Episode 29: Solar Panels, Artificial Intelligence, and Hate Groups

This week’s episode runs a little long, but we think it will be worth your time. We begin the show talking about solar panels and whether there is a downside to high tech solutions to environmental problems. Then we talk about artificial intelligence and how some employers use it in the hiring process. Perhaps employers use AI to cut down on the biases, implicit or otherwise, that hiring professionals may have … but what about biases that are baked into the AI? Illinois and New York have passed legislation to address some of these issues, but it remains to be seen whether that legislation will be beneficial. That leads to a broader discussion about implicit bias and whether we’d be better off confronting it and learning to hold it in check rather than relying on technology, which may or may not have its own biases, to replace human involvement.  And don’t get us started on age discrimination …  Anyway, we wrap up the show talking about the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent designation of Moms for Liberty (or, more accurately, “Moms” for “Liberty”) as a hate group. While SPLC brands them as anti-government extremists for their concerted efforts to harass school board members, teachers, administrators, and pubic libraries, they are, in fact, a pro-authoritarian organization that wants to dominate public schools and dictate what other people’s kids learn and what books they can read. And that doesn’t even get into their over-the-top anti-LGBTQIA bigotry.  Moms for Liberty has affiliated groups throughout the country, including ironically named groups called Awake Illinois and Awake Americans that are trying to destroy our local schools. And they will try to destroy yours, too. We will follow up on this in the coming weeks, but we also briefly mention some people in Illinois who are affiliated with these groups, including a small-town (alleged) “cowboy” who posts (homoerotic?) selfies all day and is convinced that he’s the smartest guy on the planet. You’ll be surprised to learn that he’s … not. So, please enjoy this week’s episode, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and, as always, support the rights of LGBTQIA people everywhere! And if you’re new here, you can also follow our Twitter account, @itsotetPodcast. The post Episode 29: Solar Panels, Artificial Intelligence, and Hate Groups appeared first on In the Shadow of the Evening Trees.