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. […]
tok
A Canadian collegue, who used to live in US, mentioned that they didn’t have such a holiday over there. “I bet”, was my answer: “…invented by an anarchist and adapted by the communists! – Not likely to become popular in America!”.
He laughed..
Jill
Actually, you know, May first is labour day to commemorate AMERICAN unionists, who in 1886 demanded an eight-hour workday. On May 1 of that year, workers around the country went on strike. On May 4 there were horrible riots in the Haymarket in Chicago, probably largely due to police aggression, several men were hung, including men who weren’t even at the riots. My guidebook to Chicago describes it as “one of the worst miscarriages of justice in the US.” President Cleveland, worrying that the riots be commemorated by more riots, promptlydecided that Labour Day would be the first Monday in September. Not May first.
The Paris international, however, declared May 1 an international labour day in commemoration of these demonstrations. That is why we celebrate May 1 as labour day.
It’s interesting to consider how strikingly successful US politicians have been, historically, at manipulating the public memory, not only of their own citizens but of the globe. We’re so used to thinking of the USA as the epitomy of capitalism that we’ve even forgotten that the ORIGINS of labour day came from American unionists and workers.
The Wikipedia has a pretty thorough explanation of it all, and there’s plenty of other sources too.
asterix
It would be nice to celebrate the first of May in Holland. But we don’t. We celebrate the day of labour at…work: http://www.landgoedgroenhoven.nl
Lawrence Krubner
I’m an America and I’m often astounded at the level of amnesia I run into even relating to recent events. I’m 36 years old and my peers often don’t know the dates of things that happended during our childhoods. A good friend of mine was stunned when I mention during a conversation that the last American troops left Vietnam in 1975, she said she thought the Vietnam war happened during the 1960s. I’ve met several teenagers who aren’t sure which years Ronald Reagan was President. Good friends of mine are uncertain when, exactly, WWII was, and very few of them know when WWI was. They say that September 11, 2001, will never be forgotten, but I am quite sure it will be forgotten. I have never been able to over-estimate the level of amnesia in this country, even when I’m trying to force myself to exaggerate.
Lawrence Krubner
What do the words say on that sticker? I’d like to know, but I can’t read it.
nick
A larger photo is here, and there is information about the project, including PDFs of all the stickers, here.
Lawrence Krubner
My friends went out and covered the town where I live with stickers similar to the one you show here. They go out around 3 AM dressed all in black so hopefully the police won’t see them in the dark, and they put up anti-war stickers all over the town.
Jill
Ooh. And here I was walking around stickering in broad daylight, insouciant as you like.
Perhaps Implementation should require its performers (uh, readers) to wear black and perform midnight rais. It would heighten the dramatic effect of the narrative, or at least of an extradiegetic level of the narrative. The photos wouldn’t be much good though.
Matt
Insouciance, rather than ninja behaviour, ought to be a requirement for stick-lit publishers. This got me looking for a sticky text that wasn’t US-cultured. Anyone know? Or should I get formatting? You can probably tell I have exams to mark.
Jill
I don’t actually know of any other sticker novels than Implementation. Perhaps there are none?
You could write the first British sticker novel 🙂
Scott and Nick have caved in to European pressure and provided an A4 version of their project, though.
Lawrence Krubner
Nice. I’ll have to point my friends at Implementations.
Matt
Jill: You could write the first British sticker novel.
Matt: I could. Part 1 is going well, thanks to the miracle of the anthological method (verbal collage). A reviewer is needed. Any offers?
Jill
Sure, Matt, I might even stick em up. The stickers, I mean.
🙂