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Shawnee County Health Department discusses public health challenges and solutions
The Shawnee County Health Department held its Annual Community Conversation, bringing together local leaders to discuss public health and how to better serve residents.
Trump Suggests Cornell Defendants Won’t Get a ‘Fair Shake’ From Letitia James
President Trump weighed in on the case when asked about Ms. James, who has become a target of his second-term retribution campaign.
Book Talk: Curl up with one of 2026’s thrilling mysteries
As Denton enters spooky season, Book Talk columnist Jean Greenlaw rounds up mysteries and thrillers from this year.
$55 million student wellness center project breaks ground at Michigan Tech
Features include a UP Health System - Portage supported urgent health care clinic, a fitness floor and therapy offices.
Carbondale business community preps for busy month
CARBONDALE — With SIU students in town, alumni coming to visit and the fall atmosphere finally rolling in, October is a big month for business in Carbondale.
Siekerka Urges NJ Businesses to Check with Lawyers Regarding Stringent Independent Contractor Rules
In the wake of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development implementing the most stringent interpretation of the ABC test determining
Miami Heat tease release of new 'Vice City' jerseys on the night before 'Grand Theft Auto VI' release
"Grand Theft Auto VI" gets an unprecedented sports tie-in as the Miami Heat debut reimagined "Vice City" jerseys against the Milwaukee Bucks.
MYB This Weekend: Bucco Talks His 4-Point Affordability Plan for NJ Residents, Businesses
On this weekend’s Minding Your Business on News 12+, Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco joins Bob Considine to discuss his 4-point affordability plan
Earth Science Week at Museum Features Fossils, Minerals, Maps, and More
Credit: CourtesyCredit: CourtesyCredit: CourtesyCredit: Courtesy SANTA BARBARA, CA—The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is celebrating National
Health Officials urge caution after rabid Raccoon found in Nash County
Nash County health officials are warning residents to avoid wild animals after a raccoon found near Spring Hope tested positive for rabies.
NJ Reminds Residents to Continue to Take Precautions Against Mosquito-Borne Illnesses
NJ Reminds Residents to Continue to Take Precautions Against Mosquito-Borne Illnesses
STC: Preparing the Workforce of Tomorrow
What does the future of transportation mean for the Rio Grande Valley workforce? South Texas College President Ricardo Solis sees opportunities in logistics, international trade, and emerging technology. Through industry partnerships, STC is connecting workforce training with employers’ needs and preparing for electric trucks, automation, and artificial intelligence.
IRS takes up whistleblower claim of Hope Florida money that flowed to Uthmeier’s political committee
The Internal Revenue Service is reviewing a whistleblower claim about $10 million in Medicaid settlement money that moved through the Hope Florida Foundation and, within weeks, into a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, now Florida’s attorney general, according to new records obtained by the Florida Trident.
Our Unpopular President Leads an Unpopular War. Remember What Dems Got the Last Time That Happened?
It's beginning to look a lot like 2006.
Mercy Health Sciences University announces record fall enrollment
Mercy Health Sciences University enrolled 1,003 students for fall 2026, the highest enrollment in the institution’s 127-year history. The total, which includes 399 new students, represents a 7.5% increase from fall 2025 and surpasses the previous record of 956 students set in fall 2021. The Des Moines institution, formerly Mercy College of Health Sciences, recently…
Mercy Health Sciences University announces record fall enrollment
Mercy Health Sciences University enrolled 1,003 students for fall 2026, the highest enrollment in the institution’s 127-year history. The total, which includes 399 new students, represents a 7.5% increase from fall 2025 and surpasses the previous record of 956 students set in fall 2021. The Des Moines institution, formerly Mercy College of Health Sciences, recently…
Vaishali Sirkay: Supporting student mental health and wellbeing
Vaishali "Shali" Sirkay is one of four candidates vying for three seats on the Los Altos School District Board of Trustees in this November's General Election. Her top priorities include closing the "opportunity gap," fostering an inclusive environment and maintaining high employee compensation.
Trump revisits the scene of his political ascent as Republicans struggle
A month before the midterms, the president is returning to Alabama and other places where his movement remains strongest.
