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. […]
Iskia stepped into one of those PX-238 Winter Wondervolt things the goblins have set up by the Zeppelin, and to my horror, she came out like this! When she walks, her tits wobble, and when she stands still, she waits a little while and then starts wiggling in this really offensive way.
K(L)
It seems like the blood elf dances from the Burning Crusade beta are the first ones where the females’ movements aren’t oversexualized and the males’ movements more sexualized. In other words there’s more equality. (Which of course results in a lot of references to the male blood elfs as girly or gay.)
torill
yes, is’t awful!
I avoid that machine after I saw the result, at least with my female characters. Just no fun to run around like some pedophile’s dream of a sexy santa while the guys are all properly dressed.
There’s actually a “kink” abbreviated CFNM – clothed female naked male – isn’t it really weird that when men dress down and women stay dressed it’s sexually deviant, while the other way around is OK for 12 year olds?
Jill
Torill, I hadn’t realised clothed women naked men was defined as deviance – that’s totally weird and makes total sense in this messed up world. Obviously most men prefer to stay clothed in public; it’s frustrating that the expectation is that women should like to be undressed.
Svenn
I don’t play WoW, but this sounds like peanuts compared to any Hip-Hop video!
Jill
That doesn’t really make it any more palatable, does it? I suppose it depends on whether you want women to feel comfortable or not – presumably Blizzard does or should given women are a large group of the market.
Svenn
I absolutely agree! I was using it more as an example of the extreme version.Lots of
(more than) half naked women with a couple of overdressed bulky men. Read this morning that a
collection of the best (worst)hip-hop videos collected on DVD was a bestseller
before christmas in Norway.
Kerry
I know exactly what you mean and it’s so frustrating. I posted a topic on the WOW forums asking how to change the loading screens, because since the change in pictures I’ve not had the desire to stare at the loading screens for a total of ten seconds each time I log in…but it’s not possible!