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The Virus in France

City Journal
September 10, 2020
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France’s penchant for translating abstract ideas into practical policies often has disastrous consequences. According to Pascal Bruckner, this tendency has reached new heights during the current lockdown. Writing in City Journal, Bruckner reminds us we’re never done with history’s uncertainty, and hyper-ratiocination only means we risk being deluded by a fantasy of omnipotence.

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Keeping the AI Apocalypse at Bay

Writing in City Journal, Judge Glock examines legal efforts to control AI and dismisses the current fixation on suing for specific harms, such as bad advice. “The idea that we should treat Big Tech, including AI companies, like we treated Big Tobacco, is exactly the wrong idea,” he observes. A better approach is to assess product liability based on which parties can perform the task at the cheapest cost, as is the case with the regulation of medical equipment. This “has the benefit of putting the onus on companies themselves to game out dangerous scenarios and prevent them,” he advises. For more on AI, see this C2C article.

Moscow’s Bayonet

U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis (ret’d) explains in Jewish World Review how Russian President Vladimir Putin still poses an existential threat to NATO, despite Russia’s current preoccupation with its war in Ukraine. Over the next few years, he warns, an aggressive Putin is likely to attempt a variety of covert or special forces operations in the Baltics, including in Latvia where Canada has 3,000 troops stationed. “If the Russians probe with a bayonet and encounter mush, they will likely keep going. If they find steel, they will withdraw,” he predicts. For more on Putin’s implications for Canada, see this C2C article.

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