All posts tagged: Age

Free to Speak, Not to Listen: Freedom of Expression in the Age of AI Chatbots

Free to Speak, Not to Listen: Freedom of Expression in the Age of AI Chatbots

Published by Jenni Sidey

Can you lose your free speech even when you are not prevented from saying anything? To answer this question, let us consider two ways in which governments could regulate AI chatbots in the near future. First, imagine a government prohibiting the commercialization of AI chatbots that fail to meet safety benchmarks. For instance, chatbots should not provide users with detailed instructions for building weapons, generate dangerous conspiracy theories, or encourage self-harm. We’ll call this case AI Safety. My second case is Political Bias. In this scenario, the government prohibits the commercialization of AI chatbots unless their developer can demonstrate that the chatbots are not politically biased and that the information they provide on controversial issues reflects a diversity of viewpoints. Would any of these scenarios violate stakeholders’ moral right to freedom of expression? This, of course, depends on who the stakeholders are. Consider, for a moment, that AI chatbots might possess speech rights. This may seem preposterous, but some scholars argue that conversational AI agents have a legal right to freedom of expression. Yet there are serious philosophical reasons to …

State pension age increase happening in weeks – full list of affected birth dates | UK | News

State pension age increase happening in weeks – full list of affected birth dates | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Anyone born between certain dates will see their state pension age change as the gradual increase continues. The state pension age was previously 66 years of age, but a gradual increase of one year is taking place, already having increased by weeks. It means that people won’t reach state pension age on their birthday, as the staggered change means some people will have to wait a few months after their birthday to become entitled. Those born between April 6 and May 5, 1960, were the first to be affected, with their state pension eligibility being delayed by a month. They become eligible when they are 66 years and one month old. For those nearing state pension age over the next few years, this will gradually increase until the state pension age finally settles at 67 years old. With August approaching, the next change is about to take place. Those born between August 6, 1960 and September 5, 1960, will reach state pension age when they are 66 years and 5 months. A person born on …

A yoga instructor says these are the four poses you should be doing to open your tight hips and build hip strength as you age

A yoga instructor says these are the four poses you should be doing to open your tight hips and build hip strength as you age

Published by Jenni Sidey

Tight hips can make climbing stairs, sitting down and sometimes even walking uncomfortable. Several factors could be causing a tightness in your hips, so I asked musculoskeletal physiotherapist and yoga teacher Mariam Shafei-Sabet to explain. She tells Fit&Well that hip muscles often take the strain of weaknesses elsewhere in the body, such as in your gluteal (buttock) muscles. Latest Videos From “If your glutes are weak or inhibited, the deep hip rotators, tensor fasciae latae or iliopsoas are forced to work overtime to stabilize your pelvis, resulting in secondary overload and structural tightness,” Shafei-Sabet says. Shafei-Sabet suggests the following exercises to create space in your hips, ease tightness and release tension in the surrounding muscles. You may like Of course, Shafei-Sabet pointed to other, non-muscular reasons for hip tightness, but they need an in-person medical professional to diagnose. If these exercises, done consistently, don’t provide relief, it may be worth seeking professional help to rule out other issues. Four moves to open tight hips 1. Low lunge Hold: 3-5 breaths each side Start your week …

In the age of influencers and TikTok reviews, what is a critic even for?

In the age of influencers and TikTok reviews, what is a critic even for?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Everyone’s a critic. Or at least that’s what they want you to believe. It’s hard to open Instagram or TikTok without being served a video of someone trying to shove an opinion down your throat. Influencers especially love to chime in on everything from the latest blockbuster releases to Broadway performances. These voices have transformed the way we discover and discuss culture, becoming trusted tastemakers in their own right and even earning coveted spots on red carpets. But in an era where everyone has an opinion, how do we know who to trust? It also doesn’t help that (if you haven’t heard) traditional journalism is struggling; the critics who helped shape generations of arts and cultural conversation are becoming increasingly rare. In the last year alone, legacy publications like The New York Times and the Washington Post have either restructured their …

Why can’t I eat as much as I used to? What happens to your appetite as you age

Why can’t I eat as much as I used to? What happens to your appetite as you age

Published by Sam Flores

When you were younger, you used to have a large, healthy appetite. But as you get older, you notice you get fuller faster and can’t eat like you used to. So what’s going on? It’s common for people to eat less as they age, said Roger A. Fielding, a professor of nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. In one analysis of nearly 60 studies, for instance, researchers found that those 60 or older consumed 16 to 20 per cent fewer calories than younger adults did. The big question is why, said Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State. Various factors, including a person’s age, can shape their appetite and how sated they feel after eating, so it’s challenging to know what might be affecting them. Here are a few potential culprits to consider, according to experts, and what you can do about them. HUNGER SIGNALS QUIET DOWN Hormonal shifts that occur with ageing can influence how much you want to eat, said Dr Margaret Manus, …

