Monthly Archives: April 2017

How Technology Liberates Human Capital – Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Posted: April 12, 2017 at 8:32 am


Wall Street Journal (subscription)
How Technology Liberates Human Capital
Wall Street Journal (subscription)
From the factory floor to the Wall Street trading desk, advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and smart robots are already affecting millions of Americans in dozens of job categories. Across the country, especially in rural areas ...

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Technology as a teaching moment. – Albany Times Union (blog)

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Source: elearningindustry.com

Because of our ages, my brother and I are pretty fluent in technology. For the most part, we have minimal problems navigating through societys various gizmos and gadgets. I usually have more than one technology item going at once with schoolwork, and I actually find it hard to locate a portion of my life where technology isnt heavily present.

My parents are older, though. They grew up at a time where there were no computers or cell phones. While my mother, stepfather, and stepmother have started to embrace the various ways that technology makes your life somewhat easier, my father seems stuck in his childhood.

My father still owns a flip phone. He just learned how to text message last year, and he only learned it because his boss was constantly texting him and he felt like he needed to know how to reply ok or yes. He has a laptop for his job, but the extent of his knowledge is how to work excel spreadsheets for order guides; some days, he can sign into his email without calling me from the other room or on the phone for help. He recently got an iPad for Christmas and he is able to work YouTube pretty proficiently; the thing is, he doesnt believe that YouTube is only one of the billions of sites held in the web. To him, YouTube is the billions of sites.

I remember one point where I had to print a paper for school. I printed it double sided, and when it was printing he happened to be standing there watching.

How did you get the paper to print on both sides!? he asked me.

Oh its easy, I explained, you just click the little check box. See? I then printed the paper again and handed it to him.

Thats the most incredible thing Ive seen in all my years, he said before running off to tell my stepmom about the cool new thing I just did.

Ive been printing double sided since I learned how to do it in high school.

I used to get so impatient with my dad because I couldnt wrap my mind around how he couldnt wrap his mind around technology. While I could toggle my laptop, phone, iPad, television, and DVD player all at once, he was sighing in exasperation when he wanted to watch a DVD. It took a couple years of patience and some terse exchanges before I came to some realizations.

My dad is such a smart man. But hes not good with technology because he wasnt raised with it. While my other parents had an easier time learning how to maneuver the controls, Dad never had to. So, tech left him behind.

Now, I approach tech time as a bonding time and a teaching moment. When he needs help, I now sit down instead of hovering. Instead of showing him once, we go through the steps two or three times. When he needs to send a text and doesnt remember how to input a new number, we practice it. Because he doesnt understand bookmarking on a laptop, we work on inputting websites into a browser so he can get to his work email. Same with the television remote; DirecTV remotes are confusing, so when he needs help, someone usually sits down and walks him through what he needs to do to get to anything other than regular television. He can reach the DVR, so we are getting somewhere.

I think what kids need to realize about parents and technology is that they werent born with this stuff. Unlike us, they didnt grow up learning computers from third grade on. Dad still talks about writing research papers with a card catalog, bless his soul. If I ever had to work with a card catalog, the cards would be on the ceiling and I would be red as a tomato. Generational differences are apparent.

Be patient with those who are learning to navigate through the confusing world of technology. While it seems inherent to us, its actually a really confusing and elaborate thing to them. If you step back and look at it, technology is overwhelming. Show some patience, sit down, use it as a bonding moment. Its so difficult not to get frustrated with them sometimes, but theyre trying. I cant get mad at those who try.

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How Courts Avoid Ruling on Issues of Technology and Privacy – Slate Magazine

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Courts dont always know how to address emerging technologies in rulings.

Sergey Zolkin/Unsplash

Last week, the New York Court of Appeals issued a ruling that could have ensured that law enforcement requests for text, photos, videos, and other data in New York state are not dragnets. In the case in question, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office had presented Facebook with 381 search warrants as part of a disability fraud investigation. Facebook counsel Thomas Dupree Jr. argued that the warrants were overbroad and lacked particularity, and if the judges had agreed with him, it would have created an important precedent.

But instead of addressing the privacy issues, the court chose to look at a much more narrow jurisdictional question of whether warrants for information under the Stored Communications Act are more akin to administrative subpoenas, which are appealable. The majority ruled that orders related to warrants in criminal proceedings cannot be appealed.

Some courts wont delve into privacy at all.

