All posts tagged: Topics

Abortion, Israel and homosexuality top clergy’s political topics, survey finds

Abortion, Israel and homosexuality top clergy’s political topics, survey finds

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Two-thirds of U.S. adults who regularly attend religious services say their clergy have spoken about at least one key political issue — most prominently, abortion, Israel or homosexuality — in recent months. But what clergypersons say about such topics varies depending on their viewpoint, and sometimes, their religious affiliation, the Pew Research Center found in a survey published Wednesday (May 27). Researchers asked about a total of seven political or social topics — including immigration, U.S. military action in Iran, the environment and people who are transgender. “When people do hear the clergy speak about these topics, they report that they tend to hear more about opposing abortion than supporting abortion rights, opposing homosexuality than encouraging acceptance of people who are gay or lesbian, supporting Israel than criticizing it,” Becka Alper, a senior researcher at Pew, told Religion News Service. The findings are based on a survey conducted in April of 1,391 U.S. adults who say they attend religious services at least once or twice a month. Certain topics figured more prominently in …

Richard Madeley shares reason wife Judy Finnigan left television after 40 years

Richard Madeley shares reason wife Judy Finnigan left television after 40 years

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 Richard Madeley has spoken about the reasons his wife and former co-presenter Judy Finnigan stepped down from a career in television. Madeley and Finnigan, who got married in 1986, presented together for decades on the ITV chat show This Morning and the Channel 4 series Richard and Judy. Finnigan, now 77, has largely stepped back from the world of TV, with her last regular hosting job alongside Madeley being the UKTV series Richard and Judy’s New Position, which ran from 2008 to 2009. (She subsequently served as a regular panellist on ITV’s Loose Women between 2014 and 2015, and has made a number of appearances elsewhere.) Speaking to The Telegraph, Madeley spoke about Finnigan’s decision to retire from regular TV presenting. Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley (Getty Images) “She’s fine,” he told the outlet. “We run the Richard and Judy Book …

5 NotebookLM prompts that turn dense topics into simple explanations

5 NotebookLM prompts that turn dense topics into simple explanations

Published by skeptic

I’ve been trying to understand time dilation after watching Interstellar and Project Hail Mary. Both make it central to the plot, and both left me more confused than before. So I turned to NotebookLM, uploaded a handful of sources, and started asking it questions. The raw summaries it gave me weren’t enough. What worked were specific NotebookLM prompts designed to reframe hard content for a beginner, use analogies to make ideas stick, and test whether I’d actually understood what I’d just read. The fun exercise gave me a daisy chain of prompts I now use for every learning challenge. Start with configuring NotebookLM as a Learning Guide. Throw in the right NotebookLM Studio tool, and you can design your own master key for dense topics. This prompt builds a beginner’s map Start here before you read anything else Saikat Basu/MakeUseOf Most tools summarize. This prompt gives you a structure. It breaks a complex topic into four distinct layers: a one-sentence tl;dr, a jargon-free core explanation, a real-world analogy, and a plain-English vocabulary list. That last …

Meta AI parental supervision now includes reviewing kids’ AI topics

Meta AI parental supervision now includes reviewing kids’ AI topics

Published by skeptic

Parents worried about what their teen is discussing with Meta’s AI Assistant will now be able to view topics of conversation through a Teen Account parental supervision tool. Meta announced the feature Thursday in a blog post. The information will be available via an Insights tab in the supervision tool for the platforms Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger, all of which are owned by Meta. The feature lists broader topics, such as school, entertainment, writing, health, and wellbeing. Parents can click on the topic for additional but limited detail. The health and wellbeing categories, for example, can include fitness, physical health, and mental health. The information only covers the past seven days of exchanges. SEE ALSO: Former Meta employee accused of downloading 30,000 private user images The feature is the latest safety measure Meta has implemented under intense legal and media scrutiny. Meta recently lost two separate landmark trials related to child safety protections and the allegedly addictive design of its products. The company said it will appeal both verdicts. The child safety lawsuit, which took …

