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☆ How Merve Emre became the hottest — and most reviled — name in literary criticism
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Last winter, the 37-year-old literary critic and Wesleyan professor Merve Emre stood in front of a microphone in Rachel Comey's Soho boutique. While the others had largely opted to pull boldfaced names from the Review's archives — like a 1985 Gore Vidal piece about Tennessee Williams — Merve Emre would be reading Merve Emre. Emre has penned so many introductions for new anthologies and reissues that one fan joked on Twitter: "every new baby in 2024 comes with an introduction by merve emre." Courtesy of Merve Emre. Over her cocktail, Merve Emre told me what my profile on Merve Emre should be about.

Persons: Merve Emre, Rachel Comey's, Emily Greenhouse, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams — Merve Emre, Emre, Diane Williams, who's, Everyone's, Elena Ferrante, Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Cusk, Susan Sontag, Michael Roth, Reading Emre, merve emre, John Guillory, Dorothy Parker, Christopher Hitchens, Jon Fosse, Stephanie LaCava, Batuman, Lawrence, Alison Roman, Frank Gehry, Jason Stanley, someone's, they're, Anna Shechtman, Anne, Maggie Doherty, doesn't, Emre Emre, Roald Dahl's, Matilda, Myers, Briggs, you've, I've, Bain, Chris Bierly, I'd, Amy Lombard, Ferrante, She's, Christian Nakarado, Leo Carey, Jason, Nakarado, hasn't, Emre's, Altan, Emre lasered, Ara Osterweil, McGill, Beyoncé, Osterweil, Al Jazeera, sensitively, Ivy pricks, she's, Michael Berube, He'd, he'd, James Joyce, Simone de Beauvoir, Merve, Sarah Chihaya, —, Mary Butts, Leonora Carrington, Susan Taubes, Taubes, Durga Chew, Christian Lorentzen, Orhan Pamuk, Lena Dunham, Chew, Bose, Yale's, it's, she'd, Taylor Swift, Elif Batuman, Swift, Janet Malcolm, Charlie Kaufman, Roth, we're, What's, Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, It's, Elizabeth Morache, Rebecca Zisser, David Bergman Organizations: The New York, McGill, Times, New York Magazine, The, Yorker, Wesleyan University, Reading, Twitter, McGill ,, Wesleyan, Ivy League, Yale, Shapiro Center, Creative, NBA, Harvard, Bain & Company, Insider Yale, HBO, Congress, NPR, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, New York, Yahoo, Oxford, Oxford . McGill, University of Oxford, Penn State, Fordham University, Boston, Intelligence Squared, Yale Science, University, Whitney Museum, Netflix Locations: Rachel Comey's Soho, McGill , Oxford, Columbia, Norwegian, New Haven , Connecticut, New Haven, Adana, Turkey, New York, Cambridge, Montreal, United States, chiseling, Turkish

☆ Meet Khan Academy's AI tutor
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Nadia Bidarian | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

More than 8,000 teachers and students will test education nonprofit Khan Academy’s artificial intelligence tutor in the classroom this upcoming school year, toying with its interactive features and funneling feedback to Khan Academy if the AI botches an answer. A conversation between CNN's Nadia Bidarian and Khanmigo, Khan Academy's AI chatbot tutor. Khan Lab School is a separate nonprofit founded by Khan Academy CEO Sal Khan. Khan Academy’s in-the-works AI learning course “AI 101 for Teachers,” created in partnership with Code.org, ETS and the International Society for Technology in Education, offers a path toward AI literacy among teachers. Imperfect, but improvingAn AI “tutor” like Khanmigo is not immune to the flubs all large language models face: so-called hallucinations.

