist, and homophobic content, including the statement “Hitler was right.”
The Inside Story of Microsoft’s Partnership with OpenAI | The New Yorker
Charles Duhigg
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