Vote no on Prop 45 to Protect California’s environment and public health
This November, California voters will have a chance to push back against President Trump’s attacks on our clean air and water, public health, and open space by voting NO on Proposition 45. This deceptive ballot initiative is a 41-page recipe for pollution and sprawl. It would weaken California’s bedrock environmental law and make it easier to build data centers, warehouses and other polluting projects – with severely limited public oversight.
Science Hill Independent Superintendent Matt Cook building more professional learning communities in the district
Science Hill Independent Superintendent Matt Cook stands with Science Hill students at the district’s annual Constitution Day Parade in September. Photo courtesy Matt Cook. The new superintendent of Science Hill Independent, Matt Cook, is focusing on building more
Family of man killed at Minneapolis mental health facility calls for justice
The family of the 23-year-old man killed in Monday’s attack at a Minneapolis residential treatment facility is calling for accountability and justice.
Delta Expo celebrates regional business, culture, entertainment
From live music and Delta food to shopping, stepping, books, and small-business showcases, Pine Bluff buzzed Sept. 25-26 as the first-of-its-kind Delta Expo brought businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and community members together at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Presented by the Pine Bluff Black Chamber of Commerce and visionary president and CEO Joni Alexander-Robinson, the two-day […]
Delta Expo celebrates regional business, culture, entertainment
From live music and Delta food to shopping, stepping, books, and small-business showcases, Pine Bluff buzzed Sept. 25-26 as the first-of-its-kind Delta Expo brought businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and community members together at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Presented by the Pine Bluff Black Chamber of Commerce and visionary president and CEO Joni Alexander-Robinson, the two-day […]
Bakersfield police seeking help ID’ing man who burglarized Planz Road business through roof
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Bakersfield Police Department is investigating a burglary that took place in early September. The police department is seeking help identifying the suspect in…
Family demands answers after son, 23, killed at Minneapolis mental health facility
The family of a 23-year-old man killed at a Minneapolis mental health facility is seeking answers as to why someone with a recent history of alleged violence was allowed to live alongside vulnerable residents and what could have been done to prevent it.
Trump Directed Use of Taxpayer Money for Ads Praising His Presidency
The government-funded ads show just how much President Trump has been able to use federal money for his own aims.
Why Americans Identify as Republicans and Democrats
Many don’t consider themselves Republicans or Democrats. Instead, they're independents or something else – though they often “lean” toward a major party.
Buncombe sheriff hopefuls spar over jail staffing, mental health
ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County Sheriff Quentin Miller and his political opponent, Gary Parris, butted heads over a range of issues at a candidate forum hosted Oct. 2 by the Council of Independent Business Owners. Among issues on which they clashed were mental health, staffing issues and jail overcrowding.
Bank Independent Stadium Opens At The University Of North Alabama
The University of North Alabama celebrated a historic milestone with the opening of Bobby Wallace Field at Bank Independent Stadium, bringing to life a vision
Former GOP Rep. David Rivera sentenced to 10 years for secret Venezuela lobbying
David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.