Persons: —, Khanmigo, George Washington, Cleopatra, Martin Luther King Jr, CNN's Nadia Bidarian, Khan, Kristen DiCerbo, she’s, DiCerbo, “, Oz, ” DiCerbo, “ We’re, Albert Einstein, Einstein, Socrates, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, ”, Thomas Jefferson, Khanmigo’s Thomas Jefferson, GPT, Leo Lin, Sal Khan, they’ve, Khan Academy’s, ” Ernest Davis, Davis, it’s, ” Davis, Rama Ramakrishnan, ChatGPT, ” Ramakrishnan, “ It’s Organizations: CNN, Khan Academy, Khan, American, Khan Lab, . New York City Public Schools, Seattle Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified School District, EdWeek Research, Code.org, ETS, International Society for Technology, NYU, MIT Locations: Arizona, Independence, California, . New York, Education, United States

☆ What Just Happened at West Virginia University Is Alarming - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Leif Weatherby | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

E. Gordon Gee, the president of West Virginia University, once promised that the school would have 40,000 students by 2020, but the figure is still well under 30,000 across three campuses and is projected to drop. The humanities are under threat more broadly across the nation because of the perceived left-wing ideology of the liberal arts. To resist this assault, we must provide broad access to a true liberal arts education. The campaign to overturn the liberal arts is politically motivated, through and through. I was lucky: My parents put a liberal arts education above all other goals.

Persons: Gordon Gee, Gee, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, ” Organizations: West Virginia University, West Virginians, Democratic Party, Republican Party Locations: New York

☆ I'm a college senior. Here's what I recommend all incoming freshmen get for their dorm rooms — and everything they can leave at home.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Arundhati Ghosh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I recommend incoming college freshmen buy steamers and dry-erase boards for their dorms. As a senior at the University of Texas at Austin, I know how stressful dorm shopping can be. The mattress topper is also not likely to transfer to your college apartment once you leave dorm life behind. You probably won't need a bed caddyPretty much anything you would put in a bed caddy just ends up on your desk or on the shelf or drawers you get assigned. A diffuser can annoy your new roommateHaving a diffuser probably won't be allowed in your dorm building, but it's also something that could disturb the peace with your roommate.

Persons: I'm, They're, they're, it's, It's, — Organizations: University of Texas, Service, Privacy Locations: Austin, Wall, Silicon

☆ Opinion: Oppenheimer’s not your daddy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Opinion Aanchal Saraf | Rebecca H. Hogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Corbis/Getty ImagesScholar Teresia Teaiwa famously critiqued the bikini as instrumental to depoliticizing and concealing the effects of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Britain and France would later begin their own nuclear weapons programs on Indigenous lands and waters in Australia and French Occupied Polynesia, among others. The US began detonating nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site in 1951, garnering nearby Las Vegas the nickname Atomic City. Atomic playboys have aestheticized nuclear weapons as sexy — but still safe — since their very existence. Nolan prolongs the time between the flash and the blast, allowing Oppenheimer’s words to hang in unnerving suspension.

Persons: Rebecca H, Hogue, Barbie ”, “ Oppenheimer, “ Barbie ”, Barbenheimer, Hogue Rebecca H, Baker, ” Rita Hayworth, Gilda, Hayworth, — Jacques Heim’s, Louis Réard, Corbis, Teresia Teaiwa, Lee A, Merlin, SpongeBob, Bert, Turtle, Walt, William Blandy, “, Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy, Nolan, Oppie, Ernest Lawrence, Josh Hartnett, Jean Tatlock, Florence Pugh, Kitty Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt, Tatlock, Oppenheimer, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Melinda Sue Gordon, Nolan prolongs, “ Gilda, ”, Nolan bifurcates “ Oppenheimer ”, ” “ Oppenheimer, Barbie, Margot Robbie, ’, Ken, Ryan Gosling, —, Barbie’s, Mike ”, Edward Teller, “ It’s, Teller, “ Oppenheimer ” Organizations: Dartmouth College’s Society of Fellows, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University, CNN, Warner Brothers Discovery, Universal, Trinity, Crossroads, Getty, Atomic Energy Commission, US, Las, Atomic, National Atomic Testing, Los, Communist Party, American, Twitter Locations: Pacific, Oceania, New Mexico, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Northern Paiute, Western, Nevada, Amchitka , Alaska, Bikini Atoll, Britain, France, Australia, French, Las Vegas, Las, Playthings, Los Alamos, Japan, American, iconicity, Alamos

☆ Professors want to 'ChatGPT-proof' assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Aaron Mok | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

College professors are looking to "ChatGPT-proof" assignments to curb cheating. Some professors suggest returning to paper exams and asking students to show editing histories. Changes to assignments come as teachers debate the usage of generative AI in the classroom. Some professors suggest students show their work by including their editing history and drafts along with their completed assignments. The changes to school assignments come as teachers grapple with how to best integrate AI tools like ChatGPT into their classrooms.

