E-Pluribus | February 26, 2024

Much ado about AI; Brown v. Board of Education turns 70; and doctors' speech should be free, even during a public health crisis.

A round-up of the latest and best musings on the rise of illiberalism in the public discourse:

Ross Douthat: Should We Fear the Woke A.I.?

Many on Twitter found hours of entertainment over the weekend generating outrageous responses from Google’s answer to ChatGPT, first with images and then with text. At the New York Times, Ross Douthat discusses the implications of the early feedback and what it bodes for the future.

[T]he way in which Gemini answered questions made its nonwhite defaults seem more like a weird emanation of the A.I.’s underlying worldview. Users reported being lectured on “harmful stereotypes” when they asked to see a Norman Rockwell image, being told they could see pictures of Vladimir Lenin but not Adolf Hitler, and turned down when they requested images depicting groups specified as white (but not other races).

[. . .]

There are three reactions one might have to this experience. The first is the typical conservative reaction, less surprise than vindication. Here we get a look behind the curtain, a revelation of what the powerful people responsible for our daily information diet actually believe — that anything tainted by whiteness is suspect, anything that seems even vaguely non-Western gets special deference, and history itself needs to be retconned and decolonized to be fit for modern consumption.

[. . .]

The second reaction is more relaxed. Yes, Gemini probably shows what some people responsible for ideological correctness in Silicon Valley believe. But we don’t live in a science-fiction story with a single Truth Engine. If Google’s search bar delivered Gemini-style results, then users would abandon it.

[. . .]

The third reaction considers the two preceding takes and says, well, a lot depends on where you think A.I. is going. If the whole project remains a supercharged form of search, a generator of middling essays and infinite disposable distractions, then any attempt to use its powers to enforce a fanatical ideological agenda is likely to just be buried under all the dreck.

But this isn’t where the architects of something like Gemini think their work is going. They imagine themselves to be building something nearly godlike, something that might be a Truth Engine in full — solving problems in ways we can’t even imagine — or else might become our master and successor, making all our questions obsolete.

Read it all.

Ashley L. White & Ivory A. Toldson: Brown at 70: Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future

Among the failures of Civil-War Reconstruction was the refusal to make education truly available to all races. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision that broke down the wall of segregation many states used to prevent black Americans from pursuing learning. Though they say challenges remain, Ashley L. White & Ivory A. Toldson writing at Diverse Education celebrate that decision.

Seventy years ago, a seismic shift redefined the American landscape. Brown v. Board of Education shattered the edifice of segregation, promising a brighter future for generations to come. Today, as we stand on the shoulders of those brave souls who dared to dream of an equal nation, it is time to revisit their stories, not just as relics of the past, but as blueprints for the future.

Our journey begins in Claymont, Delaware, a community woven from a different narrative than the fiery protests often associated with integration. Joan Anderson, one of the nine children whose families challenged segregation, remembers "one thing about um, Claymont," a place where "both races wanted integration. And they worked together to achieve it." This was not a battle fueled by hostility, but a quiet revolution orchestrated by legal strategists and families yearning for a better tomorrow. As Anderson recounts, "we will turn you down... you're going to go to the Board of Education... the lawyers will take over from there." Theirs was a chess game, strategically placing pawns on the board of equality, not a fiery clash on the streets.

Yet, across the nation, the fight for equal education took on a different hue. From Prince Edward County, Virginia, John Stokes remembers a childhood "exposed to racism on Jump Street." Here, segregation was not a veiled policy, but an undeniable reality — crumbling schools for Black students standing in stark contrast to the gleaming facilities their white counterparts enjoyed. John and his generation weren't chess players; they were the young Davids defying the Goliaths of injustice. Their "Manhattan Project," a secret student strike led by the indomitable Barbara Johns, proved that courage can spark even the quietest corners of society.

However, even the victory in Brown v. Board did not usher in an era of educational utopia. As Cheryl Brown Henderson, the daughter of one of the nine Brown plaintiffs, reminds us, "desegregation didn't equal quality education." The battle scars of inadequate resources, absent role models, and lingering prejudice remained for generations to heal. Cheryl's own experience, devoid of a single Black teacher throughout her schooling, stands as a stark testament to this truth.

[. . .]

As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board, let us not merely reminisce, but rededicate ourselves. Let us honor the past by shaping the future, where equal education isn't just a relic of a bygone era, but a living, breathing reality for every child, in every classroom, across this beloved nation.

Read it all here.

ICYMI: Institute for Humane Studies: Research That Matters: Restoring the Free Speech Rights of Physicians during Public Health Crises

The COVID pandemic saw government attempt censorship at levels seldom seen in recent history, especially in the public health community. The Institute for Humane Studies would like to avoid a repeat and is making plans to help medical professionals maintain their rights, even in times of crisis.

The IHS community is the largest and fastest-growing network of scholars, graduate students, and other intellectuals advancing the principles of a free society … in the world. And this incredibly talented network is having a profound impact not only in thousands of classrooms across the country but in research that applies classical liberal principles to the complex challenges we face.

Take IHS partner and business professor, Phillip Phan, (Johns Hopkins University). . . His current research argues that open and honest debate, and the freedom of scientific expression, are essential in fostering an approach to a public health crisis that is rooted in empirical evidence and well-informed decision-making.

In an op-ed for The Hill, which Phan co-authored with Brain J. Miller in 2022, he emphasizes the need for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reform its approach.

“Unlike nearly every other federal agency, the CDC exercised regulatory power without an opportunity for public input or evaluation of the economic effects of its policy decisions,” the op-ed offers. “The CDC failed at its core mission while contributing to the pandemic’s economic hardship. Public mistrust also deepened as a consequence of constantly changing risk mitigation guidance founded on an unclear evidence base. The involvement of teachers’ unions — and not parental groups — politicized the CDC’s recommendations regarding the masking of students, and worsened public perceptions of what was once the country’s premier public health agency.”

To help build scholarly community and momentum around this urgently needed work, IHS is partnering with Professor Phan to host a workshop [spring of 2024] that addresses the politicization of public health and identifies effective and evidenced-based strategies to combat public health crises, in ways that leverage the principles of a free society. Topics of discussion will include government suppression of scientific evidence related to vital pandemic measures (such as vaccines for children, masking, social distancing, and travel restrictions) and how censorship of speech contributes to a lack of preparedness for future health emergencies.

Additionally, Phan, Miller, and other colleagues further addressed the challenges surrounding the CDC’s top-down approach in a 2022 piece for Health Affairs, arguing that the CDC should have a “more responsive and meaningful voice while providing bandwidth to publicly exercise its statutorily endowed public health regulatory functions through rulemaking with notice and comment, building scientific consensus, and engaging stakeholders in real-time.”

Read the whole thing.

Around Twitter (X)

Glenn Greenwald says the mainstream media overplayed its hand. Now, their threats are publicly mocked and disregarded.

Conor Friedersdorf has some thoughts on “equity” and the responsibility for defining the term to prevent misunderstanding:

And finally, Bari Weiss continues to be a lightning rod for those who apparently think Hamas deserves a break. (Click for video.)