Meta will now allow parents to see the topics their child discussed with Meta AI

Meta will now allow parents to see the topics their child discussed with Meta AI

Published by skeptic

Meta announced on Thursday that parents using its supervision tools can now see the topics their teen has asked Meta AI about in the past week on Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram. Parents will see a new “Insights” tab within the supervision hub showing the topics their teen has been discussing with the AI chatbot. Topics can range from “School,” “Entertainment,” and “Lifestyle” to “Travel,” “Writing,” and “Health and Wellbeing,” among others, Meta says. Parents can select a topic to see the subcategories that fall within each one. For example, “Lifestyle” breaks down into fashion, food, and holidays, while “Health and Wellbeing” covers fitness, physical health, and mental health.  The update is now available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, and Brazil, and will roll out globally in the coming weeks.  Meta first previewed these insights back in October when it said it was developing new tools to help parents guide their teens through AI. Image Credits:Meta Other previewed tools would have allowed parents to block access to specific AI characters or disable them entirely. However, …

Universities of Wisconsin Regents Cite Disputes Over AI and Other Topics in President’s Firing

Universities of Wisconsin Regents Cite Disputes Over AI and Other Topics in President’s Firing

Published by Sam Flores

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Leaders on the board that oversees the Universities of Wisconsin rebuffed the fired system president’s claim that he was “blindsided” by their decision to oust him, telling lawmakers Thursday that he was slow to address pressing issues like artificial intelligence and feared upsetting policymakers, faculty and staff. Members of the board of regents had said little publicly until Thursday about the surprise dismissal Tuesday of Jay Rothman as head of the 165,000-student university system. Regents voted unanimously with no public discussion to fire Rothman after a closed-door meeting. Rothman told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday that he was kept in the dark about why he was being fired and his dismissal “blindsided” him. But two regents who testified at a state Senate committee hearing on Thursday said Rothman knew more than he is letting on. They also said there were “substantial” reasons for his being fired, and Rothman was aware of them. “That decision was not made lightly,” Regent President Amy Bogost said. “It was not political. It …

AI autocomplete suggestions covertly change how users think about important topics

AI autocomplete suggestions covertly change how users think about important topics

Published by José Betancourt

Artificial intelligence writing tools that predict and suggest our next words can do much more than simply speed up our typing. New research provides evidence that interacting with biased autocomplete suggestions can covertly shift a person’s underlying attitudes on important societal issues. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, suggest that the subtle influence of these everyday programs often bypasses our conscious awareness. Artificial intelligence programs powered by large language models are increasingly woven into human communication. These technologies power the autocomplete features found in popular email clients, messaging applications, and word processors. As these tools become a standard part of daily life, scientists have grown concerned about their potential to shape human cognition. Previous studies have shown that artificial intelligence can persuade people during direct interactions. This happens when a program generates a persuasive essay or directly debates a user on a specific topic. However, researchers wanted to explore a more subtle pathway for influence in our digital environments. “There were two things that led my team and I to pursue the research …

Resources For Learning About Topics

Resources For Learning About Topics

Published by José Betancourt

“There is no end to education,” said Jiddu Krishnamurti. The older I get, the more I find this to be true. Whether it’s “official” education (like getting a second university degree or a diploma) or more informal learning —like watching online lectures and reading books on topics that interest me — the end of my schooling by no means meant the end of my education. I’d go as far as saying that the moment you stop pursuing knowledge is the moment your mind stagnates. But how do I keep learning once I’m no longer in school, you ask. I hear you. Resources can be hard to come by if you don’t know where to look. Worse, many popular ones require payment, which makes accessing them difficult for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck. Fortunately, all you need to do is dig in a little deeper to find resources that are either completely free or very affordable. Even if no interesting topic comes to mind at first, I guarantee that once you go over …

People Who Can’t Handle Complex Thoughts Usually Avoid These 11 Topics

People Who Can’t Handle Complex Thoughts Usually Avoid These 11 Topics

Published by Jenni Sidey

It’s not always easy to have certain conversations. For some people, processing complex thoughts is something they’re incapable of. They’d rather have surface-level, safe conversations than show their true emotions. These topics range, and while most of us can relate to some of them, it’s still frustrating to deal with people who struggle to communicate at this level. Complex thought involves multiple viewpoints and relies on abstract reasoning. These are topics that can be highly sensitive. They require looking at the bigger picture and forming your own opinion. It’s not always easy to think through these topics thoroughly. When someone can’t handle complex conversations, they’d rather just avoid the topic altogether. These topics would involve the person being mindfully present, open to learning, and accepting people for who they are. It is not something everyone can grasp. People who can’t handle complex thoughts usually avoid these 11 topics 1. Religion FG Trade from Getty Images Signature via Canva Many people avoid talking about religion with people they do not know well. It can be a complex …