Zoombini
A photograph of the most remarkable and intelligent cat I’ve ever known, taken in 2012. She died five years ago, and I miss her still.
Quote of the Day
”A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin then waving it in the general direction of Italy.”
- Noel Coward
Musical alternative to the morning’s radio news
Bach | Cello Suite 1 | Pablo Casals
Long Read of the Day
You Are Not a Function
If, like me, you think that universities are heading into deep trouble, then this thoughtful essay by Brendan McCord might be helpful — especially given the way the Humanities are being marginalised. It starts back in 1809 when Prussia was trying to rebuild after a traumatic defeat by Napoleon and the task of designing the new system of education fell to a thirty-two-year-old diplomat named Wilhelm von Humboldt. He proposed a university where professors and students would be joined in the pursuit of knowledge, unconstrained by political demands. In a defeated nation hungry for officers and administrators, he argued for ‘formation’ before function. In other words, he came up with the idea that a human being is more like a tree than a steam engine (as John Stuart Mill put it). And the modern research university, with its union of teaching and inquiry, its seminar culture, and its commitment to academic freedom is a direct descendant from that idea. But it’s now losing the plot by forgetting the question that Humboldt asked: What is a human being, that education should serve it?
In a world where your economic value can evaporate overnight, “Become a whole person” sounds like advice from someone who has never worried about next month’s rent. The utilitarian case for education has the force of necessity behind it. For millions of people, making yourself useful is what responsibility to their families demands.
Yet if the response to being replaceable is always to train for a different function, you have entered a race you structurally cannot win. The principle that makes your education valuable is the same principle that makes you disposable the moment the function migrates.
The scramble into computer science was an early sign of the trap: students rushed toward the field that seemed safest, and then AI began destabilizing the very functions it trained them to perform. The flight to function looks rational from inside it; that is what makes it a trap.
Why?. Because once you define what the formed person looks like, you have replaced formation with training.
AI has some grim lessons in store for such malformed graduates.
Tech bros, beware: resistance to AI moves from theory to direct action
Yesterday’s Observer column
On the morning of 10 April, a guy threw a molotov cocktail at the exterior gate of the mansion of OpenAI boss Sam Altman in San Francisco. Two days later, two people tried a spot of drive-by shooting at the house. Also this month, an Indianapolis city councillor was woken by 13 gunshots and found a note on his doorstep saying: “No data centers”. It turns out that, days before the latter shooting, the councillor attended a metropolitan development commission meeting to advocate for the rezoning of a property where the developer Metrobloks was seeking to build a datacentre.
Meanwhile, Maine is poised to become the first US state to pass a temporary ban on datacentre construction. It’s just the first of at least 11 more states – Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin – that have proposed to restrict or ban datacentre development.
What we’re seeing are the first stirrings of anti-AI populism, a volatile movement driven by economic desperation and a distrust of tech elites. In that context, the attacks on Altman’s home and a councillor who advocated for a datacentre look like early signals of a seismic shift from critique to direct action.
Even as they beef up their personal security, the tech bros are baffled and hurt by this development. But, really, they only have themselves to blame. From the outset in 2022, their messaging about the technology has been infantile…
(Pdf version here).
My commonplace booklet
Two caveats on Orban’s defeat.
The first from John Quiggan:
Most important, but less clear, are the implications for Trumpism in the US. The result is a double-edged sword. By showing that even an entrenched regime like Orban’s can be defeated in a democratic election, it gives us hope. But the lesson for the Trumpists is that democracy must be suppressed as soon as possible. An Orban-scale defeat in the 2026 midterms would make it very difficult to steal the presidency in 2028. Looking at the polls that’s quite likely unless the 2026 elections are suppressed, as Trump has previously suggested.
The second from Simon Wren-Lewis, who also has a nuanced take on the Hungarian result.
Trump’s actions could actually add to the support of right wing populist parties outside the US if those parties are not in government. In particular Trump’s Iran war is leading to lasting increases in the price of energy and food, similar in scale to the increases seen after the end of the pandemic. We know that the latter was associated with a period where incumbent governments fell around the world, perhaps because many voters blamed those governments for the hit to their prosperity. In that respect Trump’s actions could provide a boost to right wing populists in the years to come.
For this reason alone Orbán’s defeat should not be seen as a turning of the tide against right wing populism. I argued here that ever since advocating extreme socially conservative views has become normalised, there will always be at least a third of the electorate that will be attracted by parties that make immigration and overt nationalism their main issues. Hard economic times, and in particular cuts to public services, will boost that number, as many voters begin to believe that immigrants are responsible for their stagnant real wages and their difficulty in accessing public services. These are the circumstances that offer right wing populist opposition parties the chance to gain power, and in Trump’s case and perhaps in Orbán’s case to regain power.
Linkblog
Something I noticed, while drinking from the Internet firehose.
- A perfect gift for someone who makes an annoying number of smartphone calls?
Screenshot
A 1950s-style handset that plugs into the phone. Link. Sadly, no use to me.
Feedback
Ivan Morris (himself a formidable golfer) was not impressed by this passage from Elizabeth Nelson’s account of Rory McIlroy’s final round in the Masters golf tournament:
Standing on the 18th tee, following a week of wild fluctuations in his game that had nevertheless vouchsafed him a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler’s posted 11-under, he only needed to find fairway to functionally call game on the tournament.
But that is not Rory’s MO. Instead, he pulled his drive so far right that my editors and I briefly had to reconsider whether we’d still be writing a Rory-repeat story.
Ivan points out that, for a right-handed golfer, a “pull” involves a ball swinging left. Rory did exactly the opposite — he pushed the ball right.
Tut,tut.
This Blog is also available as an email three days a week. If you think that might suit you better, why not subscribe? One email on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays delivered to your inbox at 5am UK time. It’s free, and you can always unsubscribe if you conclude your inbox is full enough already!