Cornell Vows That Rapists Will Be Forced To Write Much Longer Essays In The Future theonion.com/cornell-vows...

But an increasing proportion of arrests have been made by local law enforcement in partnership with ICE, via 287(g) agreements. In many regions, it can be difficult to know when local officers are conducting routine policework or immigration enforcement. In many cases, they are doing both.

ICE is now lying in wait outside convenience stores, or at busy intersections. Agents are arresting people at international airports. Local police and sheriffs, deputized by the federal government, are detaining immigrants during traffic stops. ICE is now detaining more immigrants than ever before.

The result: national govts, think tanks and universities refocusing AI evaluations to focus on highly speculative problems where there is no empirical evidence that they're possible - but lots of ideological reason to take them seriously, whatever the costs of the very REAL issues we then ignore .

Since we’re doing another round of “AI will destroy humanity” doom-hype, it’s a good time to announce a new paper myself and my postdoc advisor just had accepted by BioSocieties on just this. TL;DR: almost all the “AI can make bioweapons” literature comes ultimately from the Effective Altruists.

Notably the journalist who covered it is part of the Tarball Center for AI journalism, funded by by a who’s who of EA/rationalists and AI-tied philanthropy. It’s an industry aligned group, like we used to see with tobacco and still see with fossil fuels. Sucks to see this in science.

The journalist covering this preprint is on a fellowship funded by coefficient giving and Longview philanthropy, among others. The lead author of the study Valen Tagliablue is listed as a Digitial Sentience Consortium and Oxford FIG. Who funds those?

Joe Bak-Coleman@jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 4d ago

Notably the journalist who covered it is part of the Tarball Center for AI journalism, funded by by a who’s who of EA/rationalists and AI-tied philanthropy. It’s an industry aligned group, like we used to see with tobacco and still see with fossil fuels. Sucks to see this in science.

8/ As the @nytimes.com reported, DraftKings uses machine learning and data scientists to entice losing customers with promos to keep them going — even if those are the customers at risk of becoming addicts. The company says it doesn’t unfairly target people.

How DraftKings Uses A.I. to Target the Gamblers Likeliest to Lose

Data science helps determine who receives betting incentives, but the company has resisted using similar technology to protect gamblers at risk of addiction.

nytimes.com

Exxon is now expecting a 2.5 - 3C rise by 2050 But says f*ck you - we are just going to keep right on sucking up as much gas and oil as we can Because even though we know what's coming, we really don't give a sh*t www.reuters.com/business/ene...

Exxon raises 2050 global emissions forecast, sees slower coal decline

The world is at risk of falling behind in efforts to reduce carbon emissions by 2050, ExxonMobil said in its annual energy outlook published on Thursday, as ​the burning of coal could decline at a slo...

reuters.com

"“You begin by doing things voluntarily and then that (and not much more) becomes the regulation,” the BP exec wrote."

Rebecca Leber@rebleber.bsky.social · 2w ago

Oil companies have presented themselves "as 'good-faith' (their words) partners eager to act while at the same time working behind the scenes" to head off methane regulations An important investigation out from @juliakane.bsky.social fieldnotes.substack.com/p/an-oil-exe...

If you’d like to see a philosophy talk about how social beliefs influence science, and then science influences social beliefs, and then they keep feeding back on each other, you can calendar.pitt.edu/event/fff-ca...

FFF – Cailin O’Connor - Closing the Loop on Social Influence in Science

The Center for Philosophy of Science invites you to our Featured Former Fellow online lecture presented by: Featured Former Fellow: Cailin O’Connor Tuesday, September 22nd @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm EST Title: Closing the Loop on Social Influence in Science Abstract: The prevalence of social influence in science is widely documented. But this influence is not one-sided. Social beliefs and values shape science, and at the same time are shaped by scientific findings. This mutual influence raises the possibility of dynamical interplay between science and society. But while this possibility has been mentioned numerous times in the literature, there is relatively little work attempting to analyze and outline how this mutual influence might work. This talk argues that two-way influence between science and society is promiscuous, occurring via a wide range of mechanisms that start with both values and related cultural background beliefs, and influence both values and related cultural background beliefs. I’ll discuss three sorts of general patterns at play—positive feedback, polarizing feedback, and amplification. This talk will be available online only: Zoom: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/91092965122 YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrRp47ZMXD7NXO3a9Gyh2sg.

calendar.pitt.edu

NSF is consolidating its geoscience research grants into a new program, GEOcore and reducing annual grants to $110 million total in 200-350 awards. Typical was about $300 million in 1,200 awards. Not including institutional grants ($1.3 billion/yr) and those may be gone. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Geosciences Core Research: Atmospheric, Geospace, Earth and Ocean Sciences (GEO Core)

nsf.gov

By taking this money, social scientists allow Anthropic rather than the scientific community to decide what the agenda will be in AI research.