In a blistering dissent, Judge Rowan Wilson agreed with Dupree. Wilson called for searches and seizures of telecommunications to be subject to a higher standard of review, quoting Justice Louis Brandeis 1927 opinion in Olmstead v. United States: The evil incident to invasion of the privacy of the telephone is far greater than that involved in tampering with the mails as a means of espionage, writs of assistance and general warrants are puny instruments of tyranny when compared with wiretapping.

The majoritys reluctance to wade into the privacy issues in the case is not unique to this opinion. In privacy cases, some courts have sidestepped sweeping pronouncements involving new technologies. In these instances, they tend to prefer narrowly tailored decisions. Sometimes, instead of a pivotal privacy decision, they rule on jurisdictional or other procedural issues. Some judges urge the legislature to address privacy issues that arise from changes in technology. Sometimes there isnt enough technical information. But whatever the excuse, many courts are not effectively handling these privacy invasions.

Privacy isnt mentioned in the Constitution, but a body of law has evolved since the adoption of the Bill of Rights. Perhaps most prominent are cases exploring the Fourth Amendment, especially ones that analyze the constitutionality of searches. The trickiest privacy areas lie where technology and criminal procedure meet. Illegal searches of homes and people tend to get more constitutional protectionsand sympathythan comprehensive searches of electronic footprints. In cases involving warrants, judges tend to defer to law enforcement. Some are reluctant to award digital privacy protections, especially when they involve suspicious or criminal behavior.

Some courts wont delve into privacy at all. In United States v. Ganias, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation agents seized 11 hard drives that were copied and retained for a fraud investigation. For more than two years, the government failed to find on them any data relevant to the original investigation. But then another warrant for the data was issued as part of a tax evasion probe, which led to a conviction. The defendant moved to suppress the evidence became it stemmed from the seized hard drives. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit held in May that in this case, there was no Fourth Amendment violation. The court determined that the agents acted in good faith when they relied on a warrant that was properly issued and had no reason to believe the warrant was flawed, rather than explore the complex and rapidly evolving technological issues, and the significant privacy concerns. A petition for Supreme Court review was denied.

At times, courts have avoided making grand privacy declarations by saying that U.S. law doesnt apply to the communications at hand. In July the 2nd Circuit ruled that the government could not force Microsoft to provide customer emails on a server in Dublin because the messages were outside of U.S. jurisdiction. According to the opinion, the Stored Communications Act neither explicitly nor implicitly envision[s] the application of its warrant provisions oversees. Because privacy invasions occur when and where data is seized, the warrant was invalid. The confusing decision seemed to be an unwitting win for privacy.

The fact that many of these cases involve the cloud, which can scatter data across jurisdictions, confuses things further. In August, the FBI received a warrant for three Google accounts for a trade secrets investigation, but the company responded that it could not produce electronic records stored outside the United States. Like Facebook and Microsoft, Google asserted that the warrant was overbroad because it does not describe with particularity which services there is probable cause to search. The government responded that it wanted all of the data. The Eastern District of Pennsylvania determined in a February ruling that even though some of the data were stored overseas, the fluid nature of Googles cloud technology makes it uncertain which foreign countrys sovereignty would be implicated when Google accesses the content of communications. The court went on to explain that Googles architecture not only divides user data among centers but also partitions user data into shards and that data automatically moves from one location to another. In other words, the information wasnt protected because Google cant (or wont) say which sovereignty would be implicated when Google accesses the communications.

Indeed, the Microsoft decision may not be a privacy victory after all, because of what appears to be an emerging split. This week, a magistrate judge in Florida ordered that the government could obtain Yahoo emails in a criminal investigation even though some of the communications or data associated with it may be stored outside the United States. Part of the rationale was that the warrant functioned more like a subpoena because it requires Yahoo to disclose information under its control. The order cited the 2nd Circuits conclusion that the focus of the Stored Communications Acts warrant provisions is on protecting users privacy interests in stored communications. In other words, the requirement that a warrant show probable cause that a crime has been committed at the place to be searched or that evidence exists at that location addresses the privacy concerns. In February, a Milwaukee magistrate judge followed this reasoning in a case involving warrants for the disclosure of two Google accounts regardless of where the data might be stored. When Google requested the court to address the complex and important issues that the warrant application raised, the court said that because Google did not file a motion to quash the warrant, it could not review the order.

