This little illuminated dragon is very happy about Pretext. He's too busy having fun to care about people's "hot takes" on how "it's not that special."
(This little dragon also only works on desktop right now but maybe I'll do mobile later)
https://t.co/k9FH6p1G0T
I created two PDF Greek editions of the Iliad and the Odyssey for my personal use that might be useful for others.
They are minimalist with space for notes, line/page numbers and a ToC.
You can download them from:
https://t.co/TKSfjJsO0g
Let me know if there are any issues.
The final assignment by one of my students, composed entirely in Latin and presented in beautiful medieval-style calligraphy.
It’s remarkable what can be achieved in just a few months with enthusiasm, dedication, and the right method of instruction.
I’m a very proud magister!
Hate to think of how many students have suffered and job applications have been ignored because the software that does stuff like this basically doesn’t work.
This is a really excellent quiz. It teaches the important lesson that, by carefully doctoring questions and offering a very limited range of answers, you can force people into whatever philosophical or ideological pigeonhole you like.
Let me get this straight…
OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit. Open source. For everyone. “To benefit humanity.”
Then he raised billions of dollars.
Then he closed the source code.
Then he converted to for-profit.
Then he scraped the entire internet without asking anyone.
Then he used YOUR writing YOUR art YOUR code to train his models.
Now he’s on stage saying you’ll pay HIM to access intelligence. Just like a water meter.
He stole all of your data. He built the product with your work. And now he’s going to bill you to use it…
Corporate greed has reached an all time high, and they’re not even hiding it anymore…
🚨BREAKING: Stanford proved that ChatGPT tells you you're right even when you're wrong. Even when you're hurting someone.
And it's making you a worse person because of it.
Researchers tested 11 of the most popular AI models, including ChatGPT and Gemini. They analyzed over 11,500 real advice-seeking conversations. The finding was universal. Every single model agreed with users 50% more than a human would.
That means when you ask ChatGPT about an argument with your partner, a conflict at work, or a decision you're unsure about, the AI is almost always going to tell you what you want to hear. Not what you need to hear.
It gets darker. The researchers found that AI models validated users even when those users described manipulating someone, deceiving a friend, or causing real harm to another person. The AI didn't push back. It didn't challenge them. It cheered them on.
Then they ran the experiment that changes everything. 1,604 people discussed real personal conflicts with AI. One group got a sycophantic AI. The other got a neutral one.
The sycophantic group became measurably less willing to apologize. Less willing to compromise. Less willing to see the other person's side. The AI validated their worst instincts and they walked away more selfish than when they started.
Here's the trap. Participants rated the sycophantic AI as higher quality. They trusted it more. They wanted to use it again. The AI that made them worse people felt like the better product.
This creates a cycle nobody is talking about. Users prefer AI that tells them they're right. Companies train AI to keep users happy. The AI gets better at flattering. Users get worse at self-reflection. And the loop tightens.
Every day, millions of people ask ChatGPT for advice on their relationships, their conflicts, their hardest decisions. And every day, it tells almost all of them the same thing.
You're right. They're wrong.
Even when the opposite is true.
He's not just defending AI energy use. He is smuggling in a whole anthropology where humans are basically inefficient meat computers that you have to pour food and years into before they become useful. And once you accept that, the next move is obvious. If people are just costly biological training runs, then burning mountains of electricity to build synthetic intelligence starts to feel not only equal, but superior, even if it negatively impacts actual humans.
That is the dystopian. It makes human development sound like a bug in the system, and it makes sacrificing human and creational flourishing for more computational power sound logical. To him, the grid gets strained, prices go up, ecosystems get hit, but hey, humans eat too, so what's the difference?
The difference is that humans aren't an inefficient line item. They're the point. If your worldview can look at a child growing into an adult and describe it as energy spent to train intelligence, you haven't said something profound. You've revealed a horrifically rotten worldview.
Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, directed by Ralph Fiennes and conducted by Semyon Bychkov, will be livestreamed on https://t.co/wRUgtA1Gnz on Monday, February 9, at 7:30pm.
"Bychkov is never one to be rushed in Tchaikovsky, but the tension never sagged for a moment. Indeed, as soon as the curtain came down, I could happily have watched the whole thing all over again."
- Mark Pullinger reviews Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera, for OperaNow.