All posts tagged: Resist

‘Raise our heads and resist’: how Europe’s civil society is fighting back against the far right | Europe

‘Raise our heads and resist’: how Europe’s civil society is fighting back against the far right | Europe

Published by Sam Flores

Pauline Voss, the deputy editor of Nius, a fast-growing rightwing media outlet whose ambition is to be Germany’s Fox News, believes progressive civil society groups in Germany are engaged in a coordinated campaign to “act against their own population”. That may be why, according to research this year by the progressive pressure group Campact, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) filed 295 parliamentary queries targeting left-leaning NGOs last year – more than twice as many as in 2024. Parliamentary queries in Germany are a legitimate form of democratic control. But campaigners say filing them in such numbers, and all insinuating the same thing – that NGOs’ protected status and public funding gives them unfair political clout – amounts to harassment, intimidation and “an attempt to impose a political narrative”. Once upon a time, German civil society “served as a counterweight to the state and its institutions”, Voss said last September. “Today, it acts as an extension of the state.” This, she went on, was a threat to “free democratic discourse”. Civil society groups were, in …

How to resist the urge to keep looking at your phone : NPR

How to resist the urge to keep looking at your phone : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

So you want to reclaim your time and attention by spending less time on your phone. How do you do that when your phone is designed to suck you in and keep you scrolling? Life Kit spoke to experts in behavioral science, psychology and technology for real-world advice. The key, they say, is to find effective ways to resist that constant urge to keep picking up your phone. For some people, the solution may be as simple as practicing self-awareness: Do you really need to look at your phone right now, or do you actually need something else? Others may need a little more help from blockers that limit access to apps and websites. Find the right approach with these five expert-recommended strategies. 1. Ask yourself why you’re picking up your phone in the first place When you want to reach for your phone or check Instagram for the hundredth time today, notice how you feel at that moment, says Sammy Nickalls, author of Log Off: Self-Help for the Extremely Online. “For example, I noticed …

Please Resist the Urge to Drink the Melted Sludge From 3I/ATLAS

Please Resist the Urge to Drink the Melted Sludge From 3I/ATLAS

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Mysterious interstellar object 3I/ATLAS has come and — mostly — gone. Scientists have been fascinated by the intriguing lump of ice and dust as it careened into the inner solar system last year, making its closest pass of the Sun in the fall and careening by the Earth on its way out. In the upcoming weeks, it’s expected to have a close encounter with Jupiter before it leaves our star system for good. Meanwhile, researchers are continuing to pore over the wealth of data gathered by ground- and space-based telescopes about the rare visitor, which was only the third interstellar object to be spotted passing through our solar system. As detailed in a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, an international team of researchers including NASA scientists examined observations of the object made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) between August and October, the months leading up to its closest pass of the Sun, or …

To adopt AI or resist it? That’s not the question.

To adopt AI or resist it? That’s not the question.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Responses to the rise of artificial intelligence have tended to fall into predictable patterns: enthusiastic adoption, calls for cautious regulation or outright rejection. These approaches assume, however, that AI is primarily a technical or managerial problem. In this new age, the most pressing question is not whether we will use these technologies, but whether we will have the courage to shape them around practices of judgment, interpretation and moral imagination. The deeper question, in other words, is not whether AI works into our workdays or professional codes, but what it does to those who live alongside it. How does constant interaction with intelligent systems shape judgment, attention, responsibility and the stories people tell about who they are becoming? RELATED: Who wrote this prayer? Discernment, trust and the spirit in the age of AI These are questions that matter deeply to those of us who work in religious higher education. Religious leaders and theologians have recognized this AI moment as one shaped by “digital empire.”  AI systems are built by powerful actors, trained on …

Historians resist Trump’s effort to police the past

Historians resist Trump’s effort to police the past

Published by Sam Flores

Donald Trump is an instinctive authoritarian. This is the defining feature of his personality and political life. Since his return to power, he has become much more extreme, ambitious and dangerous. Such leaders know that controlling the past is how you win the present — and lay the groundwork for commanding the future. These types of bad actors will never be satisfied in their quest to remake society in their ideological and personal image. To control society, you must first control how people think. But such attempts are almost always contested. This explains why authoritarians and other enemies of democracy systematically target schools, universities, science, the arts, libraries, the independent news media and Fourth Estate, museums — anywhere knowledge is produced and critical thinking is taught. To control society, you must first control how people think. But such attempts are almost always contested. A recent Washington Post story documents how a group of historians, scholars and volunteers are pushing back against the Trump administration’s attempts to remake the Smithsonian museum system in the name of …