Even when courts actively advocate for privacy interests, they are limited by the fact that many existing privacy doctrines are in danger of becoming stale. One of the prime examples of this is the Katz standard, named for a Los Angeles gambler who used a public telephone to place bets. The FBI wiretapped a public telephone and charged him with wagering information across state lines. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that attaching a listening device to the outside of the phone booth was unconstitutional because it constituted an illegal search. The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places, wrote Justice Potter Stewart. The ruling established the reasonable expectation of privacy standard.

But applying the Katz standard can be complicated for new technologies, even though it is cited frequently. Privacy advocates celebrated Katz because the Fourth Amendment prohibition against illegal searches and seizures was expanded to protect telephone conversations in public phone booths. But data is now borderless. The Katz standard is based on a telecommunications infrastructure that no longer exists.

Another privacy standard that hasnt stood the test of time is the third-party doctrine, established in the 1970s, which says that the government can access documents that people voluntarily disclosed to banks, schools, utilities, internet service providers, and others. For instance, the 381 warrants that the Manhattan District Attorneys Office sought were for information that users had happily shared with Facebook. It has become increasingly controversial because new technologies afford law enforcement and others access to data that would not have been compromised in previous years. In the 2012 case U.S. v. Jones, Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in a concurring opinion that it may be necessary to reconsider the premise that an individual has no reasonable expectation of privacy in information voluntarily disclosed to third parties.

Perhaps the best example of this is cellphone location data. Law enforcement agencies are increasingly using devices, like the Stingray, that allow officers and other law enforcement officials to essentially track cellphones. They work by mimicking cell towers to deceive providers into sending location data. Its powerful technologybut courts are not uniform on whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in cellphone location data. There is now a split among federal appeals courts over whether a warrant is required for cell site location information from these devices. In United States v. Graham, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit decided that a warrant wasnt required to use cell site location information from T-Mobile, an armed robbers cellphone provider, because there was no search under the Fourth Amendment. The 6th Circuit similarly ruled last year that the government does not need a warrant to access cell site location data. But last summer, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held in United States v. Lambis that a simulator Drug Enforcement Agency agents used to pinpoint a users location violated the Fourth Amendment because there was no warrant. The opinion offers a good reminder of why the third-party doctrine, like many involving privacy, is outdated: With the cell-site simulator, the Government cuts out the middleman and obtains the information directly. Without a third party, the third party doctrine is inapplicable.

It was a good decision from the federal judge who, in 2013, upheld the National Security Agencys bulk collection of data. (The decision was appealed to the 2nd Circuit, which declared the program unconstitutional.) Courts cant keep sidestepping the fact that increasingly sophisticated data is subject to the whims of law enforcement and Silicon Valley. The inconsistencies and lack of uniformity are not only baffling but also too important to dodge.

This article is part of Future Tense, a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. Future Tense explores the ways emerging technologies affect society, policy, and culture. To read more, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.

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Group reports progress in plan to encourage post-high-school education – The Columbus Dispatch

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Mary Mogan Edwards The Columbus Dispatch @MaryMoganEdward

Five years after the Central Ohio Compact was formed to increase the number of people in the area with some education or training beyond high school, progress remains slow. But there is progress, Columbus State Community College President David Harrison told about 300 people gathered Monday for an annual update on the project.

The Compact, which was organized by Columbus State and includes colleges, school districts and area employers, aims to have 65 percent of adults holding post-secondary degrees or credentials by 2025. Ideally, those degrees and credentials should prepare their holders for the thousands of jobs that are going or will go unfilled because too few potential employees have the skills needed.

More than $30 million in grants from industry, government and philanthropic groups support projects to encourage people to enroll in degree programs or training, sometimes tied to specific career opportunities.

Some were highlighted Monday. Scot McLemore, manager of talent acquisition at Honda North America, described how Worthington City Schools graduates who have taken a special set of engineering courses in high school can work at Honda three days a week while pursuing associate degrees at Columbus State. They also can go on to get bachelor's degrees at Miami University. Columbus State coordinates the program with a grant of about $900,000 from the National Science Foundation.

Many of the graduates are hired full time by Honda, McLemore said.

Partnerships between Columbus State, four-year colleges and school districts create programs that can launch a ninth-grader on a prescribed path to an associate or bachelor's degree.

"We're doing what we said we were going to do," Harrison said Monday. "It is not happening as quickly as hoped, but we're still at the table and we're still working."

