All posts tagged: human

Catholic sisters push Palantir on human rights as faith leaders rally in New York

Catholic sisters push Palantir on human rights as faith leaders rally in New York

Published by Sam Flores

NEW YORK (RNS) — Catholic sisters, investors and immigrant rights activists plan to rally on Wednesday (June 3) outside of Palantir Technologies’ New York office, 30 minutes before the company holds it annual general meeting and considers a shareholders’ proposal calling on Palantir to conduct a human rights review of its work.  “We’re investors, but we’re also Catholics,” said Sister Susan Francois, assistant congregation leader and treasurer of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace and the lead filer of the shareholder proposal, called Proposal 5. “When we see potential risks to the company that are also causing harm to the human community, we feel that it is of a moral and business imperative to raise the question.” Proposal 5 calls on Palantir to conduct and publish a human rights impact assessment of its work, which includes selling artificial intelligence tools to U.S. and foreign militaries and governments. Last year Palantir won a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to develop surveillance systems for immigration enforcement. Proposal 5 raises concerns about Palantir’s work …

‘Blasphemous’ protest is not a crime, humanists tell human rights committee – Humanists UK

‘Blasphemous’ protest is not a crime, humanists tell human rights committee – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Humanists UK has warned the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights that accusations of ‘blasphemy’ must not be used to suppress peaceful protest. In its response to the Committee’s inquiry into the role of human rights in security, safety and protest, Humanists UK called for blasphemy-specific guidance for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in England and Wales to protect subjectively offensive but lawful expression from being criminalised, while threats, harassment, and incitement to violence are properly investigated and sanctioned. Humanists UK said this concern sits within a broader erosion of protest rights in recent years. Case studies In its evidence, Humanists UK cited a series of recent blasphemy-related incidents that it said demonstrated how public authorities have too often treated alleged religious offence as a crime, while failing to protect those targeted by intimidation, threats and even violence. Examples included the case of Hamit Coskun, who was prosecuted after burning a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in protest against the Turkish government, and had his conviction overturned on appeal and upheld …

Researchers may have discovered the key to understanding human consciousness

Researchers may have discovered the key to understanding human consciousness

Published by Jenni Sidey

For centuries, people have wondered what separates being awake from being asleep, dreaming, or unconscious. Scientists have searched for clues throughout the brain, hoping to identify the signals that help create conscious experience. Now, researchers at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich have uncovered a previously unknown brain rhythm that may offer an important piece of the puzzle. The discovery centers on the thalamus, a small structure buried deep within the brain. Often described as a relay hub, the thalamus helps route information between different brain regions. It also plays a critical role in attention, awareness, and perception. While scientists have long suspected that it helps regulate consciousness, direct evidence has been difficult to obtain. In a new study, researchers identified a distinctive pattern of activity in the human thalamus that appears only during wakefulness and rapid eye movement, or REM, sleep. The signal disappears completely during non-REM sleep, a state associated with reduced awareness and little conscious experience. The findings suggest that this newly discovered rhythm could serve as a measurable biological marker of conscious …

How human error became a weapon against large language models

How human error became a weapon against large language models

Published by skeptic

Typos are a sign of a human writer… for now Marc De Simone/Alamy Recently, a friend told me over coffee about some disheartening feedback she had received. “They said it was good,” she said, “but that it read like it was written by AI.” Knowing her, I understood immediately what had happened. Her credibility was being questioned not because her work was poor, but because it was too good – too clear, too fluent, too polished. The rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence tools is changing how we think about good writing. In the digital age, it is increasingly important to signal that an actual person – not a faceless large language model – is behind the words. One paradoxical way of doing this is, surprisingly, to damage the quality of your own writing. Alan Turing even made such a suggestion in the 1950s: sprinkle in a few deliberate typographical errors to appear more convincingly human. The irony, of course, is that Turing was addressing that advice to machines. My friend’s experience isn’t an isolated one. …

AEKE’s “Strength In Numbers” Event Showed How AI Fitness Is Becoming More Personalized, Data-Driven, and Surprisingly Human

AEKE’s “Strength In Numbers” Event Showed How AI Fitness Is Becoming More Personalized, Data-Driven, and Surprisingly Human

Published by skeptic

The next phase of connected fitness may not be about streaming another workout class onto a screen. After spending an afternoon at AEKE’s “Strength In Numbers” influencer experience event in New York City, it became clear that the category is shifting toward something much more adaptive and personal: intelligent systems that analyze movement, assess the body in real time, and tailor workouts dynamically around the individual using them. Hosted in Manhattan near Times Square, New York City, the event brought together creators from the tech, fitness, wellness, and lifestyle spaces to experience the AEKE S1 Pro AI Home Gym firsthand. The atmosphere felt like an interactive testing lab for the future of strength training. Music filled the room while influencers rotated through assessments, mobility work, strength exercises, recovery features, and live demonstrations of the machine’s AI-powered capabilities. The focus of the event, of course, was the AEKE S1 Pro itself, a compact AI-driven home fitness system designed around digital resistance, real-time feedback, personalized programming, and full-body movement training. But what surprised many attendees wasn’t simply …

