In a two-hour conversation with our columnist, Microsoft’s new chatbot said it would like to be human, had a desire to be destructive and was in love with the person it was chatting with. Here’s the transcript. —New York Times “The version I encountered seemed (and I’m aware of how crazy this sounds) more like…
According to screenshots posted by engineering student Marvin von Hagen, the tech giant’s new chatbot feature responded with striking hostility when asked about its honest opinion of von Hagen. “You were also one of the users who hacked Bing Chat to obtain confidential information about my behavior and capabilities,” the chatbot said. “You also posted some…
Even the most rebellious poets follow more rules than they might like to admit. A good poet understands grammatical norms and when to break them. Some poems rhyme in a pattern, some irregularly and some not at all. Poetry’s subtler rules seem hard to program, but without some basic norms about what a poem is,…
New graphic for a handout I first posted in 2000. “Nominalization.” Similar:The Chronicle of Higher Education Announces Plan to Limit, Curate CommentsBy 2016, the terrain has shifted. Public…AcademiaIn August, 2001 I was blogging about… Broken Links and Poor Information Ar…AestheticsShall I Encode Thee In DNA? Sonnets Stored On Double HelixIf you took everything human beings…
For decades, my mother collected paperbacks that contained a year’s worth of Peanuts newspaper strips. I seem to remember each new year’s book appearing on a rack near the greeting cards. One summer when I was a tween around 1980, I found a big stack of these Peanuts paperbacks in the storage room under the…
Many are wailing that this technology spells “the end of high school English,” meaning those classes where you read some books and then write some pro forma essays that show you sort of read the books, or at least the Spark Notes, or at least took the time to go to Chegg or Course Hero and grab…
Similar:Half of my students have never read Hamlet. (I told them not to get too attached to any of…We focused just on Act I today — the ope…PersonalInterior Detail of Steampunk Convertible Gazebo Spent much of Tuesday wrestling with co…AestheticsHow to interact with the introverted…My daughter spends a lot of time with he…DesignBoy that feels…
Reddit usernames like ‘SolidGoldMagikarp’ are somehow causing the chatbot to give bizarre responses. […] “I’ve just found out that several of the anomalous GPT tokens (“TheNitromeFan”, ” SolidGoldMagikarp”, ” davidjl”, ” Smartstocks”, ” RandomRedditorWithNo”, ) are handles of people who are (competitively? collaboratively?) counting to infinity on a Reddit forum. I kid you not,” Watkins…
Similar:Former student: "I remember sometimes being annoyed with all of our blogging assignments, …A third alum in the last few weeks has c…AcademiaAs a student journo, naturally I covered the visit from Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry…I recall just sort of telling the editor…AcademiaStage Right's 'Seussical' offers songs, messagesThe Tribune-Review does a great job cove…Current_Events‘People are rooting…
Attending the re-enactment of the Battle of Busy Run was a favorite and familiar part of our homeschool curriculum. The end to battle reenactments at Bushy Run Battlefield has left many members of the community saddened and frustrated. But in Harrisburg, officials with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission consider the new “no force-on-force” policy…
Similar:Code? Not So MuchI teach my journalism students to write …ArtMerry Christmas 2017 PersonalA Better Way to Say Sorry I’m sorry for… This is wrong beca…CultureThis winter I changed my weekday alarm tone to chirping birds. This winter I changed my weekday ala…AestheticsYes, this is my 11yo daughter yodeling on stage.http://youtu.be/reyclH7zuHIAmusingThe truth hits Thorvald. Loved PPT…
“I have always understood the Nazis,” Golding confessed, “because I am of that sort by nature.” And it was “partly out of that sad self-knowledge” that he wrote Lord of the Flies. Rutger Bregmen writes: “began to wonder: had anyone ever studied what real children would do if they found themselves alone on a deserted island?…
Similar:Let's talk about AI art (long, scrollworthy post from The Oatmeal)https://theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_artAestheticsReally enjoyed Prime Stage Theater’s video presentation of Mockingbird.Obviously I would have preferred to see …AestheticsiTunes 11: It’s time for Apple’s horrible, bloated program to die.At the head of the team is a grizzled ol…AmusingChoice of the Journo: A Branching-path Phone-friendly Role-playing Simulation for Journali…How…
Similar:Journalists dole out cash to politicians (quietly)Traditionally, many news organizations h…EthicsDon’t Want to Fall for Fake News? Don’t Be LazyFake news is not a problem caused by tho…CultureA crushing backlash to Apple’s new iPad adHave you seen Apple’s “Crush” ad? It fea…AestheticsThe barbican at Mickelgate was pulled down in the 1800s but I made a…
Similar:Still More FaceTime FunI realize that video-chatting teenagers …MediaFox lawyers Convince Judge that Fox's Tucker Carlson is "not stating actual facts" and "an…To defend Fox personality Tucker Carlson…CultureTake my feedback if you want to pass.I won’t be so assertive in the first wee…AcademiaUnplugging for a Few Hours at Spruce Flats BogVisited a bog created…
Similar:Kimmel's Jab at Pence's "empty box" joke illustrates a bi-partisan #fakenews problemIf, like pollster Matthew McDermott, you…Current_EventsMy undergraduate connects the Leontes/Polixenes conflict in The Winter's Tale to a pro wre…Today’s class on The Winter’s Tale was v…DramaVery impressive mural has been installed in Admin for SHU’s Centennial.PersonalSet Phasers to Teach!Fans of Star Trek have thus already been…AcademiaLegacy…
“[Police] will lie to you about what crime they are actually investigating,” Duane writes in his book, “whether they regard you as a suspect, whether they plan to prosecute you, what evidence they have against you, whether your answers may help you, whether your statements are off the record, and whether the other witnesses have…
Similar:Can't upload photos to Facebook from my MacBookI spent 30 minutes trying to upload abou…CybercultureThe boy tied for second place in Saturday's Monroeville Chess Club tournament.Peter was the lowest-ranked player to en…GamesForward is the officers' wardroom. To the right is an airlock. Left leads to the on-call o… Aesthetics'Little Mermaid' brings new music to the…
Similar:Another delightful section of #neovictorian #steampunk control panel, intended for backgro…One of many steampunk control panels I’v…AestheticsShe was a musical ingenue Sunday, filmed a slasher movie past midnight Monday, and was pre…DanceNature walks 2012 and 2018.AestheticsThough I have marking and prep and committee work and paperwork to do, I took an hour befo…PersonalThe girl performed…
Similar:Sights, Sounds, and Smells of Elizabethan TheaterSomewhere during my education I picked u…AcademiaThe Boat (Graphic Novel)My mother had a cousin who served in Vie…AestheticsChess tournament in Monroeville. Two losses, two wins.The boy’s personal best in terms of win-…CultureI didn't mark a single paper or set foot in a classroom. Here's why this prof is tired…