#Wharton

www.salon.com

"I went to the Wharton School of Finance": Harris getting Trump flustered makes for great TV

Apparently, people are out there just eating cats and stuff? Harris' reactions to Trump at the debate launch memes

youtu.be

Lawrence on Wharton's worst student: Trump is mentally incapable of doing the job he was elected to

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.nytimes.com

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades

The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

youtu.be

Trump Said He Graduated First at Wharton — His Roommate Kept the Ranking

YouTube video by The Narrative Brief

pluralistic.net

Pluralistic: Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers' personalities based on their faces (17 Feb 2025)

Today's links Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers' personalities based on their faces: The Gilded Age has entered the chat. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. Object permanence: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2024 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Where I've been. Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em. Colophon: All the rest. Business school professors trained an AI to judge workers' personalities based on their faces (permalink) Theory-free inference is a hell of a drug. For years, Big Data advocates – the larval form of today's AI weirdos – have insisted that if you have enough data, you can infer causal relationships between complex phenomena without ever having to understand how x causes y, and thus, we can slay the dread "correlation is not causation" beast. This is cousin to Milton Friedman's famous economic catechism: Truly important and significant hypotheses will be found to have "assumptions" that are wildly inaccurate descriptive representations of reality, and, in general, the more significant the theory, the more unrealistic the assumptions (in this sense) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essays_in_Positive_Economics AI turns out to be a great tool for creating plausible statistical correlates of imaginary phenomena. Remember the guy who claimed to have invented Machine Learning Gaydar by analyzing the faces of gay people and comparing them to straight people? Same dude later claimed to have invented an AI that could guess, from your face, whether you were a Republican or a Democrat: https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/15/hoover-calling/#phrenology This is just AI Phrenology, a continuation of the "scientific racism" movement that was invented to provide a justification for colonialism, slavery, genocide and eugenics. It imagines that there are invisible genetic traits that determine things like your ability to be a good boss, or whether you will cheat on your partner, or whether you are destined to be rich. It's a kind of cod-scientific astrology, where you get to declare yourself to have been born with "good blood" that destined you to rule over others. Amazingly, this "scientific" philosophy has somehow managed to thrive after the rise of computational genomics, the science that analyzes population-scale genetic surveys to identify whether there is any genetic basis for the idea of "races" (and other cherished distinctions of the "human diversity" movement) which showed that these have no discernible basis in, you know, genetics. As Adam Rutherford – a superb science communicator and accomplished computational genomist – writes in his 2020 book How To Argue With a Racist, nearly everyone on Earth is descended from the same tiny group of survivors of a couple of severe genetic bottlenecks, the exception being Africa, where there is far more genetic diversity than in the rest of the world: https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/16/combat-wheelchairs/#race-realism A Swede and an Australian Aboriginal person are more closely related than two members of the different groups of San people. If genes were the dispositive factors in human personality and accomplishment, we'd expect to see far more variance in the outcomes of African people than we do between, say, Inuit people and Italians. And yet, somehow people who all live in the same society, facing the same structural challenges of post-colonialism, international looting, and a global IP regime that denies them the ability to manufacture their own medicines and fix their own equipment produces people with remarkably similar outcomes. Meanwhile, it's surprisingly easy to predict the life outcomes of people from very different societies, based on those societies' position in the global hierarchy. Sure, genetics play a role in shaping our outcomes. We are built out of the interactions between our genome and the physical and social world around us. But all evidence points to the social and physical factors grossly outweighing the genes. Back to astrology: distant celestial objects inarguably interact with us at our births and through our lives. Some infinitesimal tidal stress is exerted upon the Earth by other planets; photons streaming from faraway, long-dead stars shower down upon us. But the gravity exerted by, say, Saturn, on your body as you pass through the birth canal is less than the force exerted by the paper covers the midwife wears over her shoes in the birthing room. Sure, those disposable covers are a lot less massy than Saturn – but they're far closer, which matters when you're talking about forces that attenuate at the square of distance. Genes play an important role in the development of your brain and the systems that regulate it, like hormones and nerve signals. But that role is clearly swamped by the role that the physical and social environment play as you grow up. You don't have "good blood" or "bad blood." But people who believe in – and