PEREGRINE PULP

You've likely heard about or experienced the problem of AI tools being overly agreeable and flattering. Some folks have finally taken a serious look at it. A team of researchers demonstrated not merely that most of popular, state-of-the-art AI models will reliably lie to you and flatter you, tell you you're right when you are in fact wrong: they will do so when they know you're making a serious error or even with the knowledge that you are harming someone else. Perhaps obvio

John W. Trinkaus (not to be confused with John P. Trinkaus, the embryologist) is a hero of mine. Born in 1925, Trinkaus served in the US Air Force during WWII, studied electrical engineering after the war, and then worked as an engineer for a few decades. With graduate degrees related to engineering and management, he eventually took up a professorship at a CUNY's Baruch College business school and would come to be a Professor Emeritus and the school's dean. Trinkaus also c

Someone I like and follow on the internet was using the Marshmallow Test as an analogy. That famous test, of course, put in front of kids...

You should know about one of Victoria's greatest exports. It's not Nelly Furtado or Taya Valkyrie . No, it's not Emily Carr , either....

DOGBALL A camper was parked with a guy working on it. The man's dog spotted me coming from almost a block away and, like we were old friends, he ran and grabbed his half deflated volleyball, raced over to me with it. He dropped the ball at my feet and then leapt back, full of wiggle and not looking at me at all but staring intensely at the ball. Of course I booted it, intending to send him on a run. To my surprise the old boy jumped and pulled it out of the air. He quickly pl

One famous finding from social psychology is that intergroup contact is the most highly effective tool for reducing prejudice. The more...

Folks seem to think people (other people) believe nonsense due to poor intelligence, low educational attainment, or lack of knowledge....