Dustin Arand

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Articles

Three Misconceptions about A.I. and Consciousness

1 week ago | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

TECHNOLOGYHow pre-modern ideas inform our thinking about intelligent machinesRecently, one of the co-founders of OpenAI claimed that “predict[ing] the next token” in a string of text “means that you understand the underlying reality that led to the creation of that token.”This is false. Even for human beings, the ability to intelligently converse about an underlying reality doesn’t imply that we understand it, as the whole history of disproved scientific theories shows.
A.I. and the End of Work

3 weeks ago | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

IDENTITYWhy our kids need to think more about who, and not what, they want to beWhen we were kids, probably the most common question grown-ups asked us was, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And back then there was no shortage of seemingly fixed and available options: doctor, lawyer, teacher, businessman, etc. They felt like stable social categories that had always been part of the fabric of human society, and always would be. Except they weren’t, and they aren’t.
Is This What You Meant By “Shaking Things Up”?

Feb 1, 2025 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Jason Provencio

How Trump’s war on competence will lead to more tragedies like the crash of Flight 5342Dustin Arand·FollowPublished inBouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs·9 min read·--Reagan National Airport, Washington DC (Wikimedia Commons)I’m a nervous flyer under the best of circumstances. Ask my kids.
Willful Ignorance is the Ultimate Form of Privilege

Jan 29, 2025 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

How stupidity became a luxury goodDustin Arand·FollowPublished inMinds Without Borders·7 min read·--Image credit: Tiraspolsky (Wikimedia Commons)In February of 2020, 64-year-old Mike Hughes died when his homemade, steam-powered rocket crash landed outside Barstow, California. The previous year he had reached an altitude of 1,800 feet in a similar rocket, but this time he’d hoped to hit 5,000 feet and prove the “theory” that the Earth is flat. Two years later, Cirsten Welden died of Covid.
Corporate America Thinks We Can’t Do Math

Jan 21, 2025 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Jason Provencio

How tipping has become a scamDustin Arand·FollowPublished inBouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs·8 min read·--Photo by David Foodphototasty on Unsplash“Hey, hon, come check this out.”I put down my book and walked down the hall to my wife’s office. It was a quarter to six on a Saturday night. In fifteen minutes the babysitter would arrive, and my wife was ordering a pizza for our three sons. When I stepped into her office she pointed at her monitor, open to the pizza place’s checkout page.
Selling Our Souls, One App at a Time

Jan 17, 2025 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

FUTURISMThe real threat posed by artificial intelligence and augmented realityDustin Arand·FollowPublished inMinds Without Borders·8 min read·--The Sleepwalker, by Maximilian Pirner (1878) (Wikimedia Commons)After I graduated from college, but before starting law school, I worked for a time as a pizza delivery driver. At the end of the assembly line, near where we boxed up the finished pizzas, was a massive map of our town.
Anti-Trans Bathroom Bills are Going to Backfire Spectacularly

Dec 5, 2024 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Jason Provencio

And why that poses a challenge for progressives and conservatives alikeDustin Arand·FollowPublished inBouncin’ and Behavin’ Blogs·8 min read·--Photo by Mick Haupt on UnsplashShortly before Thanksgiving, Ohio governor Mike DeWine signed a law that prohibits people from entering a bathroom or changing room that doesn’t correspond to their sex assigned at birth, at any K through 12 public education facility, as well as any public college or university.
Humanity Will Ban Meat Before it Bans Abortion

Dec 1, 2024 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

ETHICSWhy it’s easier to give personhood to a cow than a fetusDustin Arand·FollowPublished inMinds Without Borders·9 min read·--Image credit: Evelyn Simak (Wikimedia Commons)Try this: think of some important beliefs you hold. They should be beliefs of a moral or existential nature, the kind that help you understand who you are and how you ought to be in the world.
Can Religion Survive Without Kids?

Nov 18, 2024 | medium.com | Dustin Arand

What the fate of the Shakers can teach us about the psychology of faithDustin Arand·FollowPublished inBackyard Church·9 min read·--Closeup of “After their First Communion,” by Carl Frithjof Smith (1892)In Southern Maine, about forty minutes out of Portland, lies the village of Sabbathday Lake. At its peak in the late nineteenth century, it numbered 150 souls, and was one of several Shaker communes spread across New England and the upper Midwest.
Trump’s Supporters are Going to be Very Disappointed

Nov 14, 2024 | medium.com | Dustin Arand |Michelle Teheux

POLITICSWhy MAGA’s ultimate failure is a feature, not a bugDustin Arand·FollowPublished inMinds Without Borders·7 min read·--Image credit: Gage Skidmore (Wikimedia Commons)In 2018, my wife went to El Paso to provide pro bono representation to migrant parents whose children were kidnapped and held for ransom by Donald Trump. I’m not speaking hyperbolically, either.