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Q&A: How refusal can be an act of design – MIT News

This month in the ACM Journal on Responsible Computing, MIT graduate student Jonathan ZongSM 20 and co-author J. Nathan Matias SM 13, PhD 17 of theCornell Citizens and Technology Lab examine how the notion of refusal can open new avenues in the field of data ethics. In their open-access report,Data Refusal From Below: A Framework for Understanding, Evaluating, and Envisioning Refusal as Design, the pair proposes a framework in four dimensions to map how individuals can say no to technology misuses. At the same time, the researchers argue that just like design, refusal is generative, and has the potential to create alternate futures.

Zong, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering and computer science,2022-23 MIT Morningside Academy for Design Design Fellow, and member of the MIT Visualization Group, describes his latest work in this Q&A.

Q: How do you define the concept of refusal, and where does it come from?

A: Refusal was developed in feminist and Indigenous studies. Its this idea of saying no, without being given permission to say no. Scholars like Ruha Benjamin write about refusal in the context of surveillance, race, and bioethics, and talk about it as a necessary counterpart to consent. Others, like the authors of the Feminist Data Manifest-No, think of refusal as something that can help us commit to building better futures.

Benjamin illustrates cases where the choice to refuse is not equally possible for everyone, citing examples involving genetic data and refugee screenings in the U.K. The imbalance of power in these situations underscores the broader concept of refusal, extending beyond rejecting specific options to challenging the entire set of choices presented.

Q: What inspired you to work on the notion of refusal as an act of design?

A: In my work on data ethics, Ive been thinking about how to incorporate processes into research data collection, particularly around consent and opt-out, with a focus on individual autonomy and the idea of giving people choices about the way that their data is used. But when it comes to data privacy, simply making choices available is not enough. Choices can be unequally available, or create no-win situations where all options are bad. This led me to the concept of refusal: questioning the authority of data collectors and challenging their legitimacy.

The key idea of my work is that refusal is an act of design. I think of refusal as deliberate actions to redesign our socio-technical landscape by exerting some sort of influence. Like design, refusal is generative. Like design, it's oriented towards creating alternate possibilities and alternate futures. Design is a process of exploring or traversing a space of possibility. Applying a design framework to cases of refusal drawn from scholarly and journalistic sources allowed me to establish a common language for talking about refusal and to imagine refusals that havent been explored yet.

Q: What are the stakes around data privacy and data collection?

A: The use of data for facial recognition surveillance in the U.S. is a big example we use in the paper. When people do everyday things like post on social media or walk past cameras in public spaces, they might be contributing their data to training facial recognition systems. For instance, a tech company may take photos from a social media site and build facial recognition that they then sell to the government. In the U.S., these systems are disproportionately used by police to surveil communities of color. It is difficult to apply concepts like consent and opt out of these processes, because they happen over time and involve multiple kinds of institutions. Its also not clear that individual opt-out would do anything to change the overall situation. Refusal then becomes a crucial avenue, at both individual and community levels, to think more broadly of how affected people still exert some kind of voice or agency, without necessarily having an official channel to do so.

Q: Why do you think these issues are more particularly affecting disempowered communities?

A: People who are affected by technologies are not always included in the design process for those technologies. Refusal then becomes a meaningful expression of values and priorities for those who were not part of the early design conversations. Actions taken against technologies like face surveillance be it legal battles against companies, advocacy for stricter regulations, or even direct action like disabling security cameras may not fit the conventional notion of participating in a design process. And yet, these are the actions available to refusers who may be excluded from other forms of participation.

Im particularly inspired by the movement around Indigenous data sovereignty. Organizations like the First Nations Information Governance Centre work towards prioritizing Indigenous communities' perspectives in data collection, and refuse inadequate representation in official health data from the Canadian government. I think this is a movement that exemplifies the potential of refusal, not only as a way to reject whats being offered, but also as a means to propose a constructive alternative, very much like design. Refusal is not merely a negation, but a pathway to different futures.

Q: Can you elaborate on the design framework you propose?

A: Refusals vary widely across contexts and scales. Developing a framework for refusal is about helping people see actions that are seemingly very different as instances of the same broader idea. Our framework consists of four facets: autonomy, time, power, and cost.

