Personal reflections on sociology and daily life
Hereford, U.K.
http://revisesociology.com
I've noticed something different in the way my search returns on Google are displayed recently....Nowadays, instead of getting a list of links I'm used to I get a paragraph of human-like prose giving me an answer. As it says at the bottom of such returns (see below), that this is 'generative AI', and it's 'experimental'.
So I've managed to land a nice little temporary six week role as a caseworker for a local MP! The constituency immediately north of my own changed from Conservative to Green and it's the new Green MP I'll be working for. And if yer gonna work for an MP, well a Green MP is about as local and genuinely democratic as you're going to get.
So I've just got back from another 3 day teaching course....Man these three day working weeks are KILLERS! Actually the course went just fine, the learners were all great, a bunch of geographers and biologists working for the Field Studies Council, but just not teacher trained, which they need in their roles. These are the guys who teach little Reginald and Justina when they head out for their week's geography or biology fieldwork with the school for GCSE or A-level, or even primary school kids doing day courses.
Of the 51 global start ups worth $10 billion or more, only one is based in the EU, 32 are based in America. This seems to be primarily because of tighter EU regulation on tech companies, which includes the AI sector. Earlier this year the EU quickly passed the first AI legislation in the world in response to the launch of chapGPT.
UK governments seem to LOVE Quangos…. Or Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations These are ‘arms length’ public bodies, funded by public money which do everything from regulate industries to advise the government on emergencies.
Lithium is an essential component in Europe's green energy transition: electric car batteries rely on it! At present most of it comes from China and Australia, but the EU is now eying up a new source: Serbia has enough Lithium to provide 90% of the EU's supply.