Commentary

Great article on the continued work in artificial intelligence.

Fascinating Scientific American article.

Excerpt from George Carlin: Life is Worth Losing (2005) "There's a reason education sucks, it's the same reason that it will never, ever, ever be fixed. It's never going to get any better, don't look for it, be happy with what you got. Because the owners of this country don't want that. I'm talking about the real owners, now. The real owners, the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying,­ lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else. But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 fucking years ago. You know what they want? Obedient workers,­ people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork but just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And, now, they're coming for your Social Security. They want your fucking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this fucking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club." -George Carlin

Need some good reads to throw into your beach bag?

Annalee Newitz, founding editor of io9.com, science fiction editor Ann VanderMeer, Ira, and Science Friday listeners all shared their science fiction suggestions for summer. There are literally dozens more here.

What would you recommend?

So many consequences for all of us. It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out, for better or for worse.

Dallas' hard-earned diversity of leadership may help city heal after police shootings - The Dallas Morning News An acknowledgement of a dark and painful past, but a positive and hopeful article about the future. Dallas is a diverse city and a great city. My greatest hope is that the visions expressed by city leaders in this article come to pass, and that the rest of the country will follow.

If you’re excited about the juno news today, sink your teeth into a Crash Course episode that’s all about Jupiter! 🔭  https://youtu.be/Xwn8fQSW7-8

You may have seen the exuberant celebrations of David Katoatau, an Olympic weightlifter competing in the 105-kg weight class for the island nation of Kiribati.

NBC titled their video clip, “Weightlifting makes David Katoatau want to dance.”

But there’s another, solemn reason for his joyful performance. Katoatau told Reuters he wants to raise global awareness of the climate change that threatens to destroy his country. 

Video: NBC, Map: Wikimedia