Consider the case of IBM creating a facial recognition dataset using people's photos without consent. We saw multiple forms of refusal emerge in response. IBM allowed individuals to opt out by withdrawing their photos. People collectively refused by creating a class-action lawsuit against IBM. Around the same time, many U.S. cities started passing local legislation banning the government use of facial recognition. Evaluating these cases through the framework highlights commonalities and differences. The framework highlights varied approaches to autonomy, like individual opt-out and collective action. Regarding time, opt-outs and lawsuits react to past harm, while legislation might proactively prevent future harm. Power dynamics differ; withdrawing individual photos minimally influences IBM, while legislation could potentially cause longer-term change. And as for cost, individual opt-out seems less demanding, while other approaches require more time and effort, balanced against potential benefits.

The framework facilitates case description and comparison across these dimensions. I think its generative nature encourages exploration of novel forms of refusal as well. By identifying the characteristics we want to see in future refusal strategies collective, proactive, powerful, low-cost we can aspire to shape future approaches and change the behavior of data collectors. We may not always be able to combine all these criteria, but the framework provides a means to articulate our aspirational goals in this context.

Q: What impact do you hope this research will have?

A: I hope to expand the notion of who can participate in design, and whose actions are seen as legitimate expressions of design input. I think a lot of work so far in the conversation around data ethics prioritizes the perspective of computer scientists who are trying to design better systems, at the expense of the perspective of people for whom the systems are not currently working. So, I hope designers and computer scientists can embrace the concept of refusal as a legitimate form of design, and a source of inspiration. There's a vital conversation happening, one that should influence the design of future systems, even if expressed through unconventional means.

One of the things I want to underscore in the paper is that design extends beyond software. Taking a socio-technical perspective, the act of designing encompasses software, institutions, relationships, and governance structures surrounding data use. I want people who arent software engineers, like policymakers or activists, to view themselves as integral to the technology design process.

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Q&A: How refusal can be an act of design - MIT News

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Doctoral students reflect on their journeys to becoming Ph.D. candidates and chosen paths of study – Virginia Tech

Nicholas Corline is investigating how some of the smallest creatures can have a big impact.

Our research is really saying that when you have these high populations of tadpoles, you create biogeochemical hotspots on the landscape, and these are your sites of elevated nutrient cycling and elevated carbon cycling, said Corline, a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying forest resources and environment conservation.

Corline is one of 38 students in Virginia Techs Doctoral Scholars program who will be presenting their research during a poster symposium. The programs annual event will be March 29 from 1-4 p.m. in Kelly Hall on the Blacksburg campus.

Led by the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science (ICTAS), the program honors exceptional Ph.D. candidates interested in science and engineering with a competitive graduate fellowship. It currently has 38 students representing the College of Engineering, College of Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, and the College of Natural Resources and the Environment. The program is supported by significant contributions from the Virginia Tech Graduate Schoolas well as various Virginia Tech colleges and faculty advisors.

Leading up to the event, Corline and two other scholars Cecelia Wood, a third year Ph.D. student studying geosciences, andWesley Woo, a second year student studying computer science shared their insights about the program, their research, and what they hope to convey on March 29.

Why did you accept the offer to join the Doctoral Scholars program?

Corline: The main thing that made me partial to the fellowship is the idea that I have a lot of flexibility and freedom to explore my own research. I feel like theres a lot of flexibility for me to go off on tangents and explore things, which are relevant to the project but still out there, without feeling bad about it. Theres also all the support that ICTAS gives the professional development and a community of scholars which is cool because its really diverse.

Wood: I think that ICTAS, especially within the Doctoral Scholars program, focuses on the intersection between basic scientific research and how we can apply that to society and todays technology. I think that it was lucky because I see that in my research, and I came to Tech because I was a chemistry major and now Im in geosciences; I wanted to switch from a basic science to a more applied science. I think it all comes back to that intersection.

Woo: Its cool to be part of a public institution which has different research goals and funders than a private research institution. Its really a privilege to not have to worry about funding for a couple years, to have access to ICTASs resources, so I can get a travel grant that Ive used to go to conferences and share my work.

What do you enjoy most about the program?

Corline: Everyone has a lot of pride in the school in Virginia Tech itself and their work. That makes it a fun place to work because everyones excited about what theyre doing. Thats the main thing I picked up.

Wood: I think its the camaraderie. All of us have a passion in making sure that our research means something for the world. I talk to some of the scholars who are studying water availability and some who are looking at animal health and resources, and while all of that is different from my research, I think we connect with the passion of wanting to impact the world. What I also really appreciate about the program is the freedom to take risks in my research and pursue leadership opportunities that I wouldnt have been able to because I dont have to teach with the fellowship. Im actually co-leading my own research symposium in my department, so I get to have the hands-on experience planning everything and coordinating committees.