benefit from – social hierarchy have always yearned for a freestanding, objective basis for the fact that they have more and everyone else has less. That's the origin of "efficient markets hypothesis" (I'm rich because the market thinks I'm a good "capital allocater"), of "meritocracy" (if I'm rich, I must have merit), and "evolutionary psychology" ("Honey, it's not my fault I fucked my grad students – blame the bonobos!"): https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/30/arabian-babblers/#evopsych Which brings me to this week's caliper-wielding AI: the "Photo Big 5" AI that can look at your face and predict whether you're going to be good at having an MBA: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5089827 This is the creation of four academics at elite institutions – however, their discipline isn't genetics. They're business school professors. They got a bunch of MBAs' self-assessed results on surveys of "Big 5 personality types" – itself a kind of astrological exercise with barely more rigor than, say, Meyers-Briggs – and then fed these results, along with the subjects' Linkedin profile photos and self-reported salaries and titles to an ML and produced – voila! – a machine that tells you whether you'll be a good manager based on your face! This is an objectively very funny exercise, like AI Gaydar for middle-managers. They resort to some hilarious obfuscation: Photo Big 5 exhibits only modest correlations with cognitive measures like GPA and standardized test scores, yet offers comparable incremental predictive power for labor outcomes. In other words, we created a new random-number generator that is as bad at predicting your life-chances as the SATs or your GPA, two extremely bad ways of predicting your life chances – except to the extent that both numbers can be inflated if you start with a bunch of money and hire elite test-prep consultants. Good thing personal appearance has no correlates with wealth and there's no way to spend money to look more like a member of the elite? Naw, it must be the genetics underpinning the relationships between your "craniofacial features and behavior." It's easy to see why AI is so tempting to people who want to incinerate any qualitative factors in a complex societal problem, transforming them into dubious quantitative residue that an algorithm can do math on: https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/ It's junk science at scale, with a business model. The purpose of this automated eugenics is the same as every "rational" account of hierarchy in human history: to retroactively justify winners, and to condemn losers before the game even starts. (Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified) Hey look at this (permalink) 50 Years of Travel Tips https://kk.org/thetechnium/50-years-of-travel-tips/ (h/t Kottke) Move Fast and Break People Part 1: How the Internet Gave Us the World–Then Took It Away https://catvalente.substack.com/p/move-fast-and-break-people-part-1 (h/t Gregory Cherlin) Will Antitrust Survive DOGE? https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-will-antitrust Object permanence (permalink) #20yrsago Why can’t you fast-forward with a Comcast PVR? https://web.archive.org/web/20050213010107/http://pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/02/american_idol_b.html #20yrsago China Mieville’s 50 sf/f novels for socialists https://fantasticmetropolis.com/i/50socialist #20yrsago Fawlty Towers hotel bought by fans of the show https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/feb/16/arts.artsnews1 #20yrsago Everquest — now with pizza https://web.archive.org/web/20050218120538/http://everquest2.station.sony.com/pizza/ #15yrsago Foil impressioning: lock-picking technique that uses the lock to form a new key https://blackbag.toool.nl/?p=1122 #15yrsago Copyright Kremlinology: understanding the secret copyright treaty https://web.archive.org/web/20100222215548/http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=188055 #15yrsago Kids’ MMOs are huge, not dominated by media giants https://www.raphkoster.com/2010/02/17/wheres-kids-mmos-are-at/ #15yrsago Australian copyright society blows more than it gives to artists: lavish salaries and junkets to Barbados https://memex.craphound.com/2010/02/17/australian-copyright-society-blows-more-than-it-gives-to-artists-lavish-salaries-and-junkets-to-barbados/ #15yrsago School used student laptop webcams to spy on them at school and home https://memex.craphound.com/2010/02/17/school-used-student-laptop-webcams-to-spy-on-them-at-school-and-home/ #15yrsago The Windup Girl: 2010’s science fiction “it” book brings poetry and excitement to ecotastrophe https://memex.craphound.com/2010/02/17/the-windup-girl-2010s-science-fiction-it-book-brings-poetry-and-excitement-to-ecotastrophe/ #15yrsago Jogger who gave the finger to South African presidential motorcade is hooded and detained https://web.archive.org/web/20100220131908/http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20100217062211616C809058 #15yrsago Music industry to musicbloggers: there’s no point in obeying the law https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/02/musicblogocide #15yrsago Makedo: universal connectors that turn everything into tinkertoys https://web.archive.org/web/20111020190438/http://www.mymakedo.com/shop #15yrsago Ebook checklist from EFF https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-books-and-your-rights #10yrsago Dreamland: Adventures in the Strange Science of Sleep https://memex.craphound.com/2015/02/16/dreamland-adventures-in-the-strange-science-of-sleep/ #10yrsago Fair use: a guide for artists https://cmsimpact.org/code/fair-use-for-the-visual-arts/ #10yrsago Jabberwocky in Nadsat https://medium.com/@johnlewislookingglass/the-rasoodocky-ea0a0b5290db #10yrsago Martin Luther