Studying Science in an Anti-Scientific Time
This Chronicle Review Deep Cut was first published in 2025. By Julianne Werlin Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe The last two decades have not been kind to science studies. Already bruised and battered by the “science wars” of the 1990s, by the 2000s sociologists of science — who had long argued that science had to be understood in its human context — were encountering the funhouse-mirror version of their own views in right-wing critiques of climate scientists. It was enough to give some prominent scholars pause. “Was I wrong to participate in the invention of this field known as science studies?” asked Bruno Latour, the most famous sociologist of science in the world, in 2003. “Should we apologize for having been wrong all along? Or should we rather bring the sword of criticism to criticism itself and do a bit of soul-searching here: What were we really after when we were so intent on showing the social construction of scientific facts?” In response, Latour proposed a change of method and attitude. Science studies, now chastened and contrite, would no longer seek to strip facts of their authority, but to enrich and enhance them. What this meant in practice was never fully clear. But his diagnosis of problems resonated, even if his solutions did not. Latour’s exercise in public hand-wringing signaled a shift in mood. By 2016, with the first election of Donald Trump, the idea that skepticism of science was a right-wing position, not a left-wing one, had become a commonplace, discussed eagerly in The New York Times. For liberals, vaccine denial during the Covid era and Trump’s second-term attacks on the funding of scientific research, covered extensively in these pages, added a new urgency to the defense of science on both practical and principled grounds. There was little appetite for a sociology or philosophy of science that emphasized the messiness and missteps of the scientific process rather than its integrity and triumphs. The distinguished historian of science Peter Dear’s new book, The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2025), which seeks to tell the story of 18th- and 19th-century science for a general public, may seem comfortably remote from these bitter contests. In its 16 short chapters, Dear draws swift, sure sketches of major discoveries from Newton to Einstein, ably guiding the reader through debates on stellar nebulae, animal taxonomy, atomic chemistry, evolution, and other flashpoints in the history of science. But though a work of history, Dear’s book must still negotiate our polarized present. In a blurb on its back cover, the historian of biology Lynn K. Nyhart alludes to the “present moment, when scientific knowledge is being swamped by misinformation and its institutions are under siege.” Dear himself, in his conclusion, refers to the “yard signs” and “bumper stickers” that proclaim “Science Is Real.” One antidote to both anti-science propaganda and to reductive slogans in science’s defense is a robust history and philosophy of science: exactly what Dear’s scholarship has long offered. But his new book illustrates how difficult such work has become. Dear, an emeritus professor of history at Cornell University, is best known as a creative and philosophically minded historian of the Scientific Revolution. His edited volume The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument (1991) analyzed the rhetoric of Galileo’s thought experiments to brilliant effect. Discipline and Experience: The Mathematical Way in the Scientific Revolution (1995) was a major contribution to the analysis of scientific experiments in early modern Europe and beyond, while Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge in Transition, 1500-1700 (2001), now in its third edition, remains one of the best overviews of the profound epistemological upheavals of 16th- and 17th-century science. But Dear has also ventured into later periods. Nearly two decades ago, in The Intelligibility of Nature: How Science Makes Sense of the World (2006), he turned to the 18th and 19th centuries to sketch a history and theory of scientific knowledge. Aimed at a generalist audience, Dear’s simple prose belied serious philosophical ambitions. Science, Dear argued, has two aspects: “natural philosophy,” the quest to understand the true nature of the universe, and “instrumentality,” the applied skills and technologies that allow us to manipulate the world for human advantage. Both strands are ancient, but the innovation of the phenomenon we call “science” was to yoke them together. As Francis Bacon wrote, “Human knowledge and human power meet in one; for where the cause is not known, the effect cannot be produced,” an insight typically abridged to “knowledge is power.” Or, in Bertrand Russell’s characteristically blunt phrase, science has two functions, “1. to enable us to know things, and 2., to enable us to do things.” So far, so conventional. But Dear took issue with this familiar story in one respect. Bacon’s formula implied that theory and practice could be fused in a single method. In fact, Dear argued, the quest to understand nature and the desire to manipulate it were coupled only loosely. They could come together, but they could also pull apart. Focusing on natural philosophy, the “knowing” half of the scientific circle, he used a series of case studies from cosmology, taxonomy, chemistry, electromagnetism, and quantum theory to show how theories changed over time, in dialogue with practice, but never reducible to it. Take the case of matter, the basic substrate of the physical world. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists not only disagreed about what it was, but also about how well it could be known. In 1789, the chemist Antoine Lavoisier dismissed speculation about the atomic composition of chemicals as “discussions entirely of a metaphysical nature,” as he sought to orient chemistry away from philosophical abstraction and toward laboratory results. But in the 19th century, atoms returned with a vengeance in the atomic chemistry of John Dalton, who wanted to explain the underlying structure of nature. It was not just that Dalton and Lavoisier had a different set of experimental results, or even a different theory, Dear showed. What counted as an explanation had changed. In arguing that scientific theories depended on their intelligibility to human beings with complex arrays of beliefs and commitments, Dear was in sympathy with science studies. Key figures such as the sociologist Steven Shapin emphasized the importance of psychological mechanisms like trust in the formation and acceptance of scientific ideas. But in focusing on the scientific pursuit of knowledge, not its politics or economics, Dear resisted the more cynical perspective of some of his colleagues. The Intelligibility of Nature strikes a very different note than Shapin’s collection of a few years later, Never Pure: Historical Studies of Science as If It Was Produced by People With Bodies, Situated in Time, Space, Culture, and Society, and Struggling for Credibility and Authority (2010), to name just one example. Walking a very fine line, Dear depicted science as driven at once by complex social dynamics and by the intellectual power of real discoveries. It was a testament not only to his own acumen but also to the vitality of the field that he was able to do so. Nearly two decades later, The World as We Know It returns to the questions broached in The Intelligibility of Nature. Like Dear’s earlier study, it begins with the Newtonian cosmos and ends with debates between Einstein and Bohr on quantum physics. Beyond its terminal figures, many of the same characters appear in both studies, including the naturalists John Ray and the Comte de Buffon; the chemists Étienne François Geoffroy, Antoine Lavoisier, and John Dalton; as well as Charles Darwin and Michael Faraday, among others. Its subject is nearly identical: As in The Intelligibility of Nature, The World as We Know It considers natural philosophy as opposed to instrumentality, here defined as the “desire to create a picture of what the world is really like — the world as God knows it — rather than simply having instrumental or operational control over it.” The two books also overlap in insights — and sometimes even in language. The reader who has learned in The Intelligibility of Nature that Buffon’s method of classifying animals “reflected his belief in the importance of the senses and empiricism in learning about nature (a doctrine associated with Newton and the philosopher John Locke)” will experience a sense of déjà vu on reading, in The World as We Know It, that the classification “reflects Buffon’s commitment to the epistemological stance of Newton and his philosophical underlaborer John Locke, who stressed the role of the senses in creating natural knowledge.” Later in the passage, we read that, “because of its stress on understanding the ways of life of animals in their environments, Buffon’s approach could almost be labeled (anachronistically) as ‘ecological.’” And again, “an anachronistic way of putting it would be to say that Buffon recommends an ecological mode of understanding.” Likewise, in The Intelligibility of Nature we read of Dalton that he was initially drawn to meteorology, and that: He did a bit of experimental work on these things, especially having to do with the water-holding capacity of gases, but his real interest lay in understanding what, at an underlying natural-philosophical level, was really going on physically.” Whereas, in The World as We Know It: He did experimental work on these things, especially concerning the water-holding capacity of gases — although not at a very refined level quantitatively — but he was continually trying to develop a theoretical conception of what was happening physically. The final full chapter of each book closes on the same resigned note. Intelligibility: These days, most serious work on the natural philosophical underpinnings and implications of quantum mechanics is performed not by physicists but by philosophers of science. Among scientific practitioners themselves, Bohr’s attempt to use instrumentality as sufficient grounds for a respectable science has met with a high degree of success. And again, in The World as We Know It: Bohr’s and Einstein’s concerns are now questions that are mostly discussed by philosophers of science rather than by physicists themselves. The marginalization of these sorts of questions amounts to the demise of natural philosophy, at least in physics, in the 20th century. Quantum mechanics “works,” and that’s good enough for most scientists who encounter it. Examples could be multiplied. When handling the same subject matter, some echoes are inevitable. Scholars should not feel that because they have written “Isaac Newton died in 1727” in one book, in the next they must describe him as perishing, expiring, or meeting his maker. But the repetitions of language and arguments (not to mention six reproduced