Woo: Its honestly the freedom. Im constantly reminding myself that its great not to have to worry about funding either through TAing [being a teaching assistant] or research assistant positions. Theres freedom to define my own path and work on problems that I think are important [and explore] work between disciplines and how people are approaching the same problem from different disciplinary backgrounds or angles.

What is the most challenging part of the program?

Corline: The toughest part about the program is that a Ph.D. is such a huge investment in time, and its easy to get bogged down in what youre doing and not feel like youre going anywhere because youre accumulating all this knowledge and putting experiments together. Thats the biggest challenge to not just keep motivated but just to keep going and know that youre still making progress even when everything seems to be really slow.

Wood: I dont know if challenging is the right word, but there are a lot of high expectations for us in the program because we were picked to be the best of the best. Its nice to have high expectations because I like to strive and meet those expectations. We are also encouraged to not just be a good graduate student but to be a good citizen and to get involved. I would say its a challenge in the way that you want to receive it and meet it.

Woo: Just learning how to do a Ph.D. in general is challenging, especially because there are so many ways to do good, valid research so many ways of working or thinking about arguments you want to make. It seems like an individual endeavor of finding your identity as a researcher, figuring out what problems you care about and how to make convincing arguments about these problems and what tools youre going to use to make these arguments. With the freedom that comes with not having to worry about funding, is also, OK, how should I be spending my time? I feel like theres a lot of great ways to serve the community and learn broadly. A personal outlook I have on pursuing a Ph.D. is that, yes, there are tangible career benefits or technical growth that can come from doing a Ph.D. but also growing as a person, having new experiences, and learning new ways of thinking are all tied up in the process of becoming an independent researcher.

How would you describe your current research?

Corline: Im on one large project which is an interdisciplinary shared project between Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, and its out on the Delmarva Peninsula. The overall goal of the project is to understand wetland carbon cycling and nutrient cycling. So like water level in these wetlands, how that changes through time, seasons, or years, or how that might change carbon storage, carbon release, nutrient storage, etc. I also have a strong interest in animal ecology, so I was able to bring how animals affect nutrient carbon cycling within the wetlands in conjunction with hydrology. So I have the hydrology project going on looking at these wetlands, and then I was able to do more of an ecology project coming in there looking at how tadpoles affect nutrient cycling in wetlands and how theyre an important contributor to carbon cycling.

Wood: My research is on heavy metal contamination in fresh water drinking reservoirs. It's close to home because I work with the Western Virginia Water Authority on reservoirs that are in Roanoke. These reservoirs serve as a backup water supply for Roanoke City and Roanoke County. We have the system that we know removes it, but we dont know a lot about that process of how it gets removed and how much gets removed. So we look at those particles in the water and say, okay, this is the type of mineral which means it has these properties.We try to examine those particles to make our system better so that way we can remove even more from the water column and tell other people about it.

Woo:My main area of research looks at different barriers to internet use and high quality internet infrastructure. These barriers might not always be purely technological. One concept that I've been thinking about recently is social internet use - what are the ways people might rely on others to access the internet? This idea appears a lot in work on internet use in the Global South. But even in the U.S., once we leave home, we dont have access to our home internet, so we might be using Starbucks' Wi-Fi or Virginia Tech Wi-Fi. Even if were at home, we may have bad internet and need to interact with our service provider or rely on other people's networks or cell phone hotspots to reestablish connectivity. I'm wondering how we can take the social nature of internet infrastructure use into account when designing the internet itself.

What are you presenting at the poster symposium?

Corline: Im going to be presenting my research on the tadpoles. In that landscape, we have all these different wetlands. There are thousands of these small ponds and some of them host frogs as breeding sites and they have tons of tadpoles in there. Our research is really saying that when you have these high populations of tadpoles, you create biogeochemical hotspots on the landscape and these are your sites of elevated nutrient cycling and elevated carbon cycling. So imagine that you have all these wetlands out there and theyre doing their [own] things. Theyre breaking down leaves. Theyre storing organic matter. Theyre processing nutrients. But then, when you have these tadpole populations in there, it supercharges them, so you have much more breakdown. You have faster nutrient cycling and various effects on microbial activities.

