Be afraid of ChatGPT.

Link. I’m afraid. It’s been a while since I’ve done a retrospective post on this topic; it’s impressive how often warnings about our trajectory have been widely mocked — even as we just keep moving faster and faster.

Erdogan’s money spigot: amnesty for failure to follow building codes.

Link. “5.8 million residential buildings were regularised by the last amnesty, issued just before the presidential election of 2018. Another amnesty is planned for the near future, since there is another election coming up this May…

… To get the reconstruction aid he needs, he would have to lift his veto on Sweden and Finland joining NATO, stop selling drones to Russia, stop threatening NATO ally Greece with a Turkish attack “suddenly one night”, and a good deal more.”

The MAGA war on knowledge.

Link. “If a physics class explains how greenhouse gas emissions can change the climate — well, that’s more liberal propaganda.”

College corrodes religious fundamentalism. The culture war is Faith vs Reason. Same as it always was.