Readers of my recent blogs will have worked out (!) that I am concerned about how reliance on AI prevents students learning basic skills, depletes the number of people capable of supervising AI , and robs students of voice and authorship. Of course, I acknowledge that students reading these posts may roll their eyes! YetContinue reading “AI and Universities: students and AI”
Tag Archives: technology
AI and universities: teaching how to fake voice and inner-life
Voice and authorship are important A few years ago I took the night train from Amsterdam to Prague, and then on to Budapest. I was reading Imre Kertesz’ book, Fatelessness. The train ride was eerie, as I was riding South on some of the same tracks that Kertesz’ character had been taken North on, inContinue reading “AI and universities: teaching how to fake voice and inner-life”
AI and universities: Who will oversee AI?
AI in universities: short-term gains AI is inevitable in the sense that it has been forced upon us by tech oligarchs, and that it provides practical tools for short-circuiting lengthy processes such as writing, synthesis, programming, cleaning data, and so on. In the short-term, and from a purely pragmatic perspective, there are many reasons toContinue reading “AI and universities: Who will oversee AI?”
Born-again traditional media? Some thoughts on Substack ‘journalism’
As traditional media fizzles out, overtaken by billionnaires such as Murdoch, Bezos and Ellisson unashamedly peddling their ideological and technological agendas as journalistic fact, and as social media cannibalizes what is left, channeling us into echo-chambers, many independent analysts have turned towards platforms such as Substack or Patreon (which allow for paid subscriptions). These contributorsContinue reading “Born-again traditional media? Some thoughts on Substack ‘journalism’”
The (many) questions AI can’t address
This morning I read an interesting series of three articles in La Presse. They ask whether Artificial Intelligence (admittedly a wide-ranging and vague concept) will be salutary or catastrophic. One article puts the case for AI, one makes the case against, and the final one tries to balance the two. The limited case for AIContinue reading “The (many) questions AI can’t address”
Belief in stats and algorithms : an illusion of objectivity
Algorithms: or how to make responsibility disappear I am reading a fascinating book (Revolutionary Mathematics, by Justin Joque, Verso, 2022) in which he develops the idea that the current takeover of many everyday processes by algorithms (of which he explains the logic and maths – which I find fascinating!) is a form of objectification inContinue reading “Belief in stats and algorithms : an illusion of objectivity”
Flying cars are yesterday’s future
Flying cars have been around since cars were invented. Trajan Vuia built one in 1903, though only took off in 1906 (for a few meters). Henson and Stringfellow imagined a flying steam carriage as early as 1843. And so on, up until today’s breathless headlines, telling us – for example on 13th January 2025 –Continue reading “Flying cars are yesterday’s future”
General AI – headed towards irrelevance?
Focussed AI is a powerful tool Focussed AI is a useful tool when applied to closed and verified data, information and texts: so, for instance, it is easy to imagine it usefully summarising – and extracting information from – a curated body of legal texts, archives, interview transcripts, maps or programming routines. The key isContinue reading “General AI – headed towards irrelevance?”
If a ‘science’ feminizes, is it still considered science?
Sunday 11th February was United Nation’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is an important reminder of the biases – explicit and unconscious – that women face when they enter the world of research and academia. Biases are also faced by people from other historically disadvantaged groups. According to the UN, non-STEMContinue reading “If a ‘science’ feminizes, is it still considered science?”
Richard Shearmur 