images) threaded throughout The World as We Know It are more extensive than that. They should have been caught by Princeton University Press or its reviewers, and revised. Because the two books have so much in common, it is easy to see where they diverge. The World as We Know It is a less theoretical work than its predecessor. The sociology of knowledge that organized The Intelligibility of Nature has been reduced in scale and folded into readings and examples. The taut interplay between history and theory, which gave the earlier study so much interest, is there, but it is subtle. In the earlier book, the case studies demonstrated theoretical claims about the character and development of science. In the later work, each narrative of discovery is an end in itself. Insights emerge from the history, but they do not control the organization of the study. With the theory muted, it can be hard to understand the logic uniting Dear’s sprawling history of more than two centuries of scientific knowledge. The 16 brisk chapters cover an enormous amount of material. But the closer the volume edges to comprehensiveness, the more obvious the missing elements become. A chapter on “Institutions and Pedagogy,” describing the birth of the research university, illustrates the problem. Inserted roughly halfway through the book, the unnumbered chapter is designed as an “entr’acte,” in acknowledgement that it does not fit the study’s organization around scientific discoveries. Yet as Dear is well aware, no general history of the development of modern science can bracket its 19th-century institutionalization and professionalization. It was the 19th-century university, after all, that gave us the “scientist,” a term coined by the Cambridge philosopher William Whewell. Dear’s history of scientific discoveries implies a wider social and institutional history, but it remains largely subterranean, only occasionally extruded under the pressure of the narrative. It must be said that the balance is not all on the side of the earlier study. There are some advantages to the more historical, less theoretical organization of The World as We Know It. Dear’s accounts of paradigm shifts are remarkably lucid, no small accomplishment given that they span fields and centuries. He makes excellent use of the wealth of new scholarship on Darwin and his influences, to which he has himself contributed. It is satisfying to see puzzle pieces from Buffon’s natural history, Georges Cuvier’s animal taxonomy, Thomas Robert Malthus’s demography, and Charles Lyell’s geology recombined seamlessly in the Darwinian jigsaw. Likewise, Dear’s discussion of stellar nebulae, divided between chapters two and 15, shows vividly how Newton, Kant, Herschel, and Hubble reimagined insights and observations as they sought to discover whether the diffuse light that filtered through early telescopes was a glowing, gaseous substance or discrete but distant stars. Yet despite such pleasures, the book remains a more modest work than The Intelligibility of Nature. Dear has clearly not changed his views about the history of science. But in the two decades that have elapsed, the discipline and the world around it have changed, making it harder to write a sociologically and philosophically ambitious history of science for the general reader. That is a shame, because in the age of Silicon Valley and biotechnology, both the reciprocity and the tensions Dear identified between the epistemological and instrumental ambitions of science are more evident than ever. In recent years, some of the most exciting new books on the history of science in early modernity have focused precisely on this pressure point. Important studies such as Pamela H. Smith’s From Lived Experience to the Written Word (2022), James Poskett’s Horizons: The Global Origins of Modern Science (2022), and Vera Keller’s The Interlopers: Early Stuart Projects and the Undisciplining of Knowledge (2023) all shed new light on how early modern science negotiated the relationship between its instrumental and epistemological ambitions, or in Russell’s phrase, knowing and doing. There is every opportunity for a philosophically informed approach to draw new insights from this wealth of material. Dear, unfortunately, has not done so in The World as We Know It. But for future scholars of the history of science, his body of work over nearly four decades may provide just the model. Julianne Werlin is an associate professor of English at Duke University. Thanks for reading The Chronicle Review! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe
The Political Recap: President Trump using taxpayer dollars for ads?
Capitol Bureau reporter Tyler Englander breaks down what you missed in Virginia politics this week.
Entertainment news correspondent Billy Bush to join Fox News
Billy Bush is expected to join Fox News Media as a contributor, with the new role set to be unveiled Tuesday.
J.J. Picollo Opens Up on Royals' Biggest Need This Offseason
The Royals president of baseball operations named the bullpen as a top focus this winter, and he admitted the answer may not be in-house.
CalAIM Offers Housing and Health Support, but Medi-Cal Barriers Leave Some Californians Behind
California’s CalAIM program can connect vulnerable residents with health care and housing, but getting that help isn’t always simple.
New Macomb-Kettering deal enables business students to transfer straight into bachelor’s program
The Flint-based university will provide a pathway to its Bachelor of Science in management degree.
