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. […]
Frank
In os x terminal
>su
>echo “127.0.0.1 url” >> /etc/hosts
>niload hosts / < /etc/hosts
Elin
– and then when your self dicipline fails – you just remove the above lines, right…..
Technology gave us a lot, but it also gave us “undo”… maybe you need a different solution, that doesn’t involve technology at all!
🙂
Liz
What does AA call the mentor/buddy who you’re supposed to call when you get the urge to drink? That’s what you need.
However, you can do it technically, as well. OS X has a built-in configurable firewall. I use a tool called BrickHouse to configure it (rather than dealing with the terminal interface). You can add a filter that specifically blocks http attempts from your computer to a given IP address. Can be found here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/9103
As Elin notes, you could always change it back. But it would take conscious effort, and it sounds to me like what you want is to deal with your subconscious actions.
Jesper Juul
Barring living in a country that blocks access to specific web sites on a nationwide-level, I think the best solution is the mental one – convince yourself that it really isn’t doing you any good to be checking that site obsessively. Think about it till you really believe it. Notice how nice it is to work without wanting to check that site all the time.
That’s obviously easier said than done, but it should be possible.
Anja
Go read that blog. You’ll love it and hate it and laugh about his wit and sometimes be incredibly bored. – Sooner or later, he’ll turn from a painful memory into some guy with a blog.
And when you’re done reading his blog for the day, go out and enjoy summer!
Torill
I think Jesper’s idea is the best. I vote for that. He will be out there whether you like it or not, and the only way to get free of it is to train yourself into living with it. Or alternately Anja’s. That sounds like a good plan too!
Mum
A techno fix will deal with the habit in your fingers, but will it help if there’s still a deep seated need for information that drives them? Is he OK? Does he feel any anguish/pain at all? Is he putting clues into his blog? Can he still kindle your imagination with an apt metaphor? You already know the answers so you really donít need to check that blog. But as Anja suggests, checking it is OK. Itís already just another blog.
mcb
I agree with Anja. Just read it until you no longer want to read it. And that will definitely happen, eventually, and probably sooner than you think. Just give it some time, don’t be too hard on yourself.
Jill
Mm, the just another blog seems a good target. And the technological efforts have all failed, despite good helpers. I guess by the time I started trying to make them work I’d already read your other comments…
There’s a delicate balance, I reckon, between obsessing and kind of anti-obsessing, which is just another way of obsessing, really. I thought of treating it as quitting smoking and giving myself gold stars (or chocolate) for every day I could not go read that blog. I’m up to three days and 10 hours, now. But is that going to wean me off it or just keep me obsessed? Ah well. Time will no doubt cure this wound as all others.
torill
One day you’ll discover that you have forgotten to give yourself a gold star. And then you’ll forget you should have gotten one. And then you’re free!