All posts tagged: steroids

‘Eugenics on steroids’: the toxic and contested legacy of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute | Technology

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[ad_1] Two weeks ago it was quietly announced that the Future of Humanity Institute, the renowned multidisciplinary research centre in Oxford, no longer had a future. It shut down without warning on 16 April. Initially there was just a brief statement on its website stating it had closed and that its research may continue elsewhere within and outside the university. The institute, which was dedicated to studying existential risks to humanity, was founded in 2005 by the Swedish-born philosopher Nick Bostrom and quickly made a name for itself beyond academic circles – particularly in Silicon Valley, where a number of tech billionaires sang its praises and provided financial support. Bostrom is perhaps best known for his bestselling 2014 book Superintelligence, which warned of the existential dangers of artificial intelligence, but he also gained widespread recognition for his 2003 academic paper “Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?”. The paper argued that over time humans were likely to develop the ability to make simulations that were indistinguishable from reality, and if this was the case, it …

Snake oil on steroids: the dishonesty at the heart of Jeremy Hunt’s budget | Richard Partington

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[ad_1] Before his budget last week, Jeremy Hunt said he knew voters could see through gimmicks. “And we are not going to do gimmicks on Wednesday”. Fast forward and what did the chancellor offer? A tax-cutting budget where taxes were still actually rising, and the promise of more funding for public services grounded in a £20bn austerity drive. Having made very few new pledges that hadn’t been leaked to the media, the most attention-grabbing promise Hunt made was to declare an ambition to abolish employee national insurance – an unfunded commitment worth more than £40bn; equivalent to the annual transport budget. Knowing that most people don’t like gimmicks, it should have been clear to the chancellor this would come across as snake oil on steroids. Managing the juggling act of tax cuts while improving public services and slashing government debt was already sounding a stretch. Now it appeared that the chancellor wasn’t serious at all about these things. There was a more important consideration: bribing Tory MPs. The Conservatives have gone from the party of …

Homes on steroids: how Australia came to build some of the biggest houses on Earth | Housing

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[ad_1] It opens with a back-lit wine cellar, then the camera pans back; past the double garage and the fifth bedroom. Past the home theatre and the powder room. With a chill out soundtrack and a colour palette of overwhelming whiteness, the YouTube video promoting the Artisan 55 display home takes us into a double-height ceiling above the dining room. We swerve left to the kitchen and its butler’s pantry, and swing right to the family room and an expansive L-shaped lounge. Upstairs, of course, there are four more bedrooms – each with their own walk-in wardrobes and an en suite bathroom – and another living area simply designated “leisure”. At more than 400 square metres, the Artisan is substantially larger than the average new Australian home but it is emblematic of how over the past few decades, Australia has become home, by some measures, to the largest average new houses on the planet. I watch the Artisan video from the dining table of my own home, an 1880s row house measuring perhaps 110 or …

Trump calls Lt. Gov. Robinson ‘Martin Luther King on steroids’

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[ad_1] IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Now Playing Trump calls Lt. Gov. Robinson ‘Martin Luther King on steroids’ 00:45 UP NEXT Trump and Haley make final push ahead of Super Tuesday 02:11 Trump attorneys propose new trial dates in classified documents case 03:17 Biden asks Trump to urge Congress to pass bipartisan border security bill 00:55 Biden and Trump to hold competing events at southern border 00:59 Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump presidential immunity claim 03:19 High court to consider Trump’s immunity claim 02:05 Full special report: Supreme Court agrees to take Trump immunity case 12:43 Why Supreme Court taking up immunity case is a win for Trump 01:34 Supreme Court agrees to take Trump immunity case 02:41 Michigan voters give Trump fifth state primary victory 02:18 Trump speaks after projected win in South Carolina GOP primary 01:00 Trump calls on Alabama legislature to protect IVF services 03:14 Biden, Trump speak out as U.S. political fallout grows from Navalny’s death 02:09 Trump reacts to …

Trump compares North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to ‘Martin Luther King on steroids’ — despite a long history of offensive remarks

