Still working on shipping software today. Should have a new iOS app available for folks challenged by anxiety, as well as some other apps for research studies that try to help people get out and exercise more. Lots on the agenda and I'm just trying to keep the momentum going.

However, interesting links pause for no person!

Trump challenges Native Americans’ historical standing (Politico)

This should be a fascinating case to watch work its way through the courts and other regulatory bodies. The Trump administration's interpretation of Native Americans' status seems to be quite novel (the class of "Native American" is defined by race, and not national sovereignty, treaties and the like be damned). I'll be really surprised if the Trump administration's argument flies outside the Executive branch. Should make for some entertaining court transcripts.

What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? (Aeon)

Examines and challenges Arendt's assertion that evil intention is not required for evil actions, in the context of the Adolph Eichmann Nazi war crimes trial.

The Incentives for Groupthink (Quillette)

Challenges the Petersonian narrative that the intellectual capture of educational institutions is the result of a top-down intentional conspiracy, by pointing out how groupthink can arise organically in ecologies where the incentives support increasing radicalization as a method to unseat the older order and to draw the attention to oneself to seize a seat at the intellectual table. Rejects the notion of an "affirmative action" for conservative professors given that such actions do nothing to address the imbalance in the incentive structure that provided an environment where groupthink emerged in the first place.

Thread by @cyberomin: "It's always fun when I speak to founders and potential founders and they are quick to tell me how they want to use AI/ML to improve customer […]" (@cyberomin on Twitter)

On choosing the right tool for the right job, not choosing what's en vogue at the moment.

Westworld is back, heavy on the violent ends (AV Club)

Enjoying the shenanigans of the unreliable narrator as it pertains to ordering of the story. Also, Maeve is super-interesting this season.

(That's all I'll say without spoiling anything else, as the article necessarily does.)

"I’m Not a Hero," Says Unarmed Man Who Wrested Rifle From Waffle House Gunman (New York Times)

Yeah. We're going to have to agree to disagree on that.

Happy Confederate Day! On Lynching Memorials and Winning the Narrative War (The Root)

Who would have guessed that apologists for slavery were such snowflakes that they needed their own participation trophies for losing a war that they started?

SATAN INFORMS HIS DEVIL’S ADVOCATES THAT THEIR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER NEEDED (McSweeney's Internet Tendency)

WILL ARGUE FOR FOOD.

It’s Westworld. What’s Wrong With Cruelty to Robots? (New York Times)

This is where actually watching “Westworld” matters. The pleasure of entertainment aside, the makers of the series have produced a powerful work of philosophy. It’s one thing to sit in a seminar and argue about what it would mean, morally, if robots were conscious. It’s quite another to witness the torments of such creatures, as portrayed by actors such as Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton. You may still raise the question intellectually, but in your heart and your gut, you already know the answer.

‘Avengers,’ the Most Lucrative Movie Franchise Ever, Is Wrapping Up. Why? (New York Times)

Who could have predicted that this week's Avengers mega-movie would be the outcome of this?



This post will be updated throughout the day with other links I find interesting.

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