Category Archives: 1947 – Quote, Unquote

Quote, Unquote

Posted on by
Reply

Apocalyptic belief behaves like its own psychological operating system. It’s not just pessimism or generalized anxiety with a religious coat of paint. People who believe humans will cause the end see global threats as more urgent and support far more extreme measures to avert them. Those who think God has circled a date on a divine calendar are much less inclined to risk radical action. Why swing the steering wheel if the crash was scheduled before you were born?
~ John Mac Ghlionn via The Hill

:::

Quote, Unquote

Posted on by

There is something deeper about the damage done by the government, too. The Anthropic-DoW skirmish is the first major public debate that is truly about where the proper locus of control over frontier AI should be. Our public institutions behaved erratically, maliciously, and without strategic clarity. Our political leaders conveyed little understanding of their own actions, to say nothing of the technology and its stakes. They got off on an extraordinarily bad footing, and it is hard to imagine them ever recovering, because they do not seem to care about improvement.
~ Dean Ball via Hyperdimensional

:::

Quote, Unquote

Posted on by

The moral confusion on too many campuses after the October 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis fits a familiar pattern. The acceptability of the speech depends on the speaker. Individuals from oppressed groups are given leeway to target oppressor groups through disruptions and threats. This victimology allows Palestinians and their supporters (the oppressed) to target, intimidate, and harass Jews (the oppressors).
~ Ben Sasse via The Atlantic

:::

Quote, Unquote

Posted on by

I have watched death as it happens, and I have watched birth. What I learned is that neither are discrete events. They are both processes, things that unfold. Birth is a series of awakenings, and death is a series of sleepenings. My son will take years to be born, and my father took six months to die. Some people spend decades dying.
~ Dean Ball via Hyperdimensional

:::

Quote, Unquote

Posted on by

Violence is glorified, commodified, and endlessly recycled. The same society that censors books sells bullets by the box. Music, films, and news alike turn killing into entertainment, then wonder why empathy has eroded. This is not an argument for censorship but for conscience. Art shapes appetite. When cruelty becomes content, compassion vanishes.
~ John Mac Ghlionn via The Hill

:::