Persons: OpenAI's ChatGPT, Bonnie MacKellar, MacKellar, William Hart, Davidson, Hart, Krebs, Dave Sayers, Shannon Ahern, Ahern, Insider's Aaron Mok Organizations: St, Johns University, Michigan State University, University of Jyväskylä, Times Higher Education, Butler University Locations: New York, Finland, Indianapolis, Dublin, Ireland

☆ Barbara Kingsolver Can’t Stand How the Media Talks About Her Home
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Barbara Kingsolver set out to write her latest novel, “Demon Copperhead,” she was already considered one of the most accomplished writers of our time. Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky and lives in southwestern Virginia. She wanted to write a novel about Appalachia from the inside, as someone who is a part of it and who grew up in it. “The story I wanted to tell was not about the big guys, but about the little people,” she told me. “Demon Copperhead” won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has been widely acclaimed for the nuanced portrait it paints of life in rural America.

Persons: Barbara Kingsolver, “, Ezra Klein, Kingsolver, ” Organizations: Humanities, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Locations: Kentucky, Virginia, Appalachia, America

☆ In Elections, Spain Is Going to Be Absolutely Fine - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Omar G. Encarnación | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Vox’s bombastic rhetoric and toxic policies pose a serious threat to Spanish democracy — but not as existential a threat as many presume it to be. Vox’s emergence — however eye-catching — did not signal any significant shift for the Spanish right and politics in Spain. Contrary to common wisdom, the far right did not disappear with Franco’s death. Lately, encouraged by the surge of right-wing, populist parties all over the world, Spain’s far right decided that it is safe to come out of hiding. Yet Spanish democracy, served by steady leadership, social and economic advances and a lively multiparty political culture, has held firm.

Persons: Vox, —, Manuel Fraga, Franco, Mariano Rajoy Organizations: Spanish, Popular Party, Alianza Popular Locations: Spanish, Spain, Europe, House’s, Catalonia, Basque, Madrid

☆ ChatGPT showed it could pass a freshman year at Harvard and achieve a 3.34 GPA, student says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

ChatGPT is capable of achieving respectable grades at Harvard, an experiment found. Per the experiment conducted by a Harvard student, the bot ended the year with a 3.34 GPA. A version of ChatGPT powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 is capable of passing a typical freshman year at Harvard, a recent experiment found. To conduct the experiment, Bodnick, a Harvard student herself, asked eight professors and teaching assistants to grade ChatGPT's essays generated in response to real Harvard prompts. Higher education is starting to bring in guidance and policies to manage the rise of generative AI.

Persons: OpenAI's GPT, Maya Bodnick, Matthew Yglesias's, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Wharton, Christian Terwiesch Organizations: Harvard, Ivy League College

☆ Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Talk Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality“I have,” Joyce Carol Oates says, “so many ideas.” That’s putting it mildly. “The one I’m doing now, the reader’s going to be surprised.”Joyce Carol Oates in 1970. I don’t think about it too much. I thought, Wow, it’s so funny and weird and wonderful, and I don’t think there’s almost any readership for that. There’s Emily Dickinson over here, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, and I feel I’m in that territory.

Persons: Joyce Carol Oates, ” Joyce Carol Oates, “, ”, Oates, you’ll, ” Oates, Bettmann, what’s, Philip Roth, Philip, Bernard Malamud, I’m, John Updike’s, John Updike, Barack Obama, Jim Watson, Stickum, doesn’t, Nabokov, Ana de Armas, Marilyn Monroe, Cormac McCarthy, It’s, you’re, Monet, Van Gogh, there’s Hieronymus Bosch, he’s, Crumb, there’s Picasso, Emily Dickinson, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Oates, Agence France, Presse, Getty, The New York, Twitter, Netflix, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: America

CNN —Leslie Van Houten, a former Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer, was released from a California prison on Tuesday, a prison spokesperson told CNN. Van Houten was released to parole supervision, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said. Van Houten will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year, Xjimenez said. In 1994, Van Houten described her part in the killings in a prison interview with CNN’s Larry King. “I went in and Mrs. LaBianca was laying on the floor and I stabbed her,” said Van Houten, who was 19 at the time of the murders.

