I just signed a petition calling for Norwegian universities to use research expertise on AI when deciding how to implement it, rather than having decisions be made mostly administratively. , If you are a researcher in Norway, please read it and sign it if you agree – and share with anyone else who might be interested. The petition was written by three researchers at UiT: Maria Danielsen (a philosopher who completed her PhD in 2025 on AI and ethics, including discussions of art and working life), Knut Ørke (Norwegian as a second language), and Holger Pötzsch (a professor of media studies with many years of research on digital media, video games, disruption, and working life, among other topics). This is not about preventing researchers from exploring AI methods in their research. It is about not uncritically accepting the hype that everyone must use AI everywhere without critical reflection. It is about not introducing Copilot as the default option in word processors, or training PhD candidates to believe they will fall behind if they do not use AI when writing articles, without proper academic discussion. Changes like these should be knowledge-based and discussed academically, not merely decided administratively, because they alter the epistemological foundations of research. Maria wrote to me a couple of months ago because she had read my opinion piece in Aftenposten in which I called for a strong brake on the use of language models in knowledge work. She was part of a committee tasked with developing UiT’s AI strategy and was concerned because there was so much hype and so few members of the committee with actual expertise in AI. I fully support the petition. There are probably some good uses for AI in research, but the uncritical, hype-driven insistence that we must simply adopt it everywhere is highly risky. There are many researchers in Norway with strong expertise in AI, language, ethics, working life, and culture. We must make use of this expertise. This is also partly about respect for research in the humanities, social sciences, psychology, and law. Introducing AI at universities and university colleges is not merely a technical issue, and perhaps not even primarily a technical one. It concerns much more: philosophy of science, methodological reflection, epistemology, writing, publishing, the working environment, and more. […]
Toril
Jill, all I can say is that I love and adore your writing, being happy or sad!
Wishfully it would all be happy, but life is not like that. It isn’t all happy
and carefree, it’s all about commitments and deadlines and sacrafices, and God
knows what. And ALSO it’s about making the right choices at the right time, and
how are we to know when it’s right or wrong?? We are only humans, and
half the time it’s guessing, and we are bound to make mistakes. All I can say
is that there is a light at the other side of the tunnel, look for it, seek it,
and you will find the peace and tranquillity that you are searching for in the
jungle of “adult life”. Being tired and bewildered is allowed!!!
Francois Lachance
I’m not writing this comment. At least not directly. Let it be an orthogonal language matrix traversal. On Friday, the concept of “prolonged spring cleaning” cropped up in a conversation. It seems to fit the muddle of muddling through. There, I didn’t write that. It’s my fingers that moved across the keyboard and my brain that picked up the phrase from memory and assessed its appropriateness. Me, I was elsewhere — a little behind and catching up. Those fancy combinations of diectics and negations work wonders for activities that have a temporal stretch like writing. Try this: “I am not reading this.” 🙂
vika
Yeah.
They should make a t-shirt for this state. “I’m not blogging this.”
Jill
Actually, Vika, Alex Halavais did. At least in Photoshop 🙂
royby
Hmmm…
I think I know exactly what you aren’t saying having felt like that many times myself of late.
Cheers
andy
I’m with Toril and Royby.
When it’s like this for me, I tell myself that it will pass. And it does. But it’s definitely easier if I don’t think or write about it. I don’t know if that’s the case for you? I hope your rotten phase passes real soon. [supportive handshake]
Jazz
En realidad no estoy escribiendo estoy en espanol, bueno si es en espanol,
porque es que me da mucha pereza escribir en ingles. Escribir en ingles es muy
lento para poder expresar lo que en este momento siento despues de haber leido
tu entrada sobre ansiedades, incertidumbres y rabias. Es dificil por que en los
ultimos meses ese ha sido mi estado emocional que solo en espanol me sale bien
cercano al sentimiento. El no poder decir lo que “deberia” decir se ha vuelto
parte del apredizaje que implica vivir en otra cultura que no se parece en nada
a la que de alguna manera perteneces…en fin se me hace que ya me enrede pero me siento un poco mas liviana!
Scott
Beckett, no, Derrida, no, Beckett.
The post that cannot be written writes itself nonetheless.
This does not change the fact that you should sleep well and dream.
Don’t get hard.
Sindre
I had a post like that fortunatley I wrote it in a text editor and not directly in to wordpress’ web interface, I read it after writing it, and decided it was best not to publish it. It would only expose myself, and no one else. It’s strange, where do you draw the line about what to blog about and not ? for myself, I tend to not blog about things if it involves what I think and feel about other people.
Does blogging change how you behave in an every day situation, or how people interact with you ? I don’t know, I surely hope not…
but then again… put the spotlight on someone and they do tend to behave differently, no matter how small the spotlight might be.