‘I don’t think I’ll ever retire’: the workers struggling to save for old age | Pensions

‘I don’t think I’ll ever retire’: the workers struggling to save for old age | Pensions

Published by Sam Flores

“I am 35 and have essentially nothing saved for my future, which is a huge concern.” Sarah* works in library services in Oxford – full-time at one library and part-time at another. She has saved £5,000 into her pension. After finishing her PhD in 2020, she said she had “good intentions of contributing to pension schemes. But because I then had a succession of part-time jobs, I never started. I never thought, this is a job I’ll be doing for long enough.” Sarah is part of a growing cohort in Britain who are not saving enough for their retirement – 15 million people, according to a report by the Pensions Commission. Its independent group of experts warned the figure could rise to 19 million without urgent action. The problem was particularly acute for women, the government-backed body said, with female savers approaching retirement having private pension pots on average half the size of those held by their male counterparts. Women had a median pension wealth of £81,000, versus £156,000 for men. Despite now working more …

A philosopher’s guide to thinking for yourself in an age built to think for you

A philosopher’s guide to thinking for yourself in an age built to think for you

Published by Jenni Sidey

Philosopher Jonny Thomson walks through Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s 3 conditions for the kind of stupidity that destroys societies: outsourcing your thinking to an authority, willful ignorance, and conformity.  He shows how each one shows up today, from AI answering our moral questions to political parties enforcing loyalty over conviction. This video A philosopher’s guide to thinking for yourself in an age built to think for you is featured on Big Think. Source link

More humans are living to be 100 years of age

More humans are living to be 100 years of age

Published by Jenni Sidey

In the comedy world alone, one thinks of George Burns (1896–1996), Dick Van Dyke (1925–), and Mel Gibson (1956–) Or, on the more serious side, British documentary presenter David Attenborough (1926–). Our World in Data tells us that, overall, people are indeed living longer: In 1900, the average life expectancy of a newborn was 32 years. By 2021 this had more than doubled to 71 years… The large reduction in child mortality has played an important role in increasing life expectancy. But life expectancy has increased at all ages. Infants, children, adults, and the elderly are all less likely to die than in the past, and death is being delayed. Saloni Dattani, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Hannah Ritchie, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser (2023) – “Life Expectancy” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. The trend is likely due to better nutrition and health care. In the United States, the change plays out as a boom in centenarians. The population of persons aged 100 or more grew by 50% between 2010 and 2020: In 2020, centenarians were overwhelmingly female at …

The appeal of courtship letters in an age of instant communication

The appeal of courtship letters in an age of instant communication

Published by Jenni Sidey

Maya C. Popa is the poetry reviews editor at Publishers Weekly and the author of If You Love That Lady: Poems, a collection of poetry inspired by nineteenth-century courtship letters that is out this week from WW Norton. Below, she discusses the appeal of courtship letters in an age of instant communication. (Photo credit: Diana Solis) I fell in love with Sally McDowell and John Miller during the pandemic, when I discovered their collected correspondence. She, a Virginia divorcée. He, a Presbyterian minister. Their courtship begins with a rejection, then unfolds across years of letters written on the brink of the Civil War. They often chastise each other for not writing quickly enough and make wry remarks on the nature of the new paper or ink. The letters are funny, intimate, tender. They’re idiosyncratic—one learns all sorts of unlikely things about Virginia and New England in the 1850s. But most importantly, one hears that deep, satisfying well of human quiddity: two irreplicable, unreplaceable individuals who became more alive by writing to each other.  Writers love …

Tom Holland and Matt Damon Gave a Master Class in Dressing Your Age

Tom Holland and Matt Damon Gave a Master Class in Dressing Your Age

Published by Jenni Sidey

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is shaping up to be the biggest movie of the summer, but it’s not expected to be much of a menswear movie. Fair enough. Nothing against gladiator sandals, leather skirts, and Marvin the Martian helmets, but their utility in a contemporary wardrobe is minimal at best. In spite of this (or maybe because of it), the cast has been on a serious red-carpet heater in recent weeks, sporting a series of immaculate looks that are to modern tailoring what their Odyssey costumes are to sword-and-sandal cosplay. At last night’s New York premiere, for example, Tom Holland and Matt Damon absolutely nailed two distinct takes on age-appropriate suiting, creating a template for dressing with gravitas and style at any age. TheStewartofNY / WireImage Damon, who is 55 (and has the salt-and-pepper beard to prove it), showed up decked out in head-to-toe Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Lauren’s top-tier tailoring line, which combines classical European silhouettes with top-shelf materials, has been a red-carpet go-to for decades, but—as with any tailored look—the way Damon wore …