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[ad_1] GREENSBORO, N.C. — Former President Donald Trump likened North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to Martin Luther King Jr. in an endorsement Saturday, despite the gubernatorial candidate’s long history of controversial comments about homosexuality, religion and victims of sexual abuse. “This is Martin Luther King on steroids,” Trump said of Robinson at a pre-Super Tuesday rally in North Carolina. “I told that to Mark. I said, I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” he continued as he offered Robinson his endorsement in the Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday. Robinson has been a vocal supporter of the former president and first endorsed Trump for re-election in June while speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, D.C. Robinson, a pastor, is a polarizing figure, catching harsh criticism for his past comments about women, Muslims, Jewish people and members of the LGTBQ community. The favorite to secure the North Carolina gubernatorial Republican nomination has, for example, insinuated that homosexuality is a stepping stone to …

‘Disinformation on steroids’: is the US prepared for AI’s influence on the election? | US news

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[ad_1] The AI election is here. Already this year, a robocall generated using artificial intelligence targeted New Hampshire voters in the January primary, purporting to be President Joe Biden and telling them to stay home in what officials said could be the first attempt at using AI to interfere with a US election. The “deepfake” calls were linked to two Texas companies, Life Corporation and Lingo Telecom. It’s not clear if the deepfake calls actually prevented voters from turning out, but that doesn’t really matter, said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice-president of Public Citizen, a group that’s been pushing for federal and state regulation of AI’s use in politics. “I don’t think we need to wait to see how many people got deceived to understand that that was the point,” Gilbert said. Examples of what could be ahead for the US are happening all over the world. In Slovakia, fake audio recordings may have swayed an election in what serves as a “frightening harbinger of the sort of interference the United States will likely experience during …

Weightlifters using testosterone-boosting steroids tend to have poorer sleep, study finds

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[ad_1] A study from Norway has found that men who use muscle-boosting steroids are more likely to suffer from poor sleep quality. The findings, published in BMC Psychiatry, suggest that these sleep issues might persist even after steroid use ends, highlighting the need for increased awareness of the side effects associated with these substances. Anabolic-androgenic steroids, commonly referred to simply as “steroids,” are synthetic substances that mimic the effects of the male sex hormone testosterone. They are used medically to treat conditions like delayed puberty and muscle loss from certain diseases. However, steroids are more commonly known for their use by athletes and bodybuilders to enhance muscle mass, strength, and physical performance. The motivation for this study stemmed from the observation that steroid hormones naturally present in the body have a profound influence on sleep patterns. Since steroids are derivatives of these natural hormones, there was a scientific interest in understanding whether and how synthetic steroids might affect sleep. Prior evidence suggested that individuals using steroids could experience sleep disturbances, but there was a lack …

Usher Drops New Album 48 Hours Before Super Bowl, Says His Halftime Show Is “My Residency on Steroids”

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[ad_1] We are living in the year of Usher. With just two days to go before he takes the stage for the Super Bowl halftime show, the king of R&B has released his ninth studio album, Coming Home, his first solo record since 2016; it comes, of course, on the heels of a successful residency in Las Vegas and a newly announced tour set to commence this summer. A jam-packed schedule is nothing new for the hitmaker, who told Vanity Fair that preparing for Sunday’s halftime show has “really been a process.” “I’m learning something at the age of 45. It is to savor the moment. Days are becoming shorter. Weeks are becoming shorter. Years feel like months now; they go by so fast. I’m just trying to savor every bit of it and just enjoy it,” he said of the forthcoming show. “The anticipation that I’m feeling and the excitement that people have, the calls I’ve gotten, the support that I’ve gotten from fans, the outpouring of messages around what it’s going to be …

On TikTok, videos promoting steroids are exploding — and at times targeting teens

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[ad_1] In a new report, a social media watchdog group details how steroid content is exploding in some TikTok communities, promoting potentially dangerous and often illegal substances while propagating unattainable body image ideals to boys and young men. Researchers with the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) found that videos tagged with hashtags promoting the use of steroid-like drugs have racked up more than 580 million views among U.S. users in the last three years, the bulk of which come from young men between the ages of 18 and 24. Data for views from under-18 users isn’t available. “Young women and girls aren’t the only group of young people who are being exposed to potentially damaging and dangerous content online,” CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said. “A growing – and chronically understudied – crisis is being fomented among young boys and men, wrapped in toxic ideas of masculinity, strength, and misogyny, and amplified by unaccountable algorithms.” The CCDH groups the substances in question together under the umbrella of “steroid-like drugs” rather than calling them “performance-enhancing drugs” …