Wood: I have five years worth of data I pulled together. With that data, we can look at how much iron and manganese gets removed every year. We have a test reservoir and a controlled reservoir. The test reservoir has the system, and the control doesnt, so we have five years worth of data that shows our system is effective. It speeds up iron and manganese removal and overall, does what we want it to do which I think is a great response everyone wants to see.

Woo:At the poster session, I'll be presenting ongoing work on the design of future cellular networks. In traditional cellular networks, your phone has one IP address and needs to keep this IP address as you connect to different cell towers. This design makes it difficult to move from one cellular network to another without seeing a significant disruption to your cell phones performance, which impedes the spread of smaller, community-owned and operated cellular networks. The work Im doing now explores how the modern internet no longer needs to rely on this traditional cellular network design, as internet-connected devices can manage their own changing IP addresses more efficiently. If devices can indeed handle mobility by themselves, it will be easier for future internet infrastructure to be owned and operated by the communities it serves.

Some answers were edited and condensed for clarity.

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Doctoral students reflect on their journeys to becoming Ph.D. candidates and chosen paths of study - Virginia Tech

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Bulgarian Institute Achieves Landmark Success with Breakthrough in AI Research – Novinite.com

Bulgaria's Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology (INSAIT) has achieved a historic milestone, with an unprecedented 16 articles accepted for the prestigious Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), the world's foremost forum for AI and computer vision. This groundbreaking success not only marks a significant achievement for Bulgaria but also positions the country among Europe's top ten in the field of AI research, announced the Ministry of Education and Science on Tuesday.

The Ministry highlighted that Bulgaria's success at CVPR surpasses that of all Eastern European countries combined, underscoring the magnitude of the achievement. INSAIT, in collaboration with St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, has spearheaded this remarkable feat, marking the first time in 40 years that Bulgarian scientists have contributed articles to CVPR.

CVPR is renowned as the premier global platform for AI research, ranking alongside esteemed scientific journals such as Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Science. INSAIT's groundbreaking articles cover six strategic fields, including Generative AI, AI motion caption, AI for understanding video, photos, and text simultaneously, autonomous driving, quantum computing for AI, and end-device AI.

The Ministry further emphasized that INSAIT's achievement places Bulgaria's academic research on par with leading institutions worldwide, surpassing renowned universities in countries such as Israel, the Netherlands, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Italy.

The forthcoming edition of CVPR, scheduled to take place in Seattle, USA, from June 17 to 21, will serve as a platform for presenting and discussing INSAIT's groundbreaking research findings. As Bulgaria continues to make strides in AI and technology, this achievement serves as a testament to the country's growing prominence on the global stage of scientific innovation.

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Bulgarian Institute Achieves Landmark Success with Breakthrough in AI Research - Novinite.com

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Scientists explore complex pattern of tipping points in the Atlantic’s current system – EurekAlert

image:

Professor Valerio Lucarini from the University of Leicester School of Mathematical and Computer Science

Credit: University of Leicester

An international team of scientists have warned against relying on nature providing straightforward early warning indicators of a climate disaster, as new mathematical modelling shows new fascinating aspects of the complexity of the dynamics of climate.

It suggests that the climate system could be more unpredictable than previously thought.

By modelling the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, one of the main ocean current systems, the team which included mathematicians from the University of Leicester have found that the stability of the system is much more complex than simple on-off states as previously assumed. Switches between these states might lead to major changes in the regional climate of the North Atlantic region, yet a far cry from the massive impacts of a transition between the qualitatively different states.

But some of these minor transitions might eventually upscale to cause a major changeover between the qualitatively different states, with massive global climatic impacts. Early warning signals might be unable to distinguish the degree of severity of the ensuing tipping points. Like a tower of Jenga blocks, removing some blocks may affect the stability of the system, but we cannot be certain which block will bring the whole system tumbling down.

Their findings are published in Science Advances today (22 March) in a paper led by the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen.

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is one of the most important fundamental features of the climate system. It transports heat from low to high latitudes in the northern Atlantic, so it helps create positive thermal anomalies in northern and western Europe and in the North Atlantic region downwind. A slowdown of the circulation would result in a relative cooling in this region.

Predicting the behaviour of our climate, as in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, is challenging due to its incredible complexity. Scientists either need a model of the highest possible resolution, or try to understand its behaviour using a less resource intensive model that allows for rigorous statistical analysis.