Bishop’s computer science chair says AI is eliminating ‘grunt work’ and reshaping digital jobs
Dr. Russell Butler, chair of Bishop’s University’s Department of Computer Science, says artificial intelligence is increasingly taking over routine digital “grunt work,” changing the skills students and workers may need in the years ahead. Photo courtesy of Bishop’s University. Click here to read our platform! Get local news like this every morning. Subscribe free below. Subscribe Pulse Newsroom Artificial intelligence is already taking over some of the routine digital work once performed by entry-level employees, according to Bishop’s University Computer Science chair Dr. Russell Butler — a shift he believes will make expertise, judgement and the ability to evaluate AI-generated work increasingly important. Butler described the change as automation reaching what he calls the “bottom of the cognitive pyramid” during an interview with The Pulse about AI, university education and the future of digital work. His argument is not that humans are disappearing from the workplace. Instead, he sees their role changing as AI becomes capable of handling more of the repetitive tasks involved in computer-based work. “Everything’s converging on just AI basically doing all the grunt work,” Butler said. The bottom of the cognitive pyramid Butler is from Lennoxville, completed his undergraduate studies at Bishop’s and later earned his PhD at the Université de Sherbrooke. He joined Bishop’s in 2019 and now chairs its Department of Computer Science. He uses AI in research, teaching and other creative work, and said the technology is increasingly capable of handling routine digital tasks that once required substantial human time. “You’ve got the grunt work, like moving things around in Excel, doing basic programming tasks,” Butler said. “That’s like the bottom grunt work that the entry-level worker would have done two or three years ago.” Butler went further, saying in his view that much of this type of work has already been absorbed by AI tools. He connected that change to a shift he sees taking place in computer science, where entry-level roles have declined while experienced workers can use AI to increase what they can produce. “A senior developer now has access to essentially an unlimited amount of junior developers on demand,” Butler said. He was describing AI systems metaphorically, not literal employees. His point was that one experienced developer can now ask AI tools to produce code or other technical work that might previously have been assigned to more junior workers. That raises a broader question for universities and employers. If some of the simpler work traditionally given to newcomers can now be done by machines, how do people gain the experience needed to become senior workers themselves? Students doing work that once required years of programming Butler said he is already seeing the change inside his classroom. He created a Bishop’s course called CS208, Coding in Plain English, to show students — including those without traditional programming backgrounds — what they can accomplish using AI. Some come from disciplines such as psychology or neuroscience with no previous programming experience. “What I’m finding is that students who have zero programming experience, they come in from another discipline like psychology or neuroscience or something, they are now able to get up and running with real data sets,” Butler said. Butler’s own doctoral work involved neuroimaging, and he said he has assigned students work he considers comparable to the kinds of analysis he performed during his PhD. He described giving students a real dataset, an expected result and instructions to use AI to complete the analysis. Butler said those students have been able to carry out work at a level he associates with tasks he once performed after years of programming experience. That does not mean a student using AI instantly acquires the same knowledge as an experienced computer scientist. But Butler sees it as evidence that AI can dramatically lower the technical barrier between having a problem to solve and producing a working result. The role of the person using the system then changes. They need to know what to ask for, understand enough about the subject to judge the answer and take responsibility for what is ultimately produced. What about AI hallucinations? One persistent concern surrounding generative AI is hallucination — when a system produces information that sounds convincing but is false or unsupported. Butler said that problem has improved substantially in newer systems and is not as severe as it was with earlier models. He pointed in particular to newer AI systems’ ability to search the web, consult scientific databases and return source links rather than simply generating a citation from their internal model. Butler nevertheless said users should verify what AI produces. “You should verify,” he said while discussing citations generated with AI. His position is that hallucinations have become less common in the systems he uses, not that incorrect AI output is impossible. Human checking remains part of the process. Hours of work compressed Butler offered another example from his administrative work at Bishop’s. The university has been comparing CEGEP courses with first-year Bishop’s courses to determine where students may qualify for advanced standing. Traditionally, Butler said, that means reviewing two sets of course descriptions and manually matching one institution’s courses with another’s. As department chair, that could require hours of reading and comparison. He said AI can now be given both sets of material and asked to generate an initial mapping automatically. “It saves me hours and hours of work,” Butler said. Butler said the AI-generated mapping can also produce a better result than he would produce himself. He sees similar opportunities in businesses. A company may receive specifications, drawings, emails or other digital material from customers and then have employees convert that information into an internal format before anything can be manufactured or delivered. AI can increasingly perform