News Updates

Brave new world

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Week XXV, MMXXV
Speaking at the opening of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence in Cambridge in 2016, six years before the public launch of ChatGPT, Stephen Hawking said, “The rise of powerful AI will be either the best, or the worst, thing ever to happen to humanity. We do not yet know which.” In imagining the worst, Hawking’s mind went to “powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many.” Yet this week, MIT released research showing that some of the most dangerous applications of AI could be among the most mundane: Students who used the popular conversational-AI platform ChatGPT to write essays showed the lowest brain engagement, consistently underperformed at neural and behavioral levels, and became increasingly lazy with subsequent tasks, while those who wrote without it showed the highest neural connectivity and creativity. We weren’t surprised.

—John Jamesen Gould
The Signal—your loyal guide to a changing world. … This week, in the member’s despatch:
DEVELOPMENTS
Israel vs. Iran vs. …? Global conflict is on the rise. & Addictive consumer technology is getting to kids.

+ The military dictatorship in Mali gets a new lease. Poland’s government survives a confidence vote. The U.S. administration slashes Voice of America. An extreme heat wave hits the States. & The pope warns about AI’s impact on young people.
CONNECTIONS
Is political violence in America really getting worse?
FEATURES
What do you do if you’re the European Union, and you’re sitting on more than $200 billion belonging to the Kremlin? Sir William Browder on a potential turning point in the Ukraine war.

& Why is production declining in Hollywood? Patrick Adler on the short-term disruptions and long-term trends transforming an industry.
BOOKS
From Amar Bhidé, on how successful entrepreneurs and business leaders manage uncertainty; Russell Jones, on why the Japanese economy has stagnated; & Evan Osnos, on why the ultra-wealthy are buying more and larger superyachts.
MUSIC
From Neggy Gemmy, Yumi Zouma, & Buscabulla.

+ Who is Bad Bunny?
WEATHER REPORT
33.8813° N, 108.5390° W …
Open
Behrouz Jafarnezhad
MUSIC
‘Miraverahí’
Buscabulla is a duo that met and started working together in Brooklyn, though they’re both from Puerto Rico. This track is off their just-released record, Se Amaba Así—and you’ll hear a lot of Brooklyn synth-pop in it. The album title translates to “The way love was.” It’s their first new recording since they were vaulted into prominence through a collaboration with Bad Bunny on his 2022 album, Un Verano Sin T.
Listen
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