Professor Valerio Lucarini from the University of Leicester School of Mathematical and Computer Science said: Within each state there is a multiplicity of nearby states. Depending on where or what you are observing, you might find some indicators of nearing collapse. But it is not obvious whether this collapse will be contained to nearby states or lead to a major upheaval, because the indicators only reflect the local properties of the system.

These states are the different ways that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation organises itself at large scales, with key implications for the global climate and especially regionally in the North Atlantic. Under some scenarios, the circulation could reach a tipping point where the system is no longer stable and will collapse. Early warning indicators tell us that the system might be jumping to another state, but we do not know how different it will be.

In a separate investigation we have seen something similar occurring in paleoclimatic records: when you change your timescale of interest just like a magnification lens - you can discover smaller and smaller scale distinct features that are indicative of competing modes of operation of the global climate. Paleoclimatic records of the last 65 million years allowed us to provide a new interpretation of the climate evolution over that time period, and reveal these multiple competing states.

This study paves the way to looking at the climate through the lens of statistical mechanics and complexity theory. It really stimulates a new outlook of climate, in which you have to put together complex numerical simulations, observational evidence and theory in an unavoidable mixture. You have to appreciate and endorse this complexity. There is no shortcut, no free lunch in our understanding of climate, but we are learning a lot from it.

Multistability and Intermediate Tipping of the Atlantic Ocean Circulation

22-Mar-2024

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Machines use AI to test new materials so we don’t have to | ASU News – ASU News Now

We are living in a material world.

In the face of an intense period of global evolution, including climate change, aging populations and an increased need to conserve resources such as food and water, the fate of the future may depend on the development of innovative materials.

Yanjie Fu, an associate professor of computer science in theSchool of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, part of theIra A. Fulton Schools of Engineeringat Arizona State University, and his colleague,Alix Schmidt, a senior data scientist atDow(NYSE: DOW), were recently awarded a Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Grant by theNational Academy of Engineering, or NAE, to use artificial intelligence to help engineer new materials.

Though we may rarely notice it, materials science has an enormous impact on our daily lives, Schmidt says. By the time I get to work in the morning, I have already interacted with hundreds of materials innovations. My daily sunscreen lotion doesnt leave me feeling oily, my car doesnt rust despite the salty Michigan winter roads and my phone forgives me for dropping it in the parking lot.

The grant is designed to help the researchers increase the speed and decrease the cost of developing polymers or inorganic materials by tapping the power of artificial intelligence, or AI. New materials discovered by AI can be developed to have unique properties and have the potential to make airplanes safer, food storage better and military technology more affordable.

Right now, the process of making new materials often involves, well, physically making new materials. Engineers must typically produce new types of stretchy rubber, heat-resistant plastic or more durable forms of glass, testing each, sometimes by trial and error, until they find something that can be mass-produced.

For this project, Fu and Schmidt will employ a type of AI called deep machine learning in which computers run software programs that enable them to learn by example in a way that models the human mind. The researchers will use large libraries of historical data from the field of material science to essentially train machines to make virtual models of new materials, run simulated tests and provide key information to scientists.

The artificial intelligence system will use historical data to learn about patterns in material compositions, which will eliminate the need to test each material one by one, Fu says.

The teams efforts will also create a more environmentally friendly, sustainable manufacturing pipeline, as it will become less necessary to consume resources testing formulations that will likely never be utilized.

Fu says, The result will be that only the promising options will be made and labs can spend their money on the materials most likely to work.

The pair of researchers initially connected at the U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium last year. They began to discuss ways to collaborate. As Fu described his background in computer science, Schmidt theorized that her work at Dow especially the companys manufacturing expertise and massive material science library could be helpful. They decided to team up to develop an effective machine learning system.

Founded in 1897 by Herbert Henry Dow following his discovery of a new method of extracting bromine from brine, Dow now produces materials that support a wide range of applications, from food packaging to athletic shoes to beauty products. Their breadth of knowledge makes the company ideal to work with for this type of research project.

Thanks to these machine learning systems, well be in the kitchen with only the ingredients likely to make tasty dishes.

Yanjie FuAssociate professor of computer science, School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence

Its a challenge to keep pace with ever-increasing performance requirements as our customers develop these beneficial products, Schmidt says. With AI materials design tools, our researchers can more easily leverage Dows long history of materials science expertise to quickly respond to new design requirements, whether that is advanced performance, improved sustainability or cost. We envision a future with data-driven tools in our labs, and Im excited to see how this project can accelerate the AI journey.

