It’s well known that even slightly elevated CO2 concentrations can impair mental functions. For example, this paper does a pretty good job of summarizing the danger. Here is one of the relevant paragraphs from that source: Systematic relationships were found between most of the cognitive function scores and CO2 concentration, including from 550–945 ppm and ... When will atmospheric CO2 start to impair our mental functions ..read more

If you are grading your students’ essays or homework with ChatGPT, then it is immoral and wrong. It does the students a disservice. Is such a strong statement justified? I think it is. Now of course, you might think that ChatGPT is just a tool and that because it’s so good, a sort of dialectical ... Why grading with ChatGPT is immoral ..read more

De acordo com Martin Heidegger, o desenvolvimento da tecnologia acontece porque nós adotamos uma filosofia de exploração. Em nossas mentes, vemos o planeta e tudo que há nele como um recurso a ser explorado. Mas essa filosofia não é a única filosofia possível. Na verdade, há algumas tribos que entendem o mundo em termos de ... Como tecnologia está revelando nossa filosofia ..read more

Consider an optimal society. If one could measure the health of this society over time, it would fluctuate about the optimum point, somewhat like a sinusoidal curve: This is the graph of sin(x) + 10, and idealized version of this phenomenon. Of course, this is not to imply that the health of society can be ... The Principle of Illusory Improvements ..read more

When we think of rituals, it might be natural to think of ancient tribes and practices related to classic mythologies. However, we also have rituals as well: Christmas, Halloween, etc. all have ritualistic aspects. According to Watson-Jones and Legare, recent research points to rituals having key functions in society: identifying group members, demonstrating commitment to ... Ritualization in global capitalism ..read more

OpenAI’s Sora is a generative video AI tool that people can use to generate video clips based on prompts. Based on the results so far, it can certainly generate semi-realistic looking scenes. And no doubt, we are going to see a lot of short and long films with this sort of content in it. There’s ... Fundamental reason why Sora won’t improve filmmaking ..read more

I recently got an interesting comment on my About Page: Dr. Polak — I agree with your aim – but to blanket all technology with such a abroad brush – especially when there are many technologies that have proven good – invented by people that have views contrary to yours — is just self-serving – ... Are any technologies good? A reply to a comment ..read more

According to the BBC, the UK government made a new definition of extremism in UK law. To quote the article: [E]xtremism is “the promotion or advancement of an ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance, that aims to: negate or destroy the fundamental rights and freedoms of others; or undermine, overturn or replace the UK’s ... Why the UK’s new extremism definition is still faulty ..read more

I already sent this letter to the National Science Foundation, but I am making it public here as well: Dear National Science Foundation, My name is Dr. Jason Polak. I have a doctorate in mathematics from McGill University in Canada and several published papers. I hope you will pass this letter on to the relevant ... Open letter to the National Science Foundation ..read more

If I could have any wish, you might think I’d wish for riches. And in fact, perhaps in this screwed up world, I might be tempted to wish for an isolated place away from civilization. But here is what I wish for in truth is… …That people can have land as a right rather than ... What I wish for ..read more