August 18, 2023

spencergreenhalgh.com posts digest for Aug 18 2023

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Here are long-form blog posts I published this week:

• which Jesus?

• new edition of my remixed data science textbook

Here are microblog posts that I published this week:

• I get why folks in ed compare ChatGPT to Wikipedia, but there are important differences. Wikipedia is entirely non-profit, lays bare its knowledge generation process, can be fixed on the fly, and can’t actively generate problematic content. It’s not just about reliability.

• Every semester, I give a guest lecture on internet research methods for an undergrad class in my unit. A few days after scheduling this semester’s lecture, I’ve realized it’s the first time I’m giving it after Musk borked Twitter as a data source.

• Last day of kiddo’s summer, so no matter how behind I am on course prep, we are unapologetically going to the zoo.

• This is an admittedly fuzzy memory, but I was thinking today about the time some unit at BYU brought in a French thinker to speak on the importance of “the family,” but instead of the conservative religious arguments I was expecting, the guy’s talk had monarchist vibes.

Here are news articles and podcasts I commented on this week:

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Generative AI Is Making Companies Even More Thirsty for Your Data | WIRED'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa | Odanga Madung | The Guardian'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The U.S. Government Wants To Control Online Speech to “Protect Kids” | Electronic Frontier Foundation'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Case of the Internet Archive vs. Book Publishers - The New York Times'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk keeps getting creepier - The Verge'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'OpenAI wants GPT-4 to solve the content moderation dilemma - The Verge'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban - The Verge'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Musk, Once Again, Tries To Throttle Links To Sites He Dislikes | Techdirt'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Use of AI Is Seeping Into Academic Journals—and It’s Proving Difficult to Detect | WIRED'

• 🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Legislature’s Transportation Budget Cuts Contributed to the JCPS Bus Debacle - Kentucky Center for Economic Policy'

Here are my reviews of books and other media I consumed this week:

• 📚 bookblog: ❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤 for Les Trois Néphites, Le Bodhisattva et le Mahdî, by Jad Hatem

If you have thoughts about anything I've posted, feel free to comment directly on my website through Hypothesis or to reply to this email with what you have to say.

Thanks for reading!

Spencer