Month: October 2025

What Happens When Science Degenerates Into a Spoils System?

What Happens When Science Degenerates Into a Spoils System?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Recently, figures like Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker — household names among popular science fans — have been Canceled in various venues because they refuse to deny that humans — like all primate mammals in our body plan — are sex binary. These former luminaries are discovering that, in emotionally charged matters, atheism and materialism are not the highroad to reality-based thinking that they have supposed. Most of their Cancelers agree with them that there probably is no God. And that the human brain is a randomly evolved structure that may or may not apprehend the world correctly. The Cancelers then take the next logical step: We are each entitled to our own private truth about ourselves. That can include being “born in the wrong body.” Today, the fact that such a concept makes no sense whatever is no barrier to demanding that other randomly evolved brains be compelled to accept and act on it — and even to subject children to it. And now, a new flashpoint Anna Krylov, a University of Southern California …

Old Fridge Lament and Christian Good News – OpentheWord.org

Old Fridge Lament and Christian Good News – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Our old fridge was the same color, but not as battered and had a freezer on top. Credit: Dorrel Tibbs, unsplash.com My wife and I had a new fridge delivered this week. Our old one was making all sorts of weird noises. It was so loud at times, we had to turn up the TV to drown it out. We had a repairman out twice earlier to fix it for the same issue. Both times were expensive repairs, but cheaper than buying a new one. I said the third time it happens we get a new fridge. I still regret getting rid of our old yellow fridge several years back. We had it for over 20 years. It came with the first house we bought when we got married. I suspect it is still faithfully working in the cabin of the people who bought it. They don’t make appliances like they used to. Some call it “planned obsolescence”. Meanwhile…. Christianity No Longer a White Man’s Religion According to a researcher with Operation World, Jason Mandryk, …

Religion is being weaponised for political ends. The UK must embrace secularism

Religion is being weaponised for political ends. The UK must embrace secularism

Published by Sam Flores

A recent Catholic Herald piece on “Britain’s new wars of religion” touted the return of politicians very much “doing God.” This shift is fuelled in part by immigration and the flow of religious influence from overseas, bringing fundamentalism, sectarian divisions, and the ripple effects of foreign conflicts onto our own shores – making religion in public life harder than ever to ignore. The growing entanglement of religion and politics – both on the far right and among Islamist-leaning groups – does not bode well. From Tommy Robinson’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally and UKIP’s Christian nationalist “crusade“, to counter-protests in Whitechapel where masked Muslim men vowed to “defend their community” and prayed In the street, religion is being wielded as a political weapon, threatening social cohesion and the secular foundations of stable democracy. Whether it’s Christian grifters claiming “Christian nationalism is here and Christ is indeed King”, or Islamist groups chanting “Zionist scum, off our streets” and other slogans asserting dominance in public spaces, these rallies are not merely expressions of belief. They are shows of …

We will not follow legal requirements, faith school tells Ofsted

We will not follow legal requirements, faith school tells Ofsted

Published by Sam Flores

A faith school has told Ofsted that it “cannot, and will not” teach legally mandated content which conflicts with its religious ethos. During an inspection in September, Ofsted found Talmud Torah Tiferes Shlomo, an Orthodox Jewish school in London, does not include all the required content of statutory relationships and sex education (RSE) guidance for secondary pupils. This includes failing to teach about “intimate and online relationships, consent and some of the protected characteristics”. Schools are required to promote equality and pupils’ understanding of the protected characteristics which are outlined in equality law. But many Jewish schools fail to do so because they have religious objections to teaching about LGBT people. Ofsted said that whilst leaders “want their school to meet all the standards”, they are “unable” to do, as covering all required RSE content would be “entirely unacceptable on religious grounds, including to parents and carers”. Inspectors were also blocked by school leaders from speaking to pupils about any “matters relating to RSE” with pupils. A previous Ofsted report found that pupils “spend most …

There are so many reasons to pop out with your kin this month. Let these art and fashion drops be your guide

There are so many reasons to pop out with your kin this month. Let these art and fashion drops be your guide

Published by Sam Flores

Paul Mpagi Sepuya presented by LAND Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Untitled (2020-120), 2020. Color Laserprint Collage on Strathmore Bristol 100lb vellum paper, 19 x 24 inches. (Photo by Paul Mpagi Sepuya) Living leaves behind fragments, our personal archive of notes and recorded memories. In “Excerpts & Fragments,” the new exhibition presented by Los Angeles Nomadic Division, artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya examines life’s fragments through the three modalities of his practice: zines, books and photographs. Through these documents, the viewer travels across Sepuya’s memory as he traverses New York and L.A. in search of his artistic path and creative vision. Through this show, Sepuya offers a window into friendships, queer communities and personal growth. Open from Nov. 8 through Dec. 21. 2413 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles. nomadicdivision.org Gap X Sandy Liang GAP x Sandy Liang. (Photos from GAP) Hot on the heels of its viral Katseye collaboration, Gap is tapping into girlhood through a new collaboration with Sandy Liang. Inspired by Liang’s nostalgic memories shopping at Gap in the `90s and 2000s , the collection features low-rise …