playset is the best-selling toy of all time https://www.newsweek.com/martin-luther-playmobil-toy-sells-out-germany-following-record-breaking-demand-306329 #1yrago How America's oligarchs lull us with the be-your-own-boss fairy tale https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#sell-job Upcoming appearances (permalink) Menlo Park: Picks and Shovels with Charlie Jane Anders, Feb 17 https://www.keplers.org/upcoming-events-internal/cory-doctorow LA: Picks and Shovels with Wil Wheaton, Feb 18 https://www.dieselbookstore.com/event/Cory-Doctorow-Wil-Wheaton-Author-signing Seattle: Picks and Shovels with Dan Savage, Feb 19 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-with-dan-savage-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1106741957989 Toronto: Picks and Shovels at Another Story, Feb 23 https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/picks-shovels-cory-doctorow-tickets-1219803217259 Toronto: Ursula Franklin Lecture, Feb 24 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-alan-meban-tickets-1106421399189 NYC: Picks and Shovels with John Hodgman, Feb 26 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-john-hodgman-picks-and-shovels-tickets-1131132841779 Penn State: Picks and Shovels, Feb 27 https://www.bellisario.psu.edu/assets/uploads/CoryDoctorow-Poster.pdf Doylestown, PA: Picks and Shovels at the Doylestown Bookshop, Mar 1 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels-a-martin-hench-novel-tickets-1146230880419 Baltimore: Picks and Shovels with Maximillian Alvarez, Mar 2 https://redemmas.org/events/cory-doctorow-presents-picks-and-shovels/ DC: Picks and Shovels with Matt Stoller, Mar 4 https://www.loyaltybookstores.com/picksnshovels Richmond, VA: Picks and Shovels with Lee Vinsel, Mar 5 https://fountainbookstore.com/events/1795820250305 Virtual: With Great Power Came No Responsibility: How Enshittification Conquered the 21st Century and How We Can Overthrow It (Indiana University), Mar 7 https://events.iu.edu/mediaiub/event/1783095-with-great-power-came-no-responsibility-how-enshitti Austin: Picks and Shovels at First Light Books, Mar 10 https://thethirdplace.is/event/cory-doctorow-picks-shovels-1 Burbank: Picks and Shovels with Wil Wheaton, Mar 13 https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3257/Thu%2C_Mar_13th_6_pm%3A_Pick_%26_Shovel%3A_A_Martin_Hench_Novel_HB.html#/ Europa Park: Cloudfest, Mar 17-20 https://cloudfest.link/ San Diego: Picks and Shovels at Mysterious Galaxy, Mar 24 https://www.mystgalaxy.com/32425Doctorow Virtual: Picks and Shovels at Imagine! Belfast, Mar 24 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cory-doctorow-in-conversation-with-alan-meban-tickets-1106421399189 Chicago: Picks and Shovels with Peter Sagal, Apr 2 https://exileinbookville.com/events/44853 Chicago: ABA Techshow, Apr 3 https://www.techshow.com/ Bloomington: Picks and Shovels at Morgenstern, Apr 4 https://morgensternbooks.com/event/2025-04-04/author-event-cory-doctorow PDX: Teardown 2025, Jun 20-22 https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025 New Orleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025 http://www.contraflowscifi.org/ Recent appearances (permalink) Picks and Shovels with Yanis Varoufakis and David Moscrop (Jacobin) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkIDep7Z4LM Forthright Radio https://forthright.media/2025/02/14/cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels/ The Writer's Voice https://www.writersvoice.net/2025/02/black-history-month-aaron-robertson-the-black-utopians-also-cory-doctorow-picks-and-shovels/ Latest books (permalink) Picks and Shovels: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels). The Bezzle: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (the-bezzle.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3062/Available_Feb_20th%3A_The_Bezzle_HB.html#/). "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/) "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245). "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/. "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The Washington Post called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html) "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/. Upcoming books (permalink) Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 2025 https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/ Unauthorized Bread: a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2026 Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026 The Memex Method, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2026 Colophon (permalink) Today's top sources: Currently writing: Enshittification: a nonfiction book about platform decay for Farrar, Straus, Giroux. Status: second pass edit underway (readaloud) A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2025 Latest podcast: Picks and Shovels virtual launch with Yanis Varoufakis and David Moscrop, presented by Jacobin https://craphound.com/novels/redteamblues/2025/02/16/picks-and-shovels-virtual-launch-with-yanis-varoufakis-and-david-moscrop-presented-by-jacobin/ This work – excluding any serialized fiction – is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution. How to get Pluralistic: Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): Pluralistic.net Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://pluralistic.net/plura-list Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection): https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic Medium (no ads, paywalled): https://doctorow.medium.com/ Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://twitter.com/doctorow Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising): https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic "When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla ISSN: 3066-764X