parts of that intermediate processing. In Butler’s view, the employee does not necessarily disappear. Instead, the job becomes more about checking the result. “The human is still there,” he said. Judgement could become more valuable That change is central to Butler’s view of where digital work may be headed. If AI can produce a first draft, write basic code, compare documents or process large amounts of information, he argues that knowledge and judgement become increasingly important. “The real scarce resource going forward is going to be domain knowledge, expertise, and… credentials, authority, the ability to work with other people,” Butler said. He is therefore encouraging students not only to learn AI tools but also to broaden their education. He mentioned acting, fine art and photography as examples of courses that can help develop what he described as taste and intuition — the ability to recognize what is good, what is not and what should be changed. “And that’s the skill that they need now because the grunt work has been automated and now it’s about evaluating what the AI produces and telling it how to improve or expand the output,” Butler said. That does not remove the need for technical knowledge. Butler’s argument is that the emphasis may shift away from manually completing every step of a task and toward directing, checking and improving work produced with AI assistance. He also stressed that humans remain responsible for final decisions. “At the end of the day, the human has to make the final call,” Butler said, pointing to the question of accountability. Physical work may be different Butler draws a distinction between digital work and jobs requiring people to manipulate the physical world. He expects AI to continue advancing quickly in tasks performed almost entirely on computers. He is more cautious about claims that humanoid robots will soon be able to replace workers such as plumbers or electricians. Butler said those trades would not be replaced “anytime soon” in his view and described some current robotics demonstrations as overhyped. He described the situation as counterintuitive. “It’s almost like we solved the highest level first,” he said, contrasting advances in digital AI with the harder problem of building robots capable of operating reliably in the physical world. Butler’s argument is that some digital occupations could face automation sooner than trades requiring complex physical work. The wider AI shift in the Townships Butler’s comments come as local institutions are increasingly grappling with how AI should be used. The federal government recently announced up to $162 million over five years for 10,000 AI-related placements through Mitacs. The Université de Sherbrooke told The Pulse that the number of its collaborative research and innovation projects supported through Mitacs has approximately doubled since 2018-19, while the number of placements has approximately tripled. UdeS also said it already has projects involving both AI adoption and the application of AI to other fields. At Bishop’s, Butler said part of his role involves building the Computer Science department’s local presence, connecting students with regional partners and strengthening relationships with the Sherbrooke technology ecosystem. Those developments put universities in a difficult position. They have to prepare students to use the tools employers increasingly have available while also making sure graduates understand enough to recognize when those tools are wrong, incomplete or being applied to the wrong problem. The risk of losing human skills Butler does not see AI as risk-free. Later in the interview, he raised a separate concern: as AI becomes better at reading, writing, programming and other cognitive tasks, people could lose some of the underlying skills that historically helped produce new ideas. “The other danger is that we’re going to lose the human skills,” Butler said. He specifically mentioned reading and writing and argued that people could lose some of the lower-level understanding that contributes to breakthroughs. Butler said AI systems are based on existing human knowledge and argued that they become much more powerful when paired with a capable person. That tension runs through his view of the technology. AI can remove hours of routine work. It can allow beginners to perform tasks that once required substantial technical training. It can give experienced workers significant leverage. But the more capable the technology becomes, the more important it may be for people to develop the judgement needed to decide what should be done in the first place. For Butler, that is where education may have to change. Students still need to understand their field. They still need to know when something is wrong. And they still need to be able to make the final decision. But if AI increasingly handles the bottom of the cognitive pyramid, the value of a worker may depend less on how quickly they can perform the grunt work and more on whether they understand what the work is supposed to accomplish. Don’t miss the next story that affects your community. Join thousands of readers getting The Pulse every morning—plus breaking news alerts when it matters most. If you value this kind of local journalism, consider supporting it. Subscribe, share and like! Subscribe Share
Rising costs, health insurance, abortion: The issues driving Michigan’s Senate election
A look at policy proposals from Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed and Republican nominee Mike Rogers.
Summit County Health Department to host free drive-thru vaccine clinics
The clinics will offer flu and COVID-19 vaccines to anyone, regardless of insurance status. No appointment is necessary, and residents can stay in their vehicles while they receive their vaccines.
ACA fraud crackdown removing 760,000 enrollees is squeezing health insurer profits
Shares of Centene, Molina, Elevance, and UnitedHealth have all fallen since Vice President JD Vance announced the removals last week
Sean McVay’s Comments About Call Raise Questions About NFL Policy
Discussions between teams and the NFL are not always treated as confidential.
