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. […]
torill
All the European servers are down tonight. check http://www.wow-europe.com for the realms status. Only you can’t, because even the server that runs their page is down.
Jill
Hm, that’s not a great start – but I guess they’ll be up tomorrow.
I managed to make an account in the end, but obviously can’t log in. Better go finish that cupboard…
ÿyvind
Congrats, only you might regret it when you discover how time-consuming it is. GL HF!
Knud
I also bought this time-eating game a few weeks ago, and I love it. But then again, I used to be a D&D geek when I was a bit younger. The playing experience within WoW can be differ quite a lot, depending on the kind of server you play on. I recommend a Role Playing (RP) server, since people there actually try to act like the characters they are playing (i.e. don’t talk about game mechanics, don’t use lots of abbreviations, etc. Basically they try to avoid anything that would destroy the immersion). Also, you don’t get so many young and potentially annoying players. Argent Dawn and Earthen Ring (I think) are RP servers. Have fun!
Knud
david
Have you heard that there are people accumulating things in that online game and then selling the things for real money? I have a friend in the software business that says there are people actually concerned about the economic impact of sales like that. Bizarre.
torill
They did it in EverQuest, no surprise that they do it in WOW or any of the other multi user games. In some games (don’t remember the reference right now) there are organised “sweatshops”, people who commercially utilise the low cost of labour in cuntries like Mexico or China. Here it is a job to play and create or gain objects which are then sold on for flesh-world currencies. Characters as well. Want to play, but sick of going through the vulnerable stage in the beginning? Buy a top level character. First time I heard about that was in 1999, and the price was 10 000$, in EverQuest.
Jill
So this morning it works, but I’ve stoicly limited myself to downloading the patches in the background while writing adna draft for a promised short essay (pat on the back to me) and answering email about administrational complexities.
Can I switch servers, or will I always be stuck on the one I start off on?
torill
You can use different servers, but you have to make a new character for each server. I just made one at the server where Hilde plays, so I can hook up with her once it has enough levels to travel.
Knud
Here is an interesting article about MMOPRGs and sweatshops.