Scaling Up is Not Going to Make Large Language Models Intelligent

Scaling Up is Not Going to Make Large Language Models Intelligent

Published by Jenni Sidey

Large language models (LLMs) create an illusion of intelligence by generating glib, confident responses to almost any user prompt. The reality behind the illusion is that LLMs do not understand how the text they input and output relate to the real world; thus, they are consequently prone to factual and logical errors (for example, here and here). True believers note that LLMs have improved over time and argue that they will become more intelligent as they continue to scale up by increasing the amount of data they train on, the size of the model (number of parameters), and the computational resources (for example, here and here). In pursuit of that goal, LLM creators are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers that will allow them to scale up their models. The core problem Scaling is not going to make LLMs intelligent in any meaningful sense of the word, because it does not solve the core problem that LLMs do not know how words relate to the real world. Recognizing this, LLM creators are …

Space travel: The future is slowly becoming everyday reality

Space travel: The future is slowly becoming everyday reality

Published by Jenni Sidey

A groundbreaking discussion is coming up at COSM 2025 between Eric Schmidt, former chairman and CEO of Google, and George Gilder on today’s burgeoning space industry. Earlier this year, Schmidt acquired a controlling interest in Relativity Space, which is “on a mission to better connect humanity to space and the universe beyond our planet.” Sounds far out? You’re right. But the remarkable fact is that routine commercial space travel is also really starting to happen. With what implications? At Ars Technica, senior space editor Eric Berger commented earlier this year, It is not immediately clear why Schmidt is taking a hands-on approach at Relativity. However, it is one of the few US-based companies with a credible path toward developing a medium-lift rocket that could potentially challenge the dominance of SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket. If the Terran R booster becomes commercially successful, it could play a big role in launching megaconstellations. “Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt is the new leader of Relativity Space, March 10, 2025 Relativity Space likes to call itself a “customer-centric …

On the State of Men and Reading

On the State of Men and Reading

Published by Jenni Sidey

The data shows us that young men in America are struggling. Bereft of life purpose, they are gaming, binging on porn, isolating themselves from society, and overall, are giving up on life. Social scientists and authors like Scott Galloway have argued vehemently that the “war on men” isn’t helping anyone of either sex. And the situation for men is worse than many people think. A new essay from Harper’s by Daniel Kolitz tells the tragic story of a movement of young men essentially organizing their entire lives around pornography consumption. After COVID, male isolation and unhealthy tech dependency has only gotten worse. So, what’s the solution? Reading great books might not immediately come to mind, but according to professor Shilo Brooks, it just might be a part of the answer. In a recent podcast with new CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, Brooks spoke about the value of reading, how college students are no longer comprehending and digesting books, and why the recovery of reading can help men. In the episode, Shilo comments: “Great works of literature …

Ex Wife of Hamas Terrorist Becomes a Christian – OpentheWord.org

Ex Wife of Hamas Terrorist Becomes a Christian – OpentheWord.org

Published by Sam Flores

Watch Tower on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Credit: Marius Arnesen, Flickr:Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 no CBN recently had a story on how the ex wife of an Hamas terrorist left Islam and become a Christian. Juman Al Qawasmi was raised in a strict Muslim home and hated both Jews and Christians. Her father actually helped co-found Hamas that would go on to rule Gaza. Her journey to Christ started because of the way Hamas brutally treated its own people after successfully winning the Gaza election in 2006. Former US President, Jimmy Carter, actually headed a delegation that went to Gaza to oversee the voting. Carter wrote, “Hamas proceeded a year later, 2007, to murder all their opposition in Gaza, literally throw them off the rooftops, massacre *Palestinians* from opposition parties in the streets. The writing was on the wall. In blood.“ As she watched the slaughter of fellow Muslims, Juman was struggling with her own personal faith. She didn’t feel there was anything she could do to make Allah like her. …

Special educational needs reform could be a bureaucratic nightmare – here’s how to put families first

Special educational needs reform could be a bureaucratic nightmare – here’s how to put families first

Published by skeptic

Plans to reform support for children with special educational needs in England have been delayed after the government announced its new policy would not be unveiled until 2026, rather than autumn 2025. However, there has already been some indication of what the government will do. The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, recently promised to set “clear expectations for schools” on how they work together with pupils’ parents. She also outlined her intention to overhaul the process by which parents can make complaints. In a statement, Phillipson said: “To help us deliver the most effective set of reforms we can, I have taken the decision to have a further period of co-creation, testing our proposals with the people who matter most in this reform – the families – alongside teachers and other experts.” The additional wait for the schools white paper that will set out the policy will be disappointing to those who are keen to see change in the system. But it also creates an opportunity to ensure the government gets reform right. As an expert …