Ross Maciejewski, director of the School of Computing and Augmented Intelligence, agrees. This grant is an interesting example of the type of collaboration between enterprise and academia that can really propel innovation, he says. Tackling the worlds big problems will require both research and manufacturing solutions.

The Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering Grants are designed to foster exactly this kind of interdisciplinary approach. The foundation gives away only two awards after each symposium that provide the seed money to drive important research forward. Its the next lap on an already promising track for Fu, who was named an Early Career Engineer by the NAE in 2020.

Fu is looking forward to developing the new AI technology with Schmidt. He compares the process to cooking.

He says, Thanks to these machine learning systems, well be in the kitchen with only the ingredients likely to make tasty dishes.

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Sessions | Bret Weinstein – The Daily Wire

The Jordan B. Peterson PodcastMar 25, 2024

In this DW+ exclusive Sessions interview, Dr. Jordan Peterson and Bret Weinstein discuss the evolutionary and individual perception of consciousness, protective biases, when not to change your mind, and the necessity of intellectual freedom in order to avoid pitfalls and progress.

Dr. Weinstein is an evolutionary biologist who specializes in adaptive trade-offs. His current focus is on the interaction between genetic and cultural evolution. He has studied tent-making behavior in neotropical bats and worked for 14 years as a professor at The Evergreen State College. He has testified to the U.S. Congress, and been a visiting fellow at Princeton University. He hosts the DarkHorse Podcast and is a New York Times best-selling author. Bret has been a frequent guest on The Joe Rogan Experience and has done live events with Richard Dawkins, Jordan Peterson, Eric Weinstein, Peter Boghossian, Sam Harris, Douglas Murray and has been interviewed by Bill Maher, Russell Brand, Glenn Loury, Dax Shepard, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck, Bari Weiss, Derrick Jensen, and Lex Fridman, among many others.

- Links -

2024 tour details can be found here https://jordanbpeterson.com/events

Peterson Academy https://petersonacademy.com/

For Bret Weinstein:

DarkHorse Locals Community https://darkhorse.locals.com/

On X https://x.com/BretWeinstein

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Sessions | Bret Weinstein - The Daily Wire

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Streaming, Politics, & Philosophy | Destiny (Steven Bonnell II) – The Daily Wire

The Jordan B. Peterson PodcastMar 21, 2024

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down in-person with Steven Bonnell II, also known as Destiny. They discuss the differences between the left and the right, force versus invitation, the feasibility and pitfalls of command economies, the dangers of ideology, and government response to worldwide crises.

Destiny, also known as Steven Bonnell II, is a prominent political commentator and content creator known for his debate skills and provocative takes on various issues. With a passion for gaming, politics, and philosophy, Destiny engages in lively discussions that often challenge the status quo.

- Links -

2024 tour details can be found here https://jordanbpeterson.com/events

Peterson Academy https://petersonacademy.com/

For Steven Bonnell II:

Destinys YT Channel https://www.youtube.com/@destiny

On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/Destiny/

On X https://twitter.com/TheOmniLiberal?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

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Elliot Page’s Abs Have Got Jordan Peterson in a Tizzy Again – Yahoo News Canada

Photos by Chris Williamson and Peter White/Getty Images

Jordan Peterson wont stop criticizing Elliot Pages transition, even after the controversial academic was banned from Twitter for calling the trans actors doctor a criminal physician.

On the podcast Krystal Kyle and Friends, Peterson explained to Kyle Kulinski why Page remains the focus of his ire.

See, I wouldve left Ellen Page alone if she hadnt been parading her new abs in a fashion magazine, he said, continuously misgendering Page by using his dead name and his old pronouns.

How many kids do you think she convinced to convert? One? A thousand? Peterson asked.

He was referring to Pages turn as Esquires cover star in June. The Umbrella Academy actor showed off his new physique in several photos, some of them shirtless, and talked about how comfortable he feels working out in his new body.

For Peterson, its all tantamount to social contagion.

She has the responsibility not to entice confused adolescents into a catastrophic decision before they have the maturity to make that decision, he said.

The University of Toronto psychology professorwho has developed quite a following among the intellectual rightwas suspended from Twitter after tweeting that Page had her breasts removed by a criminal physician on June 22. According to screenshots of his account shared on social media, the platform flagged the post as hateful conduct and barred him from posting until he agreed to delete it.