Persons: Leslie Van Houten, Charles Manson, Van Houten, Mary Xjimenez, Xjimenez, Manson, ”, Leno LaBianca, Rosemary, Gavin Newsom’s, Van, Newsom, Van Houten’s, Erin Mellon, “, ” Melton, Jay Sebring, Governor Newsom, ” Sebring’s, Anthony DiMaria, CNN’s Laura Coates, ” DiMaria, rampages, Nancy Tetreault, CNN’s John Berman, that’s, ” Tetreault, Berman, she’s, Tetreault, –, Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom, CNN’s Larry King, LaBianca Organizations: CNN, California Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, California Gov, California Supreme, Gov Locations: California, Los Angeles, Van Houten, United States

☆ Anthropocene: Scientists say they’ve found a site that marks a new chapter in Earth’s history
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Scientists have identified the geological site that they say best reflects a proposed new epoch called the Anthropocene — a major step toward changing the official timeline of Earth’s history. “We’ve moved into this new Earth state and that should be defined by a new geological epoch,” Waters added. On Tuesday, the scientists announced the geological site — Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada — that best captures the geological impact of the Anthropocene, according to their research. Annual sediment samples from the Crawford Lake site have revealed geochemical traces of nuclear bomb testing, researchers have confirmed. The alpha spectrometry output shown on the screen indicates the presence of plutonium in a Crawford Lake drill core sample.

Persons: ”, Colin Waters, “ We’ve, Waters, eon, James St, Andrew Knoll, “, ” Knoll, Crawford, AWG, Crawford Lake, Francine McCarthy, Andrew Cundy, Stan Finney, it’s, Paul Crutzen —, Finney, It’s, stratigraphers, ” Waters, they’re, Andrew Mathews, We’ve, ’ ” Organizations: CNN —, Environment School, University of Leicester, Geologists, Wales, Harvard University, University, Southampton, Brock University, UK’s University of Southampton, International, International Union of Geological Sciences, Geological Congress, California State University, University of Southampton “, University of California Locations: Crawford Lake, Ontario, Canada, Flinders, South Australia, Jura, Crawford, Southampton Crawford, Sudeten, Lake, California, Baltic, Japan, China, Australia, Gulf of Mexico, Busan, South Korea, Long, Santa Cruz

☆ At 20, an Upstate Arts Haven Keeps Breaking New Ground
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Jennifer Schuessler | More About Jennifer Schuessler | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Given the personnel involved, “Illinois,” which will move to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in January, would seem to have the makings of a popular hit. But for Gideon Lester, the Fisher Center’s artistic director and chief executive, it furthers the same exploratory mission as everything else the center does. “All of these projects are research, which is why they belong in a college,” he said. But the Fisher Center, nestled in a college long known as a bastion of the humanities, is making big plans. In October, it will break ground on a $42 million studio building designed by Maya Lin.

Persons: Gideon Lester, Fisher, ”, Maya Lin, Tania El Khoury Organizations: Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Fisher, Mellon Foundation, for Human Rights, Arts Locations: Illinois, Hudson

☆ People are more likely to believe AI-generated tweets than ones written by humans, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

People may be more susceptible to misinformation if it's written by AI, a study has found. The study found respondents couldn't tell the difference between tweets created by GPT-3 and humans. People may be more susceptible to misinformation if it's written by AI, a study has found. Not only could the majority of participants not tell the real tweets from the ones generated by AI, but they generally found the AI's tweets more convincing. They then asked respondents to identify if the tweets were true or false, which participants had an easier time doing with the AI-generated ones.

