The personhood trap: How AI fakes human personality

AI assistants don’t have fixed personalities—just patterns of output guided by humans.  Recently, a woman slowed down a line at the post office, waving her phone at the clerk. ChatGPT told her there’s a “price match promise” on the USPS website. No such promise exists. But she trusted what…

2025 VW Jetta GLI: Save the manuals, but not like this

​Specs mean nothing if you get the feel and execution wrong.  Manual transmissions have gone the way of the dodo, but you can still find a few out there. Bless Volkswagen for keeping the helical gears turning, both literally and figuratively. The 2025 Jetta GLI, Volkswagen’s sporty sedan, still…

Bluesky now platform of choice for science community

It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky” Marine biologist and conservationist David Shiffman was an early power user and evangelist for science engagement on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Over the years, he trained more…

The Outer Worlds 2 wants you to join the space police

Preview: The sequel’s prologue stresses meaningful choices, wry humor  It has been nearly six years now since The Outer Worlds threw players into the deep end, forcing them to acclimate to the game’s far-future, ultra-corporate intergalactic dystopia amid lots of Fallout-style shooting and questing. The prologue for The Outer…