(L-R) Former Juno co-stars Jennifer Garner, Elliot Page, and J.K. Simmons speak onstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards.

Neilson Barnard

The suspension even drew criticism from Elon Musk, who said the platform has gone way too far in squashing dissenting opinions.

Kyle said the tweet got Peterson in trouble, but the professor downplayed the importance of his suspension.

Well, I dont know if it got me in trouble, you know, I dont think Im in trouble, Twitter banned me, but I dont consider that trouble, Peterson said.

Kyle argued that trans people are going through the same kind of persecution that gay people did during their fight for acceptance, prompting Peterson to interrupt him.

Story continues

Youre utterly wrong, he said. Theres nothing about that thats right.

He brought up Canadas 2017 law that added gender identity or expression to a section of the criminal code targeting hate speech, defined as inciting hatred and advocating for genocide. The anti-discrimination law might make it a crime to repeatedly, consistently refuses to use a persons chosen pronoun, a University of Toronto law professor told the CBC.

Jordan B. Peterson is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, a clinical psychologist, a public speaker, and a creator of Self Authoring.

Romy Arroyo Fernandez

Not one to be silenced, Peterson continued to rage against Page on Kyles podcast. Amid a flurry of typical anti-trans attacks, the professor expressed concern that the Canadian law would usher in a state of mass panic and uncertainty.

For every one person of that sort that we hypothetically save, we doom a thousand more as a consequence of confusion and social contagion, he said.

Often, when you introduce social confusion, you can produce a psychogenic epidemic. Generally, its adolescent females who are more susceptible to it, he added. Its absolutely and definitely the case that weve doomed thousands of kids to brutal, mutilating surgery and premature sterility and weve done that on the altar of our hypothetical moral virtue and compassion.

Kyle, who continuously argued that adults should be able to choose what they do with their bodies, called Peterson out for his moral panic, sending the frazzled professor into another impassioned diatribe.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Opinion: My ill-fated dip in the cesspool of cryptocurrency – The Globe and Mail

Open this photo in gallery:

Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin in Paris on March 9.Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Rob Csernyik is a 2022 Michener-Deacon fellow and a contributing columnist for The Globe and Mail.

When Bitcoin hit an all-time high of nearly US$74,000 on March 14 pushing the cryptocurrency market to a dizzying US$2.8-trillion I was not in the cheering section. Months before, I had started cashing out my meagre crypto and related holdings for about $20 in profit.

For some investors, the recent crypto valuation rebounds suggest a return to the unbridled optimism that characterized much of the last decade. Its a reason to hold or to buy more. But for others millennials, including me, with limited funds to allocate its an escape hatch were wise to take.

The fresh territory to explore? Its not unchartered, only sleepier: the sturdier footing of blue-chip stocks or exchange-traded funds, particularly those with attractive dividend payouts.

In May, 2020, with fewer places to spend my money because of COVID-19 lockdowns and tumbling equity prices, I started a self-managed investment account. It hasnt grown into a massive nest egg, but is now worth several thousand dollars.

Im not alone. The same calendar year I started, Canadians opened more than 2.3 million new do-it-yourself investment (DIY) accounts, according to Investor Economics, a financial services research firm. This was nearly three times the number opened in 2019.

Bitcoin ownership was on the rise, too: 13 per cent of Canadians by 2021, up from 5 per cent in previous years according to the Bank of Canada. Crypto mining stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETF), which Canada had before the United States, made it easy to buy crypto as a theme without opening a separate wallet.

It was easy to get swept up in the excitement and the feeling that if I wasnt invested in crypto, I was missing out. I steered my savings toward it and, like my fellow emerging DIY investors, encountered a steep learning curve. Going in, I knew the days of massive returns the first-movers of crypto reaped were over, but I treated them as interchangeable with high-risk stocks.

But I gave them too much space in my portfolio. Prices shifted more quickly than news cycles could keep up with, and I got used to seeing outsized gains. They made me hungry for more. After the crypto crash in the spring of 2022, my portfolios related holdings floundered. I saw my returns drop lower than I felt comfortable with.

Having spent the last few years grimacing at my portfolio has led me to reconsider my appetite for risk. For me, this was mostly a revision of how crypto fit in. In hindsight, I can see how investing similar dollar amounts in more thoughtfully chosen equities or ETFs would have helped me reach more modest but still reasonable growth goals without the risk of crypto.

