John P. Johnson / HBO
The G7 leaders released a statement condemning transnational repression—when states try to intimidate or even assassinate critics who have moved to other countries. Statements are nice, but
investigated what it’s really like for dissidents in exile, in “I Can Do Good Work—If I Don’t Get Killed”:Risk consultant Calvin Chrustie, a former operations officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, believes rogue states are becoming more brazen: while recruiting individuals to target their nationals living in Canada may have once been taboo, that is no longer the case. Over the past decade, various kidnapping plots by foreign states on Canadian soil have become public knowledge. [Read more]
An MIT study recording brain activity in a group of essay writers suggests that ChatGPT is eroding critical-thinking skills, with users getting lazier over time. This is something
worried about in “I Used to Teach Students. Now I Catch ChatGPT Cheats”:[Long-term writing assignments] have been the most powerful teaching tool in my arsenal, particularly when they are developed in stages: a first draft followed by feedback, followed by a revision, and so on. Assuming that the student puts in the effort, the paper inevitably gets better through such a process. But what is more important is that the student gets better. … The essays are a means to an end, the end being the transformation of the author into an educated person. This kind of writing assignment is simply the best available instrument for bringing about this highly desirable end. [Read more]
In Georgia, a state with strict abortion and fetal rights laws, a brain-dead woman who was kept on life support to continue her pregnancy delivered a baby weighing less than two pounds. The technology around childbirth is rapidly advancing. Claire Horn considered the impacts of partial artificial wombs, which may soon become a reality:
As of 2022, some nations continue to have laws in place that criminalize pregnant people who are believed to be engaging in behaviour that might harm their fetuses. If artificial wombs were widely available, could women perceived to be “unfit” mothers be coerced into using them? And if a fetus could survive without being dependent on a pregnant person’s body, how would that impact reproductive rights? [Read more]
There’s buzz about Nathan Fielder’s strange docuseries The Rehearsal. The Point published a fascinating look at auto-performance. Adam Nayman dug deep into an adjacent topic: the TV show’s interrogation of reality:
Nathan loves frameworks, and he also loves showing himself lurking at the edges of various construction sites, overseeing while being seen. The Rehearsal’s much-vaunted scale replicas of a dingy Brooklyn bar, fluorescent airport lounge, stylized studio headquarters, and an oversized childhood nursery serve explicitly as prosceniums or echo chambers. They amplify their own artifice and make all the world into a (sound) stage. [Read more]
Check out our books podcast, What Happened Next, hosted by Nathan Whitlock. This week’s conversation is with Teresa Wong, whose most recent book is All Our Ordinary Stories.
Read a poem by Andreae Callanan: “Asymmetry”
Read a short story by C.P. Boyko: “In the Palace of Cats"