Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Credit... D umebi Malaika Menakaya for The New York Times Opinion By Maureen Dowd The  New York Times May 16, 2026,  7:00 a.m. ET Humans may be on the way out. But at least the humanities are back.  Or so some of the tech gods tell us. After decades of dismissing liberal arts and humanities studies as useless and insisting that the mastery of science, engineering, math and tech is essential to future success, the tech world is coming around to the idea that learning about human nature could be a valuable asset in the coming A.I. revolution.   As it turns out, tech jobs may be drying up after years of students rushing to computer science. Who needs to code? A.I. does that for you. What A.I. can’t do — yet — is the stuff that makes us human: empathy, emotion, psychology, critical thinking. “What a piece of work is man,” Hamlet said, describing an intricate and infinite creature. “I think A.I. is a false mirror,” said Drew Lichtenberg, the dramaturg at the Shakespeare...

From Quora, May 15 Anna Magdalena W.    ·  Follow International Politics & Economy Analyst - LSE PhD May 9 Putin Claims Ukraine War “Almost Over”… Blames the West for prolonging it…😬 At a quiet Victory Day press briefing, Putin told journalists he thinks the war in Ukraine is nearing its end 🕰️. Naturally, he blamed Western nations for “escalating” the conflict, claiming globalist elites are fighting Russia through Ukraine — conveniently ignoring that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 🤦‍♂️. According to him,  as quoted by KI ,  the West expected Russia to collapse in months but “got stuck.” Reality check:  it’s Russia that’s been bogged down for over five years, losing troops daily and failing to hit its major objectives 💥. On diplomacy, Putin said he’s open to meeting Zelensky in a neutral country — a shift from his usual “come to Moscow” line — but only to sign agreements, not negotiate further ✍️. He also hinted at talks with European leaders who ha...