AI will make the rich unfathomably richer. Is this really what we want?; The Guardian, September 16, 2025

Dustin Guastella , The Guardian; AI will make the rich unfathomably richer. Is this really what we want?

"Socially, the great gains of the knowledge economy have also failed to live up to their promises. With instantaneous global connectivity, we were promised cultural excellence and social effervescence. Instead, we’ve been delivered an endless scroll of slop. Smartphone addictions have made us more vicious, bitter and boring. Social media has made us narcissistic. Our attention spans have been zapped by the constant, pathological need to check our notifications. In the built environment, the omnipresence of touchscreen kiosks has removed even the slightest possibility of social interaction. Instead of having conversations with strangers, we now only interact with screens. All of this has made us more lonely and less happy. As a cure, we’re now offered AI companions, which have the unfortunate side effect of occasionally inducing psychotic breaks. Do we really need any more of this?"

Google's top AI scientist says ‘learning how to learn’ will be next generation's most needed skill; Associated Press via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 12, 2025

DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Google's top AI scientist says ‘learning how to learn’ will be next generation's most needed skill

"A top Google scientist and 2024 Nobel laureate said Friday that the most important skill for the next generation will be “learning how to learn” to keep pace with change as artificial intelligence transforms education and the workplace.

Speaking at an ancient Roman theater at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google’s DeepMind, said rapid technological change demands a new approach to learning and skill development...

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis joined Mr. Hassabis at the Athens event after discussing ways to expand AI use in government services. Mr. Mitsotakis warned that the continued growth of huge tech companies could create great global financial inequality.

“Unless people actually see benefits, personal benefits, to this (AI) revolution, they will tend to become very skeptical," he said. "And if they see ... obscene wealth being created within very few companies, this is a recipe for significant social unrest.”

‘We’re in big trouble’: pope concerned at Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar proposed pay; The Guardian, September 15, 2025

Angela Giuffrida, The Guardian ; ‘We’re in big trouble’: pope concerned at Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar proposed pay

[Kip Currier: Kudos to Pope Leo for speaking to the issue of ever-widening income gaps between the super rich and everyone else, especially billions of fellow human beings who are economically impoverished and in dire need of basic survival necessities, like food, water, shelter, and healthcare.

With massive levels of human need and suffering in this world, to even consider compensating one of the world's very richest persons (the distinction of richest person on Earth recently went to Oracle's Larry Ellison on September 10, 2025 before Musk reclaimed the title) with a trillion-dollar pay package smacks of abject ethical bankruptcy.

The proposal is even more galling when one considers the past year's Trump 2.0 Musk-supported DOGE-slashing of U.S. governmental services that address food scarcity, healthcare needs, and countless programs that benefit and provide safety nets for vulnerable populations, like the elderly, disabled persons, and veterans.]

[Excerpt]

"Pope Leo said “we’re in big trouble” when it comes to the ever-widening pay gap between the rich and poor, citing Elon Musk, who may be on course to become the world’s first trillionaire.

Leo made the remarks while criticising executive pay packages during his first interview with the media.

Reflecting on why the world was so polarised, he said one significant factor was the “continuously wider gap between the income levels of the working class and the money that the wealthiest receive”.

“CEOs that 60 years ago might have been making four to six times more than what the workers are receiving … 600 times more [now],” the pontiff said in excerpts of the interview conducted by Elise Ann Allen, a senior correspondent with the Catholic newspaper Crux as part of a forthcoming biography.

“Yesterday [there was] the news that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire in the world. What does that mean and what’s that about? If that is the only thing that has value any more, then we’re in big trouble.”

Earlier this month, the board of the electric car maker Tesla said it had proposed a new trillion-dollar pay package for Musk, its chief executive and largest shareholder, if he hit targets set by the company."

Here’s how Trump’s megabill will affect you; CNN, July 1, 2025

Zachary Wolf and Tami Luhby , CNN; Here’s how Trump’s megabill will affect you

"Seniors, students, taxpayers, children, parents, low-income Americans and just about everyone else will be affected by the massive tax and spending bill being hashed out in real time on Capitol Hill...

Here’s what we know about how the Senate bill will affect… 

people on Medicaid: millions will lose coverage...

people who need help affording food: fewer will get it...

people with Affordable Care Act policies: more difficulty getting covered...

people who aren’t on Medicaid, Obamacare or SNAP: may still feel the cuts"

The AI War on Normal People (with Andrew Yang); The Bulwark, February 9, 2025

John Avon , The Bulwark; The AI War on Normal People (with Andrew Yang)

"The Founding Fathers were aware that yawning gaps between rich and poor destabilize a society. And with AI driving ever greater income inequality while it eats through American jobs—blue-collar, white-collar, and the kind of work in professional services firms that college grads have trained for— our country’s leaders should be responding to the reality that is already upon us. Andrew Yang has been warning for years about the inevitable impacts of AI on our economy and our democracy, and he joins John to discuss possible solutions, including universal basic income and child tax credits.

Andrew Yang joins John Avlon"

Student tracking, secret scores: How college admissions offices rank prospects before they apply; The Washington Post, October 14, 2019

Douglas MacMillan and Nick Anderson, The Washington Post; Student tracking, secret scores: How college admissions offices rank prospects before they apply

"Admissions officers say behavioral tracking helps them serve students in the application process. When a college sees that a qualified student is serious about applying based on the student’s Web behavior, it can dedicate more staffers to follow up...

But Web tracking may unfairly provide an advantage to students with better access to technology, said Bradley Shear, a Maryland lawyer who has pushed for better regulation of students’ online privacy. A low-income student may be a strong academic candidate but receive less attention from recruiters because the student does not own a smartphone or have high-speed Internet access at home, he said.

“I don’t think the algorithm should run the admissions department,” Shear said."