Persons: OpenAI, ChatGPT Locations: Australia, Canada, Ireland

☆ Scholar finds doodles by Henry VIII in ancient prayer book
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Jack Guy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Toward the end of his life, England’s King Henry VIII left a series of doodles in a prayer book, revealing his anguish over his health and his past actions, new research shows. The Trustees of The Wormsley FundWhite told CNN Tuesday that she found the marginalia “totally unexpectedly” while looking at the book, and recognized them from her previous work on Henry VIII. The manicules have a distinctive shape that matches others known to have been drawn by Henry. Parr gave the book, which is currently housed in the Wormsley Library in Stokenchurch, England, to Henry as a gift. One passage in the prayer book says that God’s punishment has left the narrator “feeble,” and Henry was himself in bad health at the time.

Persons: England’s King Henry VIII, Henry, Katherine Parr, Micheline White, White, Henry VIII, “, ”, ” Henry, doodles, Parr, King, Anne Boleyn, “ He’s, —, He’s Organizations: CNN, College of, Humanities, Department of, Carleton University Locations: Canada, Wormsley, Stokenchurch, England, France

☆ China's Baidu claims its Ernie Bot beats ChatGPT on key tests as A.I. race heats up
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In this article BIDU Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTChinese technology giant Baidu has launched its own ChatGPT rival, Ernie bot. The chatbot is based on Baidu's foundational AI model called Ernie. Citing the China Science Daily journal, Baidu said Ernie 3.5 surpassed ChatGPT in a number of benchmark tests. ChatGPT is based on OpenAI's GPT 3.5 model. Ernie 3.5 also beat GPT 4, OpenAI's latest and more advanced model, in Chinese language tests, according to the science journal.

Persons: Ernie bot, Baidu, Ernie Bot, Ernie, that's Organizations: Baidu, Getty, China Science, Microsoft Locations: China, U.S, ChatGPT

☆ British Museum apologizes after using translator's work in China exhibition without pay or acknowlegment
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Jessie Yeung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —When the British Museum launched its “China’s hidden century” exhibition last month, writer and translator Yilin Wang began getting confusing messages from her peers. No, Wang replied: She’d never been contacted by the museum, which used her work without permission, pay or acknowledgment. It added that “China’s hidden century” had involved more than 400 people from 20 countries, and that those involved had “spent years, together with scholars worldwide,” putting it all together. A British Museum worker pictured in the "China's hidden century" exhibition ahead of its public opening. The British Museum did not respond immediately to CNN’s request for comment.

Persons: Yilin Wang, Qiu Jin, Wang, —, She’d, “, James Manning, ”, It’s, NameTheTranslator, …, ” Wang Organizations: CNN, British Museum, Twitter, Museum, British, UK’s Arts, Humanities Research, “, Google Locations: London, Qing China, British

☆ China Accepts the New Indo-Pacific Reality
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Walter Russell Mead | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Walter Russell Mead is the Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship at Hudson Institute, the Global View Columnist at The Wall Street Journal and the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College in New York. He is also a member of Aspen Institute Italy and board member of Aspenia. Before joining Hudson, Mr. Mead was a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations as the Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy. He has authored numerous books, including the widely-recognized Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World (Alfred A. Knopf, 2004). Mr. Mead’s next book is entitled The Arc of A Covenant: The United States, Israel, and the Future of the Jewish People.

Persons: Walter Russell Mead, Curry, James Clarke Chace, Mead, Henry A, Alfred A ., Mead’s Organizations: Hudson Institute, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Humanities, Bard College, Aspen Institute, Hudson, Council, Foreign Relations, Kissinger, U.S . Foreign, Providence, Alfred A . Knopf, Jewish People Locations: New York, Aspen Institute Italy, United States, Israel

☆ Opinion | Saving the Flailing Humanities
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Don’t Kill ‘Frankenstein’ With Real Frankensteins at Large,” by Maureen Dowd (column, May 28):Ms. Dowd’s column laments the decline of the humanities. Simultaneously, she definitively demonstrates that her exciting educational journey exquisitely prepares her, at a time when “political eloquence is scarce,” to hurl the most pointed slings and arrows so as to hit scurrilous actors where they hurt most. A wondrous part of her column focuses on rarely used words that have magnificently descriptive meanings. Perhaps, however, the obituary for the humanities is premature. I suggest that Ms. Dowd be placed in charge of a committee to find a new word.