The Risks of Taking that Sweet AI Money

Anthropic is offering $200M to the funding-starved social sciences, but at what cost?

cailinoconnor.substack.com

*Big El Niño Boost in next few weeks! Our already record El Niño is about to get a spike to “Historic”. Humans have never seen such an episode, so I’d expect some unprecedented events. A major push of west winds in the Tropical Pacific will surge warming. 1/

Ok, I hate snow and when it's so cold the air hurts my face. But this is not good. This El Niño will occur at a time of already unprecedented ocean warmth globally with the average temp hitting a record high in Aug The impacts are very serious for everybody #Pinks www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-...

Supercharged El Niño heading for record strength; Canada’s winter may ‘take a holiday,’ climatologist says

For Canadians, one expert said the most noticeable effect will likely be a milder winter dominated by Pacific rather than Arctic air

ctvnews.ca

In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the U.N. acknowledges that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming’s harms. So now the world must figure out how to get temperatures below the danger zone and back to safety, officials say.

Global warming will exceed limit, U.N. says in a report that maps path to get back below danger zone

“If we act now we can limit overshoot,” the report said. “Not a safe world, but safer than remaining above” 1.5 degrees for the long term.

nbcnews.to

Oh look there it is

Oh my God are we going to need a whole new area of law for people who make AIs that then commit crimes their creator didn't intend?

Eiko Fried@eikofried.bsky.social · 4w ago

If I hacked 3 companies, was caught, and would argue that “the incident reflected a failure of operational security” on my end, I’d .. still go to jail. Do I understand correctly there won’t by any legal consequences for Anthropic? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

It made no sense for me to write on this topic, but for some reason I can't stop thinking about Nara Smith and all the weird ways people interpret her content

Nara Smith is a Performance Artist, Not a Tradwife

A close textual reading of the work of Smith

cailinoconnor.substack.com

Looks like @lastpositivist.bsky.social @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social @nathan-gabriel.bsky.social and I wrote one of the 10 best papers in philosophy last year! We actually wrote it, like, 5 years before, and forgot to submit the final version to Ergo for years. Kismet!

Congrats to @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social, and Nathan Gabriel for their paper being selected @lastpositivist.bsky.social was also an author but he wouldn't want congratulations.

Justin Weinberg@dailynous.com · 4w ago

The Philosopher’s Annual for 2025 has been released. It aims to “select the ten best articles published in philosophy each year—an attempt as simple to state as it is admittedly impossible to fulfill.”

Happy to see @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @lastpositivist.bsky.social, Nathan Gabriel and I's paper "On the Stability of Racial Capitalism" get included on this list! Link to the open access paper below

Justin Weinberg@dailynous.com · 4w ago

The Philosopher’s Annual for 2025 has been released. It aims to “select the ten best articles published in philosophy each year—an attempt as simple to state as it is admittedly impossible to fulfill.”

Majority of Americans support banning social media for kids under 16 Across major demographic & partisan groups, more Americans support a ban. Large majorities of U.S. adults also support parental consent, age verification and time limits. And is even more widespread today than in 2023.

8/28/26 #D.C. LIVE update: 'March on Washington 2026: ‘Defend the Vote’ rally at Lincoln Memorial live updates' www.ms.now/liveblog/mar...

March on Washington 2026 live: Defend the Vote, Lincoln Memorial

Follow live updates from the March on Washington 2026 at the Lincoln Memorial, featuring Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, AOC and Bernie Sanders.

ms.now

SCOOP: Trump officials are pressuring the National Park Service to find a way to give a small piece of Yosemite to a private developer. The land would be used for a road, to give the developer rare private access to the heart of the park.

Trump’s Quietly Working to Give Part of Yosemite to a Private Developer

The National Park Service is under pressure to make an unprecedented deal that cedes a quarter-mile strip of the park.

notus.org

Let's make this book a bestseller: Rabbit Farming in the Middle Ages and Beyond: A Landscape History. David Gould. www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10....

Researching this book was such a fantastic adventure, seeing firsthand land set free across Costa Rica, Scotland, Ireland, and meeting some of the true heroes rewilding the Earth. So what an immense joy to finally get a (*beautiful*) copy into my hands! Releases September 10th.

Adapting to climate change without ending the fossil fuel industry.

Sharing this fantastic piece by my student Tori Cotton - she draws on her work using feminist theory to explain why we’ll tell all our secrets to big corporations as long as a chatbot is in the middle www.prindleinstitute.org/2026/08/why-...

Why the New Surveillance Doesn’t Feel Like Surveillance at All - The Prindle Institute for Ethics

It's amazing the things we reveal when we think no one is listening.

prindleinstitute.org

We obtained 3,000 pages of emails sent by execs asking that their facilities be exempted from Clean Air Act rules. As of mid-July, the White House has approved ~200 requests. Tomorrow at 4 pm ET, join us for an event exploring the impact (w/ @chicagotribune.com @deepsouthtoday.org @latimes.com):

Clean Air Act: Dismantling One of the Country’s Bedrock Environmental Laws

Join us for a discussion about the rollback of the Clean Air Act and what it means for public health in communities across America.

events.propublica.org