Thats why, when I saw my Bitcoin investment finally in the black again, I hit sell. My profit was tiny, but I could reallocate the funds toward something more carefully chosen, instead of plucked from the headlines because everyone else seemed to be buying it.

A defining moment came while listening to an investor call for a freelance story I was working on. A Goldman Sachs Wealth Management executive was asked for her thoughts on the new Bitcoin ETFs that were recently approved for trading in the United States.

She was unequivocal: investors should not allocate to cryptocurrencies or crypto ETFs as part of their investment portfolios. It was as speculative as gambling at a Las Vegas casino. That I had been considering my crypto allocations investments in the classic sense suddenly seemed naive.

Granted, this is ultimately a personal decision. Some people like to speculate and have enough wealth that they dont need to worry about losses. But much of the DIY crowd, including me, are not in that category. We cant afford to be. Im not much of a gambler, and besides, to grow my portfolio to contribute to a property down payment or to assist with retirement requires a more considered approach.

I vowed, after hearing the executives remarks, to step up my divestment and reallocate more selectively. When an opportunity came to sell my bit of Ether at a profit, it went. Same with a handful of crypto mining stocks.

I feel more positive and secure toward my investments since making this pivot, even if my portfolio hasnt grown significantly since. I also find myself paying less attention to the constant headlines about them. Thats why I barely notice some of the headlines about Bitcoin selloffs trimming back some of the most recent record-breaking gains.

There are enough horror stories about everyday people betting big on cryptocurrency and losing their savings or selling off their holdings at a loss because they fear it will only get worse. If the chance to break even or turn a small profit appears, save yourself.

Original post:
Opinion: My ill-fated dip in the cesspool of cryptocurrency - The Globe and Mail

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Cryptocurrency: Top 3 Coins To Buy for 5X Profit In April – Watcher Guru

Investors are constantly on the lookout for the next cryptocurrency opportunity. With numerous digital assets vying for attention, it can be challenging to identify the coins with the most promising prospects. In this article, well explore three cryptocurrencies that have the potential to deliver 5X profits in April: NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and Stacks (STX).

These projects have demonstrated impressive performance in recent weeks and possess unique features and use cases that could propel them to new heights in the coming month.

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) has emerged as a strong contender in the blockchain space, offering a scalable and developer-friendly platform for decentralized applications (dApps). With its unique sharding technology and proof-of-stake consensus mechanism, NEAR aims to address the scalability and usability challenges faced by other blockchain networks.

Over the past 24 hours, NEAR has witnessed an impressive 11.1% increase in price, currently trading at $7.22.

Moreover, the cryptocurrency has surged by a staggering 107.3% over the past 30 days, indicating strong market momentum and investor confidence. As more developers and projects flock to the NEAR ecosystem, the demand for the native token is expected to rise, potentially leading to further price appreciation in April.

Shiba Inu (SHIB), the beloved meme coin that started as a lighthearted joke, has proven its staying power in the cryptocurrency market. With a dedicated community, Shiba Inu has the potential to ride the wave of the upcoming bull run.

Over the past 30 days, SHIB has experienced an astonishing 194% increase in price, currently trading at $0.00002793. As mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies grows and market sentiment remains bullish, Shiba Inus popularity and brand recognition could fuel its price appreciation in April. Also, this could potentially lead to 5X returns for investors who capitalize on this opportunity.

Stacks (STX) is an innovative cryptocurrency that aims to bring smart contract functionality to the Bitcoin network. By leveraging Bitcoins security and stability while enabling developers to build decentralized applications, Stacks bridges the gap between the worlds largest cryptocurrency and the growing demand for programmable money.

Over the past 7 days, STX has seen a significant 28.3% increase in price, and it has also gained 39.1% over the past 30 days, currently trading at $3.54. Additionally, as more investors recognize the potential of Stacks and its unique position in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, demand for STX could soar, potentially leading to 5X profits in April.

The cryptocurrency market presents numerous opportunities for investors to generate substantial returns, and the three coins discussed in this article NEAR Protocol, Shiba Inu, and Stacks could potentially deliver 5X profits in April.

However, it is crucial to remember that the crypto market is highly volatile and subject to rapid changes in sentiment and market conditions. Also, as with any investment, it is essential to conduct thorough research, understand the risks involved, and make informed decisions based on your individual financial goals and risk tolerance.

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Cryptocurrency: Top 3 Coins To Buy for 5X Profit In April - Watcher Guru

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