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  South Korea’s Jogye Order has introduced “Gabi,” a humanoid robot monk, as part of an effort to draw younger people to Buddhism. The robot took symbolic vows adapted for machines. Whatever one thinks of the optics, the underlying question is worth considering: If technology can repeat the form, what remains uniquely human in religious practice? #AI #Religion https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-gabi-the-new-robot-monk-at-a-buddhist-temple-in-south-korea-its-the-latest-robot-to-take-up...

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  Leaked audio from a #Meta all-hands meeting suggests employee computer activity was used to help train AI systems, and staff were told details were withheld to avoid tipping competitors. If accurate, the key issue is informed consent in the workplace. Secrecy may protect strategy, but it also erodes trust. #Zuckerberg #AI #WorkplacePrivacy https://www.rawstory.com/meta-said-it-out-loud-leaked-audio-catches-damning-mark-zuckerberg-admission-to-staff/

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  RE: https://universeodon.com/@Edmonds_Scanner/116624736604110794 There are, however, repercussions.

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  #Arlington National Cemetery reportedly removed or reorganized web pages highlighting Black, women, and LGBTQ veterans under the #Trump administration's broader anti #DEI policy changes. The #Pentagon has since acknowledged some removals were mistaken or overly broad. The graves remain, but the issue is visibility: how institutions organize history shapes who people encounter, remember … and overlook. #Veterans #History https://taskandpurpose.com/news/arlington-cemetery-scrubs-website-de...

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  The viral version is directionally correct but exaggerated: France did mandate solar canopies on large parking lots, with estimates of up to 11 gigawatts of future solar capacity. It did not "instantly unlock" 11 GW overnight. The law created a buildout requirement; the capacity arrives over years as projects are completed. Still a great idea that many nations could learn from. #SolarEnergy #EnergyPolicy https://www.pveurope.eu/e-mobility/france-rules-mandatory-solar-car-parks

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  Bots now generate more web traffic than humans. That doesn’t mean most online conversations are fake. It does mean many of the metrics we use to measure attention, engagement, and popularity are increasingly influenced by automation. The question is no longer whether bots are present. It’s how much of what we see was shaped by them. #DigitalRights #MediaLiteracy https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/bots-now-outnumber-humans-on-the-internet-heres-what-that-actually-means/

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  Large #Qatar–US $1.2 trillion economic agreements are real. The "$19.4 trillion" figure now circulating is much less clear. Is that number based on signed contracts, investment pledges, projected economic activity, multipliers, or something else entirely? Extraordinary numbers require transparent math. #FollowTheMoney #Transparency https://www.reuters.com/world/us-qatar-deals-generate-12-trillion-economic-exchange-white-house-says-2025-05-14/

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  Denmark's requirement that livestock be stunned before slaughter reflects a broader view of integration, that some civic values apply equally to everyone, even when they conflict with religious tradition. Whether you agree or not, it raises a question more countries will face: What obligations do immigrants have to the society that receives them, and what obligations does that society have in return? #Immigration #Europe https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-court-says-denmarks-ethnic-...

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  West Virginia lawmakers created a $3M civics center to push back on what they called "woke ideology." As of late June, one student had enrolled. Supporters say it's too early to judge because the courses don't yet count toward most degree programs. Critics see a solution in search of a problem. The more interesting question is this: if an idea requires legislation to create an audience, is the demand really there? #HigherEducation #PublicPolicy https://westvirgi...

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  Before the rape allegation, there were already resurfaced Reddit posts victim-blaming sexual assault, a covered Nazi-linked Totenkopf tattoo, and other publicly reported controversies. So why did prominent Democrats continue backing Graham Platner until the campaign finally collapsed? Vetting isn't optional. It's the first job. #Accountability #Elections https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/11/graham-platner-democrats-maine-senate

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  Cloudflare will let publishers distinguish search bots from AI agents and training crawlers, blocking or charging the latter under some settings. That may restore leverage to creators whose work is extracted without compensation. It also gives one infrastructure company greater power to decide how machines access the web. Necessary correction, new concentration of power. #DigitalRights #AI https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/01/cloudflares-new-policy-pushes-ai-companies-to-pay-for-publishers-content/

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  An indie developer says Google’s search #AI revealed the exact name of an unreleased character they believed existed only in a private #Google Doc. There is no public proof of how it happened. That uncertainty is the warning: AI search can produce sensitive information without showing what it accessed, where it came from, or whether access was authorized. #AIPrivacy #Cybersecurity #DigitalRights https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/comments/1vfwuf5/a_player_found_out_the_actual_name_of_my_games/

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  Miquelon is becoming the first French village planned for wholesale relocation to higher ground because #ClimateChange is making its existing coastal location increasingly vulnerable to flooding, erosion and rising seas. The move has begun, but it is voluntary and expected to unfold over decades. #SeaLevelRise #ClimateAdaptation #France https://www.brgm.fr/fr/actualite/eclairage/miquelon-comment-relocalise-village-menace-eaux

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  A peer-reviewed study found stronger Christian-nationalist views were associated with lower verbal cognitive ability, even after accounting for education and other factors. That does not prove causation, and the measure is not simply IQ. Still, when a political movement prizes certainty, hierarchy, and identity over complexity, findings like this deserve attention. #ChristianNationalism #PoliticalPsychology #Research https://www.psypost.org/lower-cognitive-ability-is-linked-to-stronger-christia...

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  Meta’s new Commercial Terms authorize it to crawl websites tied to business users, even creating test credentials, and use what it collects to train #Meta products, e.g., #Facebook, #Instagram, #WhatsApp. Legal experts say publisher sites could be swept in. The asymmetry is hard to miss: Meta tightly restricts others from scraping its platforms while claiming broad rights to scrape yours. #DigitalRights #AI #Privacy https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/metas-new-commercial-terms-will-allow-the-scra...

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  Meta controls which political messages users see, suppresses others, and sells precision-targeted influence. Now it is licensing Newsmax—which paid over $100 million to settle cases tied to false election claims—for AI news answers. This is not ordinary media diversity. It is an opaque distribution system blending propaganda with reporting. #MediaLiteracy #AI #Facebook #Meta #Newsmax https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/newsmax-meta-enter-ai-content-130000336.html

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  #Meta has removed optional end-to-end encryption from #Instagram DMs. Their stated reason: few people used it. But the practical effect is that private messages are no longer protected from Meta itself. If a conversation is sensitive, privacy now depends on company policy rather than cryptography. That’s a meaningful difference. #Privacy #DigitalRights #E2EE https://www.androidcentral.com/apps-software/meta/stop-using-instagram-for-private-messages-after-todays-change