Compact data show that, if nothing changed in the rates of students who graduate high school and obtain further education, the region wouldn't reach that 65 percent goal before 2060. So Compact members are developing programs that make it easier to get degrees and credentials and help high schools and colleges tailor their instruction to prepare students for the industries that need workers.

One measure of progress the percentage of high-school graduates who enroll right away in a public college or university went backward,dipping to 38 percent, from about 42 percent, between 2010 and 2015. But other measures, especially those that indicate how well graduates are prepared for post-secondary education, have improved.

Most dramatically, in 2014-15, just under 35 percent of central Ohio high-school graduates were enrolled in remedial classes in college, down from about 45 percent in 2010-11. The state overall remains at about 40 percent, and eliminating the need for expensive and time-consuming catch-up work has been a top state priority.

In the same time period, the percentage of high-school students earning college credit before graduation has risen by a third, from 3 percent of all graduates to 4 percent. That number likely has gone up significantly since 2014-15 with the advent of College Credit Plus, the state's dual-enrollment program.

Central Ohio also has seen a rise in the percentage of high-schoolers who graduate in four years, from 75 percent in 2010-11 to just under 80 percent in 2014-15.

That's all good, but more central Ohio families need to know about what the Compact is doing, said Steve Dackin, the former Reynoldsburg City School District superintendent who oversees the compact for Columbus State.

"I feel good about the progress we've made, but I feel we've underperformed when it comes to communication," Dackin said. "Families and students are largely unaware of the opportunities for earning college credit that exist in central Ohio."

mcedward@dispatch.com

@MaryMoganEdward

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Daily Progress wins 42 awards from Virginia Press Association – The Daily Progress

Posted: at 8:32 am

The staff of The Daily Progress was honored as the best of its class on Saturday at the Virginia Press Association Awards in Richmond.

The Progress won the VPAs Grand Sweepstakes with 42 awards for the newsroom and advertising teams the most in its division, which includes daily newspapers with circulation under 20,000.

The Progress also won the News Sweepstakes with its news, sports, editorial and photography staff claiming 13 first-place, 12 second-place and 10 third-place awards.

The best part of aspiring as a newspaper is when you see your staff members recognized by experts for their exceptional work, said Daily Progress publisher Rob Jiranek. Our recognition Saturday night demonstrates tremendous achievement by a dedicated and lively team of local journalists. Theyre going to keep doing great work. Thats how theyre wired. I know their mothers are proud of them, and so am I!

Those earning first-place honors were:

Second-place awards went to:

Third-place awards went to:

The advertising department also hauled in seven awards. The three first-place awards were given for:

Two second-place awards were given for:

And two third-place awards were given for:

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Burlington making progress on greenways, bikeways plan – myfox8.com

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BURLINGTON, N.C. -- The City of Burlington is making progress on its Greenways and Bikeways Plan.

The project was initiated in 2016 as a way to give people more cycling and walking opportunities that conveniently connect with different areas in Burlington.

The greenways and bike paths could be used for recreational purposes or even as a daily transportation option such as commuting to work.

We found out that we really dont have a lot of safe roads, sidewalks, pathways, to get people around the community, said Lisa Wolff, superintendent of recreation programming.

Supporters are in favor of the project because they believe its a safety issue.

Its going to help new riders feel comfortable getting on the road, I get that a lot, cyclist David Vaughan said. They want to ride, but they dont feel comfortable with the cars and the traffic.

Vaughan is the owner of Spokes Bicycle Company in Burlington and he is also on the citys steering committee for the project.

Vaughan says his customers will often drive to nearby Greensboro or Raleigh to use their greenway systems, and thinks a similar investment will encourage people to stay in Burlington.

The city has hired a design and planning firm, but wants to receive more public feedback on where the community would like to see the greenways and bike paths before the first draft of a plan is developed.

People can visit the citys website and take the online survey or use the interactive map to provide their input.

Moving forward, team members hope to have a plan ready to present to city council during its work session in June.

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Kevin Durant shows progress in Warriors’ loss to Jazz – SFGate

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Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

Matt Barnes (22) of the Golden State Warriors is seen wearing a brace before his team play against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Matt Barnes (22) of the Golden State Warriors is seen wearing a brace before his team play against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors reacts to a call during the first quarter of his NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Head Coach Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors reacts to a call during the first quarter of his NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Stephen Curry (30) of the Golden State Warriors dribbles around a screen during the second quarter of his NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Stephen Curry (30) of the Golden State Warriors dribbles around a screen during the second quarter of his NBA basketball game against the Utah Jazz at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, April 10, 2017.

