{"id":7549,"date":"2024-11-22T17:50:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T01:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=7549"},"modified":"2024-11-22T17:50:55","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T01:50:55","slug":"things-glen-found-interesting-volume-479","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/11\/22\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-479","title":{"rendered":"Things Glen Found Interesting, Volume 479"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4396\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=768%2C768&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1024%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?resize=1200%2C1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/issachar-update-logo-wordswag.png?w=1680&amp;ssl=1 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\"><\/a>\n\n    On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Things Glen Found Interesting<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2024\/12\/meritocracy-college-admissions-social-economic-segregation\/680392\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How the Ivy League Broke America<\/a> (David Brooks, The Atlantic): \u201cStudents who got into higher-ranking colleges, which demand high secondary-school GPAs, are not substantially more effective after they graduate. In one study of 28,000 young students, those attending higher-ranking universities did only slightly better on consulting projects than those attending lower-ranked universities. Grant notes that this would mean, for instance, that a Yale student would have been only about 1.9 percent more proficient than a student from Cleveland State when measured by the quality of their work. The Yale student would also have been more likely to be a jerk: The researchers found that students from higher-ranking colleges and universities, while nominally more effective than other students, were more likely to pay \u2018insufficient attention to interpersonal relationships,\u2019 and in some instances to be \u2018less friendly,\u2019 \u2018more prone to conflict,\u2019 and \u2018less likely to identify with their&nbsp;team.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Interesting throughout. I liked this line \u2014 \u201cIf we could get to the point where being snobby about going to Stanford seems as ridiculous as being snobby about your great-grandmother\u2019s membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, this would transform not just college admissions but American childhood.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Somewhat related: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chronicle.com\/article\/we-asked-for-it\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We Asked for It<\/a> (Michael W. Clune, The Chronicle of Higher Education): \u201cThe costs of explicitly tying the academic enterprise to partisan politics in a democracy were eminently foreseeable and are now coming into sharp focus.\u2026 In return for their tuition, students are given the faculty\u2019s high-class political opinions as a form of cultural capital. Thus the public perceives these opinions \u2014 on defunding the police, or viewing biological sex as a social construction, or Israel as absolute evil \u2014 as markers in a status game. Far from advancing their opinions, professors in fact function to invalidate these views for the majority of Americans who never had the opportunity to attend elite institutions but who are constantly stigmatized for their low-class opinions by the lucky graduates. Far from representing a powerful avant-garde leading the way to political change, the politicized class of professors is a serious political liability to any party that it supports.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is an English professor at Case Western. He throws a lot of strong punches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/2024\/11\/jordan-peterson-we-who-wrestle-with-god-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jordan Peterson Loves God\u2019s Word. But What About God?<\/a> (Brad East, Christianity Today): \u201cthe power of Peterson\u2019s style is his marriage of existential urgency with hermeneutical creativity. He expects the Word to show him wonders. He wrestles with the text\u2014a mystery and a stranger\u2014until he secures a blessing from it. He takes for granted that its depths are bottomless. Do pastors model this posture in the pulpit? Do teachers in the classroom? Do scholars on the page?Christian readers should learn from Peterson\u2019s boldness, his disposition of awe and docility before the sacred page. He opens the scroll with the same spirit as the psalmist: \u2018Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law\u2019 (119:18).\u201d\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recommended by a colleague. This is one of the best Christian engagements with Jordan Peterson I\u2019ve&nbsp;seen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mereorthodoxy.com\/negative-world-aaron-renn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In the Era of the Judges<\/a> (Stiven Peter, Mere Orthodoxy): \u201cThe holders of cultural capital have not simply substituted Christian values with an alternative set but promote the very loss of order itself. The only values are no values. That is, our culture promotes libertinism, everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. Sociologically, Hunter calls this the process of dissolution: \u2018By dissolution, I refer to the deconstruction of the most basic assumptions about reality.\u2019 Our culture doesn\u2019t enforce any guide to who or what we are, nor what we should do. Instead, what is promoted is turning inside ourselves and determining our own values. This process results in the fracturing of society alongside tribes\/enclaves of people with similar values.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This is a review of Aaron Renn\u2019s book, and Renn says: \u201cThis review is a think piece in its own right. Peter takes my ideas and restates them through his own lens \u2014 improving them in the process.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalliturgies.net\/p\/rich-inner-death\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rich Inner Death<\/a> (Samuel D. James, Substack): \u201cOur mental health crisis is usually cast as either a failure of therapeutic techniques\u2014we just haven\u2019t unlocked our trauma well enough yet\u2014or else an unavoidable consequence of climate anxiety, polarization, or bad media. But [perhaps the crisis stems from how we are trained to view the world]. There is a way of living your life as a kind of constant retreat into both the safety and the chaos of your own imagination, and nearly everything about how we learn, communicate, and work as modern people helps us condition for this. We are taught early and often to direct our gaze inward.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Several substantive insights in this article.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.confirmationtales.com\/p\/why-the-federalist-society-has-been\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why the Federalist Society Has Been a Great Success<\/a> (Ed Whelan, Substack): \u201cThe Federalist Society\u2019s success has led many on the Left\u2014and, more recently, some envious folks on the Right\u2014to revile and demonize it. But its critics routinely display that they do not understand how it operates and how it has succeeded.\u2026 It does not submit amicus briefs. It does not undertake to enlist the public in political undertakings. And it has never done any of these things. And therein lies one of the great keys to its success.