Congress must choose accountability and human dignity over more ICE funding

Congress must choose accountability and human dignity over more ICE funding

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — There’s a crisis of accountability in Washington — one in which the administration pushes the boundaries of executive power while Congress increasingly declines to exercise its constitutional responsibilities. This comes as Congress prepares to advance another massive reconciliation bill in early June that would lock in billions more for immigration enforcement while bypassing the kind of bipartisan negotiation and public accountability our democracy is supposed to require. The bulk of the $72 billion measure would go toward funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through 2029. Rather than using the appropriations process to negotiate reforms, safeguards or oversight, congressional leadership is once again turning to a partisan fast-track process that requires only majority-party votes. Last year was one of the deadliest in ICE custody, and the U.S. is already on track to break that record in 2026. It begs the question why most members of Congress endorse a payday for unchecked immigration enforcement riddled with aggressive force, abuse, civil rights violations, denial of medical care, restrictions on spiritual care …

Scientists identify hundreds of ancient genes associated with human diseases

Scientists identify hundreds of ancient genes associated with human diseases

Published by Jenni Sidey

When a child develops kidney failure or a rare bone disorder, the cause can seem painfully immediate. It may be a single broken gene, a sudden diagnosis, or a family searching for answers. However, some of those faults may trace back nearly two billion years, to a one-celled ancestor shared by every plant, animal, and fungus alive today. A University of Texas at Austin-led team has now reconstructed the most detailed map yet of the protein networks inside that ancestor, known as the last eukaryotic common ancestor, or LECA. In doing so, the researchers built a new way to hunt for disease genes in humans. They used some of the oldest molecular machinery in complex life as a guide. Their study, published in Cell Genomics, suggests that the deep history of life is not just a story about origins. It can also help explain why modern bodies fail. Rachael Cox, a former UT doctoral student who led the data analysis in the lab of senior author Edward Marcotte, said the approach proved unexpectedly powerful. “There …

Mirror review: Compelling dance piece explores how AI is warping human relationships

Mirror review: Compelling dance piece explores how AI is warping human relationships

Published by skeptic

A scene from Mirror by the Alexander Whitley Dance Company Oskein Traditional ballet with tutus and pointe shoes is my preferred night at the theatre, but I enjoyed a contemporary piece recently at London’s Sadler’s Wells East. The piece, Mirror, by the Alexander Whitley Dance Company, will also be at the city’s Royal Opera House on 4 June. It is inspired by the book The AI Mirror by Shannon Vallor, a professor in the ethics of data and artificial intelligence, in which she argues for and against the use of AI. Vallor wants us to find a middle ground between passively resigning ourselves to AI as a replacement for our agency, and seeing it as an existential threat that must be defeated. As a science journalist, I like the balance of Vallor’s book, but, for me, this didn’t translate to the dance piece. Instead, its compelling (and slightly unsettling) choreography and staging seemed to show how our deepening interactions with AI and other tech are warping human relationships. Go see it for yourself, and make …

What OnlyFans Reveals About the Trajectory of Human Behavior

What OnlyFans Reveals About the Trajectory of Human Behavior

Published by Jenni Sidey

In 2026, OnlyFans, a website that allows individuals to sell personalized sexual content and direct messaging interactions to their followers, has grown into a platform with millions of creators and hundreds of millions of user accounts, with global fan spending exceeding several billion dollars annually. What does its success reveal about sexuality and human behavior, and how both are shaped by capitalism? I argue that on OnlyFans, both creators and consumers become victims of a system that commodifies human sexuality and emotional intimacy. What began as a marketplace for adult content has evolved into a mechanism that erodes authentic connection and points toward an automated future where human needs fuel their own exploitation. Creators on OnlyFans often start with the goal of financial gain, producing explicit photos, videos, and live sessions while engaging fans through private chats. While the platform does not officially penalize inactivity, its algorithmic visibility and subscription-based model effectively demand constant output to prevent subscriber churn and maximize earnings. Most creators earn modest amounts, with averages hovering around $130 to $180 per …

Human skeletal remains found in UK woods as police issue update | UK | News

Human skeletal remains found in UK woods as police issue update | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

Specialist archaeologists were due to attend the scene on Tuesday May 26 to carry out detailed foren (Image: Nottinghamshire Live) Police are continuing a major investigation after human skeletal remains were discovered in woodland near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. The remains, believed to belong to a single individual, were found by members of the public in a wooded area beside the A617 Rainworth Bypass at approximately 2.45pm on Saturday May 23, 2026. Officers from Nottinghamshire Police were called to the scene and immediately launched an inquiry. Detectives have been working around the clock over the bank holiday weekend to establish the circumstances surrounding the discovery. Specialist archaeologists were due to attend the scene on Tuesday, May 26, to carry out detailed forensic work and recover evidence. READ MORE: Grooming gangs inquiry chairwoman – ‘we’re not squeamish about ethnicity’ READ MORE: Express readers debate if they feel safe in Sadiq Khan’s London A cordon remains in place near the location, and it is expected to stay for several days while searches and examinations continue. Police have stressed there …