| From the Editor's Desk
A Victorian Visionarys Prescient Case for Animal Rights and Vegetarianism Each month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor has made your own life more livable in the past year (or the past decade), please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.
Chronicling the history of science at a recent event, the eminent primatologist Frans de Wall lamented the long-burning damage Skinner and the behaviorists of the mid-twentieth century did to our understanding of non-human minds and lives — the way their views stalled science and thwarted empathy. I asked him which of our current paradigms about other animals we will look back upon in another century with the same shamed shudder with which we now look back upon the behaviorists. Without hesitation, he flagged factory farming and the large-scale consumption of animal meat.
A century and a half before us, the Victorian visionary Samuel Butler (December 4, 1835–June 18, 1902) bent his gaze past the horizon of his culture’s paradigms, giving impassioned voice to this sentiment and contouring a different moral future for our species in his prophetic 1872 novel Erewhon (public library | public domain).
Continued here
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WorkMore than a quarter of UK adults have used generative AI, survey suggestsThe Deloitte survey found that of those who had used generative AI, more than four out of 10 believe it always produces factually correct answers. One of the biggest flaws in generative AI systems so far is that they are prone to producing glaring factual errors.
WorkMortgage defaults jump at fastest rate since 2009Justin Moy, founder at broker EHF Mortgages, said that borrowers were scrambling to use their savings and borrow from family members to afford “brutal mortgage payment increases”.But he warned: “Unfortunately some won’t have that option and will inevitably default at some point.”Despite the rise in defaults, the share of lenders reporting a rise in missed payments is still below levels seen during the financial crisis years. At the start of 2009, a net balance of 68.2pc of banks reported a rise in defaults.The Bank’s latest credit conditions survey showed there was also a large jump in the number of lenders expecting losses to rise as a result of missed payments.Mortgage rates have soared as the Bank of England has increased the benchmark interest rate from 0.1pc to 5pc since December 2021. � | | WorkOil Prices Projected Higher on Supply Cuts by Saudi Arabia and RussiaStanley Reed has been writing from London for The Times since 2012 on energy, the environment and the Middle East. Before that he was London bureau chief for BusinessWeek magazine. More about Stanley Reed
WorkBiden 'serious' on prisoner swap for US reporter Evan Gershkovich Last December, Russia freed the US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was arrested on drug charges, in return for the release of Viktor Bout, imprisoned in the US for weapons smuggling. Another American, the Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the US government have called baseless. � | | WorkWork
WorkWork � | | WorkWork � | | WorkWorkCluster munitions from the US arrive in Ukraine Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday thanked Biden for the US military aid, and said shipments of controversial cluster munitions would help Ukraine’s fight against Russia. The two met during Nato’s’s summit in Lithuania, where western nations made fresh pledges of weapons and ammunition to fight Russia’s invasion. � | | WorkWork � | | WorkWorkProsecutors Ask Witnesses Whether Trump Acknowledged He Lost 2020 Race Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent and the author of “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on President Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia. More about Maggie Haberman � | | WorkTrump Super PAC Made $155,000 Payment to Melania Trump in 2021 Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent and the author of “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” She was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on President Trump’s advisers and their connections to Russia. More about Maggie Haberman WorkHouse Votes to Limit Abortion Access in the Military, Bowing to the Right Republican leaders have been agitating for cluster munitions to be sent to Ukraine for months, while most Democrats were outraged at President Biden’s decision. They argued that the unwieldy warheads — which scatter upon impact and routinely leave unexploded ordnance in the ground, endangering civilians for decades to come — would cost the United States the moral high ground in the war. WorkWorkBanana Republic Wants to Outfit Your Home, Too Jordyn Holman is a business reporter covering retail for The Times. She previously worked at Bloomberg News, where she covered retail and diversity in corporate America. More about Jordyn Holman WorkWorkMeta Threads engagement has dropped off since red-hot debut, tracking firms say \"Some of the engagement Threads has enjoyed seems to have been siphoned straight from Twitter,\" Similarweb\'s Carr told CNBC. \"In the first couple of days of peak Threads activity, last Thursday and Friday, Twitter web traffic was down about 5% from the same days of the previous week. These are admittedly very early indicators, but they do show Threads has the potential to steal significant usage away from Twitter, particularly as the Threads app team starts to fill in missing features like hashtags and topical search.\" WorkWorkWorkWorkThese 10 states are America's worst economies, leaving populations at risk The Last Frontier was dead last in economic performance last year, with its economy shrinking by 2.4%. Declining oil production was a big reason. Last year\'s output was the lowest since 1976, according to the Energy Department. That has forced some tough choices. Last month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed more than $200 million from the state\'s Fiscal 2024 budget, including more than $87 million in school funding. Alaska is looking at new revenue sources to make up for declining oil demand, including selling carbon offset credits to protect the state\'s vast public lands. But it could be years before the idea is viable â if it ever is. WorkWorkHollywood studios say it’s a crisis moment for them, too. The Hollywood studios will now need to navigate a two-front labor war with no modern playbook to consult. There are many open questions, including whether the actors and the writers may demand that future negotiations with the studios be conducted in tandem. One guild that will not be included: The Directors Guild of America, which ratified a contract last month with the studios that their union leadership described as “historic.” WorkRussian General Denounces His Bosses as Officers Are Fired or Questioned Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Moscow former Ukrainian official, once seen by American intelligence officials as a possible puppet leader the Kremlin might try to install in Kyiv, shot back on the same platform: “Andrei Turchak is right, the army should be outside of politics. But politics should also be outside of the army.” He added: “If the system inside the army were really effective, we wouldn’t see more and more spillage on the outside.” WorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkXRP coin surges after judge delivers a huge win to Ripple in SEC case Palley highlighted another significant issue: whether or not crypto exchanges like Coinbase need to themselves register as securities exchanges. The SEC has been clear that most crypto assets being traded should be considered securities. However, the court didn\'t reach a conclusion on the matter, which was another win for Ripple, Palley said. WorkNo, a can of Diet Coke won't give you cancer © 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Ad Choices FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. WorkWorkWorkWorkWorkStocks making the biggest moves midday: Nvidia, Carvana, Disney, Amazon and more Progressive â Shares of the insurance company fell about 11% after Progressive reported results for June and the full second quarter. While the company swung from a loss to a profit compared with last year, its combined ratio was above 100 for both the quarter and the month, meaning its profits came largely from investment gains and not underwriting activity. Additionally, the company\'s $14.72 billion in net premiums written for the quarter was below the $15.04 billion expected, according to StreetAccount. WorkDisney pulling back on making Marvel, Star Wars content, Iger says Recently, Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly been in talks about licensing HBO content to other platforms, including Netflix. The company also has removed content from its Max service and licensed it to free, ad-supported streaming platforms such as Fox Corp.\'s Tubi. WorkWorkWork25-year-old Harvard grad worries A.I. won't foster 'educational resilience' © 2023 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Ad Choices FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. |
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