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Florida Higher Ed Faces an Ideologically Driven Assault Unparalleled in US History

American Association of University Professors: “Earlier this year, the AAUP established a special committee to review the apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida. Today, after interviewing dozens of faculty members at multiple public colleges and universities in the state, the committee has released a preliminary report concluding that academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history. If sustained, this onslaught threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country. The report includes four main findings: The Florida governor and state legislature are using their swift, aggressive, and ongoing “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida as a test case for future encroachments on public colleges and universities across the country. This “takeover” has proceeded through Governor DeSantis’s appointment of a slate of six highly partisan trustees, five of whom live outside the state and are publicly known as right-wing activists, to New College’s board of trustees. Their goals are to transform New College into a flagship right-wing institution by restructuring the administration and academic departments, developing a “new core curriculum,” and eliminating all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs….”

The full preliminary report from the AAUP special committee on Florida can be found here.

Former Gun Company Executive Explains Roots of America’s Gun Violence Epidemic

ProPublica: “From the movie theater to the shopping mall, inside a church and a synagogue, through the grocery aisle and into the classroom, gun violence has invaded every corner of American life. It is a social epidemic no vaccine can stem, a crisis with no apparent end. Visual evidence of the carnage spills with numbing… Continue Reading

Every self-help book ever, boiled down to 11 simple rules

Mashable: “The first self-described self-help book was published in 1859. The author’s name, improbably, was Samuel Smiles; the title, even more improbably, was Self-Help(opens in a new tab). A distillation of lessons from the lives of famous people who had pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, it sold millions of copies and was a mainstay… Continue Reading

AI Initiatives from Biden Administration

Via Tech Policy Press: “A little more than a week ago, the White House released its national research and development strategy for artificial intelligence. The document joins the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights, a phalanx of AI initiatives from the Biden administration, including: The White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights;… Continue Reading

Is That Climate Change? The Science of Extreme Event Attribution

CRS, Is That Climate Change? The Science of Extreme Event Attribution. June 1, 2023: “Climate change attribution is the study of whether, or to what degree, human influence may have contributed to extreme climate or weather events. Scientists can now estimate whether human activities have influenced extreme weather or climate events and changed how likely… Continue Reading

Royal Collection Trust

“Explore the Royal Collection, one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. The Collection Online – Just under 270,000 records about objects in the Collection can now be found online. These records form a working database that we are… Continue Reading

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 3, 2023

Via LLRX – Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, June 3, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex… Continue Reading

Perplexity search engine

“The next iteration of Perplexity has arrived: Copilot, your interactive AI search companion. Perplexity Copilot guides your search experience with interactive inputs, leading you to a rich, personalized answer, powered by GPT-4. Try it for free at http://perplexity.ai“ Continue Reading

Regulating AI

Gizmodo: “What Would AI Regulation Look Like? How could Congress corral artificial intelligence? Erect guardrails, ensure accountability, and address monopolistic power. A new federal agency to regulate AI sounds helpful but could become unduly influenced by the tech industry. Instead, Congress can legislate accountability. Instead of licensing companies to release advanced AI technologies, the government… Continue Reading

It’s the End of Computer Programming as We Know It. (And I Feel Fine.)

The New York Times Opinion, Farhad Manjoo: “…A.I. tools based on large language models — like OpenAI Codex, from the company that brought you ChatGPT, or AlphaCode, from Google’s DeepMind division — have already begun to change the way many professional coders do their jobs. At the moment, these tools work mainly as assistants —… Continue Reading