Persons: Maureen Dowd, Dowd’s, Dowd Organizations: Frankensteins

☆ I Support My Husband’s Career With Unpaid Work. Can I Stop?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Kwame Anthony Appiah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

My husband and I work at the same university; he is a professor in the hard sciences and I’m an adjunct instructor who teaches literature and writing. I frequently edit the scientific articles and grant proposals that he and the postdoctoral researchers working under him write. Should I help him as a loving partner, or only do editing work for paying customers? Even leaving love and devotion out of account, you have an interest in your husband’s getting tenure. Still, as you note, your husband could pay someone else to do the job, and as your boiling blood suggests, mixing up personal and professional relationships can cause complications.

Persons: I’m, you’ll, it’s

☆ What if Putin Loses His War in Ukraine?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Walter Russell Mead | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Ivy League professor of ultra-popular 'monk class': These 3 changes can make you more resilient than most
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

To pass Justin McDaniel's "monk class," University of Pennsylvania students must ditch their phones — and voices — for 30 days. The class's stringent rules, modeled after actual monk practices, aren't meant to socially isolate the students. "We exercise to build muscle and endurance, but we don't practice emotions," McDaniel, a humanities professor who practiced as a monk for nearly a year at age 21, tells CNBC Make It. The monk class is supposed to be like "shock therapy," a crash course to jolt students into mindfulness: Spending a month with fewer distractions helps students become more aware of their physical surroundings and emotions, he says. In the class, McDaniel teaches that doing one thing at a time is the best way to stay present.

Persons: Justin McDaniel's, —, McDaniel, epiphanies Organizations: University of Pennsylvania, CNBC, Twitter, of Bath, Social Networking, Netflix, Stanford University

☆ With Hannah Gadsby’s ‘It’s Pablo-matic,’ the Joke’s on the Brooklyn Museum
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Jason Farago | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Back then it was a voguish noun, borrowed from French, that described the unconscious structure of an ideology or a text. Soon, though, like so many other efforts to think critically, “the problematic” got left behind in this century’s great shift from reading to scrolling. These days we encounter “problematic” exclusively as an adjective: an offhand judgment of moral disapproval, from a speaker who can’t be bothered by precision. A whole cast of professional art workers — conservators, designers, guards, technicians — has been roped in to produce “It’s Pablo-matic: Picasso According to Hannah Gadsby,” a small exhibition opening Friday at the Brooklyn Museum. Like the noun-turned-adjective “problematic,” this new exhibition backs away from close looking for the affirmative comforts of social-justice-themed pop culture.

Persons: Hannah Gadsby, ”, —, It’s Pablo, “ Nanette, riffed, “, Picasso, Gadsby, “ Nanette ” Organizations: Brooklyn Museum, Netflix, TED Locations: Spanish

☆ Opinion | Don’t Kill ‘Frankenstein’ With Real Frankensteins at Large
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — By the time I took off my mortarboard two weeks ago, my degree in English literature was de trop. Instead of a Master of Arts, I should have gotten a Master of Algorithms. As I was pushing the rock up a hill, mastering Donne, Milton, Shakespeare, Dickens, Joyce and Mary Shelley, I failed to notice that the humanities had fallen off the cliff. It was as if the bottle of great wine I saved to celebrate my degree was bouchonné. Students were fleeing to the hotter fields of tech and science.

☆ What College Students Need Is a Taste of the Monk’s Life - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Molly Worthen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“On college campuses, these students think they’re all being individuals, going out and being wild,” he said. Undergraduates at Belmont Abbey College outside Charlotte, N.C., share their quadrangles, sidewalks and even their chess clubs with Benedictine monks who live in an abbey in the middle of campus. Their presence compels even non-Christians on campus to think seriously about vocation and the meaning of life. “Either what the monks are doing is valuable and based on something true, or it’s completely ridiculous,” Mr. Lutz said. The point is not to take away the phone for its own sake but to take away our primary sources of distraction.

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