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-76900-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI-generated poetry is indistinguishable from human-written poetry and is rated more favorably<\/a> (Brian Porter &amp; Edouard Machery, Scientific Reports [Nature]): \u201cWe collected 5 poems each from 10 well-known English-language poets, spanning much of the history of English poetry: Geoffrey Chaucer (1340s-1400), William Shakespeare (1564\u20131616), Samuel Butler (1613\u20131680), Lord Byron (1788\u20131824), Walt Whitman (1819\u20131892), Emily Dickinson (1830\u20131886), T.S. Eliot (1888\u20131965), Allen Ginsberg (1926\u20131997), Sylvia Plath (1932\u20131963), and Dorothea Lasky (1978- ). Using ChatGPT 3.5, we generated 5 poems \u2018in the style of\u2019 each poet. We used a \u2018human out of the loop\u2019 paradigm: we used the first 5 poems generated, and did not select the \u2018best\u2019 out of a group of poems or provide any feedback or instructions to the model beyond \u2018Write a short poem in the style of\u2009&lt;poet&gt;\u2009\u2018. In the first experiment, 1,634 participants were randomly assigned to one of the 10 poets, and presented with 10 poems in random order: 5 poems written by that poet, and 5 generated by AI \u2018in the style of\u2019 that poet. For each poem, participants were asked whether they thought the poem was generated by AI or written by a human poet.\u2026 Contrary to what earlier studies reported, people now appear unable to reliably distinguish human-out-of-the-loop AI-generated poetry from human-authored poetry written by well-known poets.\u2026 Furthermore, people prefer AI-generated poetry to human-authored poetry, consistently rating AI-generated poems more highly than the poems of well-known poets across a variety of qualitative factors.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The authors are at the University of Pittsburgh.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www-chronicle-com.stanford.idm.oclc.org\/article\/why-progressives-should-question-their-favorite-scientific-findings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Why Progressives Should Question Their Favorite Scientific Findings<\/a> (Paul Bloom, The Chronicle of Higher Education): \u201cYou may have heard of the study published in 2020 concluding that Black newborns have higher survival rates when Black doctors attend to them. It got a huge amount of coverage in the popular press. It was even cited by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in her dissent last year on the court\u2019s ruling against racial preferences in college admissions. The research, Jackson claimed, shows the benefits of diversity. \u2018It saves lives,\u2019 she wrote. The same journal just published a re-analysis of the data. It turns out that the \u2018effect is substantially weakened, and often becomes statistically insignificant,\u2019 once you take into account that Black doctors are less likely to see the higher-risk population of newborns with low birth weight. I wasn\u2019t surprised when I saw the re-analysis because I didn\u2019t believe the original finding.\u2026 It\u2019s like what someone once said about Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire: They\u2019re both going through all the same moves, but Ginger Rogers is doing them backward and in high heels. A published finding that clashes with the political prejudices of reviewers and editors is a Ginger Rogers finding. It had to be twice as&nbsp;good.\u201d&nbsp;<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The author is a psychology professor (emeritus at Yale, currently at U Toronto).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list simple-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/life-hack-instantly-shave-7-books-off-your-bible-in-a-year-plan-by-converting-from-catholic-to-protestant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Life Hack: Instantly Shave 7 Books Off Your Bible In A Year Plan By Converting From Catholic To Protestant<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/babylonbee.com\/news\/protestants-create-anime-john-calvin-to-fight-luce-in-epic-dragon-ball-z-style-battle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Protestants Create Anime John Calvin To Fight Luce In Epic Dragon Ball Z\u2011Style Battle<\/a> (Babylon Bee)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In the time of King David, the tribe of Issachar produced shrewd warriors \u201cwho understood the times and knew what Israel should do\u201d (1 Chron 12:32). In a similar way, we need to become wise people whose faith interacts with the world. I pray this email gives you greater insight, so that you may continue the tradition of Issachar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Disclaimer<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Chi Alpha is not a partisan organization. To paraphrase another minister: we are not about the donkey\u2019s agenda and we are not about the elephant\u2019s agenda \u2014 we are about the Lamb\u2019s agenda. Having said that, I read widely (in part because I believe we should aspire to pass <a href=\"http:\/\/econlog.econlib.org\/archives\/2011\/06\/the_ideological.html\">the ideological Turing test<\/a> and in part because I do not believe I can fairly say \u201cI agree\u201d or \u201cI disagree\u201d until I can say \u201cI understand\u201d) and may at times share articles that have a strong partisan bias simply because I find the article stimulating. The upshot: you should not assume I agree with everything an author says in an article I mention, much less things the author has said in other articles (although if I strongly disagree with something in the article I\u2019ll usually mention it). And to the extent you can discern my opinions, please understand that they are my own and not necessarily those of Chi Alpha or any other organization I may be perceived to represent.\n\nAlso, remember that I\u2019m not reporting news \u2014 I\u2019m giving you a selection of things I found interesting. There\u2019s a lot happening in the world that\u2019s not making an appearance here because I haven\u2019t found stimulating articles written about it.\n\nIf this was forwarded to you and you want to receive future emails, sign up <a href=\"https:\/\/theglendavis.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/category\/links\">view the archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Fridays I share articles\/resources about broad cultural, societal and theological issues. Be sure to see the explanation and disclaimers at the bottom. I welcome your suggestions. If you read something fascinating please pass it my&nbsp;way. Things Glen Found Interesting Less Serious Things Which Also Interested\/Amused Glen Why Do You Send This&nbsp;Email? In the time \u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2024\/11\/22\/things-glen-found-interesting-volume-479\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u201cThings Glen Found Interesting, Volume 479\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[16],"tags":[131,124,219,240,160,296,176],"class_list":["post-7549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-academia","tag-apologetically-interesting","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-elite-colleges","tag-how-the-church-is-perceived","tag-mental-health","tag-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1XL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7550,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions\/7550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}