Previous generations of Americans clashed even more drastically: slaveholders and abolitionists, segregationists and civil-rights marchers, unionists and employers. But these fights were bordered, rhetorically and intellectually, by the Protestant-Enlightenment language that has characterized the country since the beginning. The persuasive genius of Frederick Douglass, of Abraham Lincoln, of Ida B. Wells, of Cesar Chavez, sprang from a mastery of this language, and a perception of its application to a previously unimaginable future. Victory passed—had to pass—through exegesis. Today, thanks to the confluence of factors that, by now, are familiar—including, but not limited to, secularization; atomization; plain anguish born of rightful impatience—we speak no longer within one language (where understanding is hard, but possible) but across the gulf that seems, every day, to widen between many. We quibble over words, codes, signals, whistles. A speech, however clever, is increasingly unequal to the task.
Obama and the Collapse of Our Common American Language - The New Yorker
8 years
I don’t buy it. Other politicians find themselves under continuous assault, but their poll numbers strengthen amid campaigns. Barack Obama’s approval rating rose in the year of his reelection. So too did George W. Bush’s. And Bill Clinton’s. All three sustained attacks. All three endured opponents lobbing a mix of true and false accusations. But all three seemed boosted by running for the job — if anything, people preferred watching them campaign to watching them govern.
Understanding Hillary: The Clinton America sees isn’t the Clinton colleagues know. Why are they so different?
8 years
...print publications, like Conde Nast and Hearst, remain profitable. So long as that is the case, their premium titles will continue to be produced, on paper, and mailed to the homes of the increasingly anarchistic people who don’t fear the U.S. Postal Service. As for digital, while the skies do seem brightest online—Conde Nast’s digital revenue has increased 70 percent since 2012—it remains a comparatively mino...
What Happened to Kate Lanphear's Maxim?
8 years
If these data sets aren't sufficiently broad, then companies can create AIs with biases. Speech recognition software with a data set that only contains people speaking in proper, stilted British English will have a hard time understanding the slang and diction of someone from an inner city in America. If everyone teaching computers to act like humans are men, then the machines will have a view of the world that's narrow by default and, through the curation of data sets, possibly biased.
Artificial Intelligence Has a ‘Sea of Dudes’ Problem - Bloomberg
8 years
I’ve always been a good mimic and I enjoy accents
Erika Christakis – “Dressing Yourselves,” email to Silliman College (Yale) students on Halloween costumes
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But – again, speaking as a child development specialist – I think there might be something missing in our discourse about the exercise of free speech (including how we dress ourselves) on campus, and it is this: What does this debate about Halloween costumes say about our view of young adults, of their strength and judgment?
In other words: Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people? It's not mine, I know that. Erika Christakis – “Dressing Yourselves,” email to Silliman College (Yale) students on Halloween costumes
In other words: Whose business is it to control the forms of costumes of young people? It's not mine, I know that. Erika Christakis – “Dressing Yourselves,” email to Silliman College (Yale) students on Halloween costumes
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
What is this?
The Genius annotation is the work of the Genius Editorial project. Our editors and contributors collaborate to create the most interesting and informative explanation of any line of text. It’s also a work in progress, so leave a suggestion if this or any annotation is missing something.
To learn more about participating in the Genius Editorial project, check out the contributor guidelines.
Prittay, prittay, snarky.
Appropriate