All posts tagged: afraid

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Says AI Hijacks Intimacy, Be Afraid of People Who Make AI

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Says AI Hijacks Intimacy, Be Afraid of People Who Make AI

Published by Daniella Wilson

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who was appointed the United Nations’ first global advocate for human-centric digital governance in March, is arguing that instead of being afraid of AI, “we should be concerned about the people building AI.” In a new video interview with The New York Times, the actor was asked his current biggest fear about the technology. “I would object to that question just because reducing these concerns into one sound bite of fear — that’s one of the problems,” Gordon-Levitt responded. “To me, saying: Oh, I’m scared that AI could exterminate all of humanity — that doesn’t really get at the substance of the concern. There’s real validity to that concern. But that’s not the thing that really worries me,” he said, explaining that his worries are “a lot more complicated and a lot more boring to talk about, because it’s a lot more dense,” citing “the decline of democracy, the decline of human empathy” as a concern. “These companies are betting on the notion that they’re going to take over the entire economy. That …

Yes, You Should Be Afraid of Death

Yes, You Should Be Afraid of Death

Published by Jenni Sidey

Most attempts to console us about death begin by denying that it is an evil. But what if it is an evil—and our task is not to deny this, but to prevent the fear of death from spoiling the life that remains to us? Is Death an Evil? In 1970, the philosopher Thomas Nagel published a short paper entitled “Death,” in which he asked: If death is the permanent end of our existence, is it an evil? There are, at least for the non-believer, only two possible answers. Either death is an evil because it deprives us of life, or it is a mere blank because there is no one left to suffer this deprivation. If death is an evil, it is not because of any unpleasant attribute that it has, such as eternal torment, but because of what it takes away: life itself. For Nagel, the bare experience of life is intrinsically valuable, regardless of the balance of its good and bad elements. The longer we live, the more life we accumulate. Death, in …

Should We Be Afraid of Our Food?

Should We Be Afraid of Our Food?

Published by Sam Flores

The cyclosporiasis outbreak that has garnered so much attention in recent months is unquestionably bad news. People have been sickened in at least 48 states, and the number of lab-confirmed cases—about 17,000—represents only a fraction of the number of people who have been infected by the parasite. But as foodborne illnesses go, a cyclospora infection—most likely caused in this instance by the consumption of iceberg lettuce contaminated with human feces—is relatively mild: unpleasant but rarely life-threatening. The two people who have died during the current outbreak had serious underlying conditions. Other foodborne pathogens are far more dangerous. More than 1 million Americans are sickened by Salmonella every year; invasive, potentially life- threatening infections occur in about 8 percent of lab-confirmed cases, and cause meningitis, sepsis, and other serious complications. A botulism infection can cause paralysis, seizures, nerve damage, lung damage, and brain damage, as well as death. A few years ago, I reported here on an outbreak of Cronobacter infections linked to powdered infant formula and the subsequent recall by Abbott Nutrition. Two recent botulism …

Why the right is so afraid of the Girl Scouts

Why the right is so afraid of the Girl Scouts

Published by Sam Flores

The American culture war has always had a bit of a sweet tooth. There were the Oreos that became boycott fodder after the brand released an ad centered on a young man coming out to his family. There were the M&M’s, whose female candy characters became recurring objects of Tucker Carlson’s concern after Mars swapped the Green M&M’s go-go boots for sneakers and otherwise made its anthropomorphic chocolates, in his estimation, insufficiently sexy. And now there are Girl Scout cookies. Over the weekend, a fresh conservative outrage cycle formed around reports that Girl Scouts could earn religious recognitions through programs that involve learning about Islam and, in some cases, visiting mosques. Right-wing figures quickly began calling for a boycott. Laura Loomer, herself a woman who has made a career out of loudly asserting her own opinions in public, declared that she would “never buy Girl Scout cookies ever again.” There was, however, an important bit of context missing from much of the outrage. “There’s misinformation circulating online today about Girl Scouts and religion,” the organization …

Why Men Need Therapists Who Aren’t Afraid of Them

Why Men Need Therapists Who Aren’t Afraid of Them

Published by Jenni Sidey

The problem with therapy for many men is not that they refuse to talk. The problem is that they can quickly tell when the person listening cannot handle the truth. A man will not tell the truth to someone he believes will be triggered by it. And by “it,” I mean by his anger, his regrets, or the darker parts of his story. Before a word of technique can be used, before a single interpretation is offered, men are already asking themselves: Can this person handle what I’m about to say? Only when the answer feels like yes, does the real conversation begin. There is a phrase that gets used a lot in therapy circles: holding space. It sounds compassionate, but the phrase is often used so casually that it loses its meaning. Over the years, I’ve come to understand holding space differently. Holding space is not something a therapist does with techniques. It is something the therapist is. A client does not simply step into an office. He steps into the life of the …