Kevin Durant shows progress in Warriors loss to Jazz

During the Warriors huddle at the end of the third quarter, Steve Kerr told Stephen Curry that his night was done.

It came as a surprise to the two-time reigning NBA MVP. He knew Kerr had all of Golden States core players on a minutes limit, but couldnt circumstances force the head coach to adjust? The game was tied with 12 minutes left.

I actually expected to play a little bit in the fourth, Curry said after the Warriors 105-99 loss to the Jazz at Oracle Arena on Monday. It kind of catches you off guard, but you obviously have to realize the big picture.

Golden State, which last week secured home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, entered its penultimate game of the regular season more concerned about the process than the result. By that measure, Monday was as feel-good as a loss that snapped a 14-game winning streak could be.

Curry was sensational, needing only 16 shots and 30 minutes to pour in a game-high 28 points. The bench, led by JaVale McGee (11 points) and David West (eight), again was a worthy complement. Only two nights after making his triumphant return to game action, Durant showed signs of progress.

The eight-time All-Star, though far from dominant, finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in nearly 33 minutes. In his second game since returning from the left knee injury that sidelined him five-plus weeks, he again played more than any of his teammates.

Late in the third quarter, Durant crossed over Utah guard Dante Exum, knifed through the key and threw down a one-handed slam. A capacity crowd erupted as he landed and unleashed a roar.

It was only minutes later when, early in the fourth quarter, Durant drove past Utahs Joe Ingles up the baseline before hammering home a one-handed dunk over 6-foot-9 Joel Bolomboy. In those two highlights, Durant sent an emphatic message: Gone was the timid player worried about re-injuring himself.

It felt really good, man I cant lie, Durant said of the two driving dunks. I was a little hesitant early on in these first few games about just exploding off and making moves that I normally make. It seems like both second halves of these last two games, Ive just been like, Forget it. Go out and try some stuff.

The hope was that, with Curry and Durant playing together for the first time since Feb. 28, Golden State would deliver a cohesive performance as Kerr ironed out his rotation for the playoffs. Kerr rested Klay Thompson, who averages a team-high 34.1 minutes per game. Even a Utah team that is jostling with the Clippers for home-court advantage in the first round seized the opportunity to sit core players.

Rodney Hood rested and Gordon Hayward (left quadriceps contusion) sat for precautionary reasons. George Hill, initially expected to miss the game with a right groin strain, was made available and placed on a minutes restriction but scored 20 points in 19 minutes.

Curry and Draymond Green didnt re-enter after sitting with the score tied at 74-74 at the end of the third. Midway through the fourth, as Golden State nursed an 81-80 lead, Durant joined his fellow All-Stars on the bench. By that point, the Warriors had assuaged Kerrs worries: Curry maintained his brilliance with Durant in the lineup; Durant looked healthy, and the team executed with relative precision on both ends.

It was of little consequence that Golden States reserves couldnt stave off the Jazz down the stretch as the NBAs longest winning streak this season came to an end. Golden State views its regular-season finale Wednesday against the lowly Lakers as a dress rehearsal.

Its going to take some time, Kerr, laying on the sarcasm, said when asked for his reaction to Mondays loss. Maybe a summer. Just try and get away for a little bit. Somehow, someway try and regroup.

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Con_Chron

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Judge’s Murder Investigation Making ‘Considerable Progress," Police Say – DNAinfo

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The scene at 9443 S. Forest Ave., where Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles was fatally shot behind his home. View Full Caption

DNAinfo/Erica Demarest, Provided

ROSELAND Police have made "considerable progress" in the investigation of Cook County Associate Judge Raymond Myles' murder, a police spokesman said Tuesday evening.

The spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, also said via Twitter that in edition to gathering evidence, "persons of interest" had been identified.

Detectives said Monday they were investigating the crime as a possible botched robbery of the 66-year-old judge and the 52-year-old woman just before 5 a.m. behind Myles' two-story brick home home in the 9400 block of south Forest Avenue.

Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Melissa Staples said Monday investigators were reviewing video from multiple cameras in the area, both public and private. The judge reportedly had a surveillance system watching his property.