Resist ‘dangerous and socially unacceptable’ age checks for social media, scientists warn – POLITICO

Resist ‘dangerous and socially unacceptable’ age checks for social media, scientists warn – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

They are calling instead for a global pause “until the scientific consensus settles on the benefits and harms that age-assurance technologies can bring, and on the technical feasibility.” The signatories include Ronald Rivest, winner of the prestigious Turing Award in computing, and Bart Preneel, president of the International Association for Cryptologic Research. France is planning to ban kids under 15 from social media as soon as September, while Germany, Denmark and Spain are also accelerating efforts. Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a ban in December 2025. Many leaders have expressed support on the basis it would protect children’s physical and mental health, but countries have yet to decide how bans would be implemented or enforced. “We share the concerns about the negative effects that exposure to harmful content online has on children,” the academics write. But current plans “would require all users — minors and adults — to prove their age to converse with friends and family, read news, or search for information; well beyond what has ever happened in …

Robert De Niro Gets Emotional Urging Americans To Resist Trump

Robert De Niro Gets Emotional Urging Americans To Resist Trump

Published by Sam Flores

Robert De Niro has made no secret about what he thinks of Donald Trump, but he got very emotional about the state of the US under the presidentduring an interview with MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Monday. “The story is our country, and Trump is destroying it, and who knows what his reasons are, but it’s sick, it’s fucked up,” De Niro said. “We have to save this country.” Toward the end of the interview, De Niro seemed on the verge of tears when Wallace asked him why he makes a point of thanking the people who work for him at awards shows. “You have to — you have to lift people up,” the actor said, with his voice starting to crack, before explaining, “You have to bring them together. You can’t divide people, you can’t win that way.” Things got emotional as De Niro pivoted back to discussing Trump’s divisive presidency. “It’s a no-win situation, and look what we have, look who we have there, it’s almost like a destiny to have this thing …

Resist the panicky zeitgeist and be brave curriculum makers

Resist the panicky zeitgeist and be brave curriculum makers

Published by skeptic

We can shape the curriculum to broaden horizons and ensure young people find work or training, but it takes time and courage, says Carolyn Roberts How do leaders think when they make choices? Could they be helped to resist the panicky zeitgeist and think about what’s best for children in the longer term? The Framework for Ethical Leadership in Education was designed to encourage us all to understand our responsibilities as public servants, so it starts with the seven values of the principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.  School leaders were never meant to be robots, but role models for the young. How they behave is as important as what they do. Leadership is rooted in personal characteristics and these are the virtues of the framework: trust, wisdom, kindness, justice, service, courage and optimism. Let’s become curriculum makers We hold trust for children when we think hard. How can we take advantage of reduced prescription? What local opportunities open up, especially for those who cling onto academic expectations by …

‘Resist and Unsubscribe’ strike targets tech companies

‘Resist and Unsubscribe’ strike targets tech companies

Published by skeptic

The way marketing professor Scott Galloway puts it, the primary way to get President Donald J. Trump’s attention is by influencing the market. Don’t like Trump’s deployment of immigration authorities to Minneapolis or the killings of Americans observing the agents’ actions? Find a way to change the economic calculus for Trump, Galloway says. That’s why Galloway, the popular podcast host and author, recently launched a month-long economic strike campaign called Resist and Unsubscribe. The initiative invites people to cancel tech subscriptions and services they may enjoy using for work, convenience, and entertainment. He says the campaign has reached nearly a million people via its website and related content has been viewed more than 18 million times on social media. SEE ALSO: The tech titans who show up in the Epstein files The list of services Galloway says to consider forgoing includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Uber, and X. Galloway has identified these and other tech companies “as having outsized influence over the national economy and our president.” Amazon, for example, spent tens of millions of dollars …