Deep inner suffering inevitably arises when the human person is reduced to performance, consumption, or a statistical datum. Many young people today live under the yoke of expectations to perform, immersed in an exasperated competitiveness that generates anxiety, fear of not measuring up, and disorientation.
Artificial intelligences do not undergo experiences, do not possess a body, do not feel joy or pain, do not mature through relationships, and do not know from within what love, work, friendship or responsibility mean. Nor do they have a moral conscience, since they do not judge good and evil, grasp the ultimate meaning of situations, or bear responsibility for consequences. They may imitate or even simulate, but they do not understand what they produce, for they lack the affective, relational, and spiritual perspective through which human beings grow in wisdom. #MagnificaHumanitas
🇦🇪 The New York Times reports that the UAE paid more than $6 million to the reputation management firm Terakeet between 2020 and 2022 to manipulate Google search results and suppress damaging reporting by Drop Site co-founder Ryan Grim, then at The Intercept, about Emirati Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba.
The 2017 investigation examined allegations surrounding Otaiba’s ties to escorts and individuals linked to sex trafficking. According to the NYT, Terakeet responded by creating favorable profiles, using anonymous accounts to edit Wikipedia, and flooding the internet with SEO-optimized content designed to push Grim’s reporting off Google’s front page. By 2023, the article had reportedly been pushed as far back as page five of search results.
The broader NYT investigation examines how wealthy corporations, billionaires, and politically connected figures use high-end “reputation management” firms to manipulate online narratives, suppress scandals, and reshape what appears in Google searches. The report also details Terakeet’s work for Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein and billionaire Robert F. Smith following his tax fraud case.
Today marks the 78th anniversary of the Nakba (catastrophe), during which more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled and over 400 villages were destroyed to establish the State of Israel.
It's a little scary, admittedly, that I am watching One Piece via One Pace--the edit whose sole function is to make the pacing of the show better--and my main complaint about the show is still that the pacing is really bad