Police said the woman left the house that borders an alley first and encountered the gunman. The two exchanged words, and then he shot her in the leg, police said. The judge heard gunfire and went out to investigate, where he also exchanged words with the man before the gunman shot him at least four times, police said. The slaying happened on a large cement parking pad between the judge's home and his garage.

The shooter ran away, police said, though it's possible he fled to a getaway car nearby.

The woman called 911, and officers found the two victims outside the house at 4:51 a.m.

Myles was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The woman was taken to Advocate in serious condition.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel called Myles "a distinguished public servant and pillar of the community" and said police were working to determine what led to his "senseless" killing. "Judge Raymond Myles was a well-respected and long-serving jurist, and we mourn his tragic loss."

The judge was a described as demanding but fair by court personnel.

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Poverty analysis sees room for progress as well as pride – vtdigger.org

Posted: at 8:31 am

Vermont does well compared with the rest of the country on measures of the well-being of children in poverty, but it is slipping in some categories, according to a new report released by Voices for Vermonts Children.

The percentage of Vermont families in poverty is lower than in most states, and poor children do better than the national average on standardized tests, according to the report from the advocacy group.

The state also rates well on access to health care for children in poverty, the report says.

But the document indicates that many Vermonters are struggling with an increasingly high cost of living, stagnant wages and obstacles to getting ahead.

Researchers create a snapshot of Vermont in the report using state and county data on economic security, education, health, family and community. They also set goals for the state on many of the indicators.

The report says the rate of child poverty in Vermont dropped during the 2014-2015 year by 2.6 percentage points, to 13 percent. There are now 3,350 fewer children living in poverty. But most households havent recovered from the Great Recession, and the number of kids living in low-income families 36 percent is still higher than it was in 2007.

Homelessness continues to rise, with more than 1,000 school-age kids who are homeless, in addition to 1,000 children younger than 6.

Sarah Teel, research director for Voices for Vermonts Children, said the report shows that childrens lives are interconnected. We know what every child needs equitable access to the building blocks of healthy development: quality education, nurturing child care, healthy and adequate nutrition, safe and stable housing, health care, safety, economic security and positive nurturing relationships, she said.

The report says that problems in the community show up in the schools.

More than 3,800 students 5 percent of the states public school enrollment were suspended or expelled between 2014 and 2016, according to data from the Agency of Education.

Nearly one-fifth of the students excluded were in elementary school. In 2016, 177 students were suspended or expelled from kindergarten. Nearly half of the students were disciplined for violating a school policy, according to the report.

Income inequality in Vermont continues to grow, according to the report, which advocates for state policies that will contribute to quality public education and economic safety nets. Specifically, the authors support the earned income tax credit, a livable wage and paid family leave.

Equity means correcting for the injustices that are sometimes built into our systems, said Carlen Finn, executive director of Voices for Vermonts Children. Policy changes would reduce the impact of poverty, she added.

The success of future generations depends on the policies we fight for today, Finn said.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation supports an annual report card called the KIDS COUNT Data Book on child well-being that analyzes each state based on 16 indicators. Vermont ranked sixth nationally in 2016; the 2017 rankings will come out in June.

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Transhumanism Is Just Fancy Sex-Shaming And Self-Loathing

Posted: at 8:30 am

Ever since we first took bite of the proverbial apple and were ejected from Eden, human beings have been trying to better themselves. Whether through acquiring new knowledge or attempting to revert to a more natural state, the question of how best to further human progress is always at hand. One of the latest concepts is transhumanism.

A philosophy stretching back into the last few decades of the twentieth century, transhumanism proposes that the future of humankind is to not be human at all. Proponents of transhumanism believe that by altering how humans reproduce, genetically and technologically augmenting the body, and potentially dispensing with the body altogether in favor of neurological liberation, we can take charge of our own evolution for the better. While all of that may seem a ways off, one things shines through: in the future, sex as we know it may be a thing of the past.

Human beings are well on the road to altering how we reproduce. From in-vitro to surrogacy to children born with three biological parents, we are no longer a species that requires physical sex to generate offspring. Despite removing the reproductive incentive, however, our culture is incredibly focused on sex.

Our bodies and minds clamor for this release, and our art and entertainment reflect that right back to us. While there are exceptions, sex is not usually the subject of what we consider high culture. Instead, sexual content is considered base, and so is the act itself. We condemn it, restrict it, and are shamed by it. Perhaps if we entirely remove the biological necessity of sex by doing away with the 14-day rule that limits experimenters to embryos younger than 14 days old, we will remove the stigma of sex by completely test-tubing reproduction. Will this free our higher, cognitive selves from the base physicality that binds us to our bodies and to each other?

We have invented the tools to rule our own evolution, and each is designed to liberate us from our natural bodies. Reproductive technologies and artificial wombs, medical advancements in artificial limbs, hearts, lungs, all render our natural state primitive.

Many people think artificiality enhances life. We need not look far into the annals of medical science to see that the breakthroughs in artificial limbs, reproduction, and tissue and organ replacement make life better for many people. There is a difference, however, in correcting a physical detriment and altering the physical form wholesale.

Yet I cant be the only one who gets queasy at the concept of genetic enhancement. The ethical questions abound, in terms of genetic altering for gender, skin color, height, predisposition toward a particular skill set. The argument can be made eradicating genetic illnesses is an honorable mission. But how are these illnesses defined? Is Downs Syndrome something to eradicate? What about autism? Schizophrenia? Bipolar disorder?

We are naturalists about the environment, animals, and oceans, but dismiss ourselves as beings of nature and instead think of ourselves as contaminants. Our time teaches us that everything in nature is precious except for that perennial villain, the Homo sapiens. An ancient relic of a forgotten time, the Homo sapiensthe explorer, the nomad, the homesteader, the brave, the noble, the being made in Gods imageis in danger of extinction at its own hand. We have overthought ourselves so thoroughly that we are convincing ourselves that any reality the mind can conjure, the body should imitate.

Transhumanism presupposes atheism as the only reasonable perspective. It sets us up as gods who take charge of, and direct, our own evolutionary capabilities and assumes that a more technological being is preferable to one that relies on its own body. Yet we are still unable to create life from scratch, unable to manufacture the spark of existence. Without understanding how life is made, we are attempting to remake it.

Whereas mankind previously believed we were made in the image of God, we are now meant to believe that we should make ourselves over in our own, imagined image of what humanity can be. We hold God up as an example of the good we can attain to, despite our limitations.

If we become our own gods, we will be self-hating gods, eternally dissatisfied, tweaking all nature right out of ourselves. What will we remove from our genetic make-up in pursuit of the most efficient human? Fear? Sadness? Empathy? Eroticism? It is easy to imagine the drastic measures we would take to better ourselves, only to wind up entirely disassociated from what makes life worth living.

If the Age of Reason taught us about the mind/body split, the twenty-first century is schooling us on the mind/body divorce. Divorcing the mind from the body is exactly what the transhumanists intend once the concept of neurological liberation becomes practice.

The ability of scientists to upload a consciousness to an artificial neural net is not too far off. Cut off from the body, the mind has a very limited scope. It cannot gain information through sensory input. Human beings are made up of experiences as relayed to the brain through the senses. What is a brain without sensory input, and what is a being that cannot feel, smell, taste, hear, see?

This final state, a mind without a body, eliminates sex entirely. While the mind may be the ultimate erogenous zone, it needs the body to achieve release. The brain is not just a meat computer, it is a physical entity that performs physical functions within itself. Transhumanists ask us to imagine ourselves as minds without bodies, as though that is somehow a higher state of being that our natural ones. But it isnt.

Instead of looking at sex as something beneath us, we should consider it as one of the most beautiful expressions of our humanity. Sex can bring about an emotional and physical connection, and in long-term relationships sex takes on a more profound meaning.

It can be a way to communicate and tend to the needs of a lover in ways that words, commiserations, and even a hug cant get close to. The transhumanists would have us transcend the body, but the tools of transcendence are within us.

The idea of altering the human being into something that is both human and trans, or beyond the existing concept of humanity, assumes that we fundamentally know what it means to be human. It also presupposes that it is reasonable to accelerate cognitive development at the cost of our physical selves. We must consider, and value, what we would leave behind. The body is not a dead weight that our minds lug around. The body does more than hold our consciousness, it drives it.

Sex, and the pleasure drive, is a gift. It is a gift to be able to extend our own boundaries to include another person. Sex gives us the ability to feel ephemeral and grounded all at once and to feel thoroughly connected to another human being. That is not something to give away.

Sex has been the raison detre of humanity since our beginning. No matter what we may think we will get in return, for the continuance of our life or the collective consciousness of our fellow humans, sex is not something to relinquish to technological advancement.

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Transhumanism Is Just Fancy Sex-Shaming And Self-Loathing

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