Nursing home oversight lags, putting residents at risk
A recent KFF analysis of federal nursing home oversight found an association between short staffing and serious harm to residents.
'Everybody to Kenmure Street' review: Neighbors become activists
After two men were detained in a 2021 immigration raid, a swarm of concerned citizens made their voices heard in an incident that's grippingly reconstructed.
Trump bets big on ‘transactional politics’ in midterm sprint
President Donald Trump is leaning into transactional politics in the final month of the 2026 midterm campaign, tying his administration directly to economic benefits in states that could determine control of Congress. This week alone, Trump has promoted billions of dollars in proposed investments in Alaska and Iowa, redirected $20 million in Department of Homeland […]
The Oral Microbiome Trend Is Going Mainstream and the Science Behind It Is Compelling
Prebiotic toothpastes and microbiome rinses are going mainstream and dentists say the science backs them up.
Vance embodies Nixon’s populist, outsider qualities
There have been countless comparisons between the late President Richard Nixon and President Donald Trump, due to their cunning, guile, and Machiavellian approaches to politics. Nixon himself, in a 1987 letter to Trump, a then-celebrity businessman, saw a political future for the younger man in response to a Phil Donahue Show television appearance. But there’s […]
BC alum introduces students to the science of flavor and opportunities in culinary education
On Wednesday, Sept. 30, students at Bethlehem Central High School explored culinary education and the science of taste during a visit from BC alumnus Emily Crandall. Crandall, a 2017 BCHS graduate, works as an admissions counselor at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. Her classroom visit was arranged by Family … Continue reading "BC alum introduces students to the science of flavor and opportunities in culinary education"
Debt-saddled Argentina pitches 'golden passport' scheme to woo wealthy foreigners
Argentina is putting a price on citizenship as President Javier Milei searches for dollars to help the country meet its debts.
Rabies detected in Crook County bat prompts public health warning
Bend, Ore. (KTVZ) --- Crook County Public Health is advising residents to take precautions to protect their families and pets after rabies was recently detected in a local bat in Crook County, Ore. Health officials noted that rabies has been found in bats throughout the state, making awareness and preventive measures critical. Rabies is a
Warhorse COO wants GTA 6 to set a new $80 price standard for triple-A games
Warhorse’s Martin Klima hopes GTA 6’s $80 price point sets a precedent for triple-A games…
Two Brazilian political dynasties clash again
Brazilians vote Sunday in a tight race between two familiar political forces, with plenty at stake beyond the presidency. Here’s what to watch.
UT's $25 million health AI project has big ambitions and unanswered questions
Experts say only a few university health systems have launched such comprehensive plans around AI, with the potential to impact millions of patients, students and faculty.
QEst Hack Invites Participants to Test Quantum Algorithms on Real Business Problems
QEst Hack 2026 invites companies, students and researchers to test quantum algorithms on real business problems in Tallinn
Security Camera Health: How to Keep Cameras Performing
Improve security camera health with ongoing assessments that identify image issues, guide maintenance, and help keep video usable.
Against the Politics of Communal Fear
We can take antisemitism seriously without making communal identity the organizing principle of public life.
Against the Politics of Communal Fear
We can take antisemitism seriously without making communal identity the organizing principle of public life.
Europe agrees to release stocked diesel oil, Trump says
Europe has agreed to release a massive amount of diesel oil stocks, announced by US President Donald Trump, to address rising fuel prices ahead of US elections.
Political strategist breaks down Trump's midterm campaign blitz in deep red states
A strategist and communications consultant told Fox News Digital that President Donald Trump's midterm campaign stops in deep red states are being misconstrued by much of the media.
People on the Move: Andy Fenny Named President of Pace Life Sciences
Pace Life Sciences, the life sciences division of science and technology company Pace, has named Andrew (Andy) Fenny as its President. “Pace Life Sciences has…
Voter guide: Prop 134 asks Colorado voters to bar transgender student athletes from certain school sports
Here’s a closer look at Proposition 134, a measure that’s similar to a controversial 2025 executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
UT launches $25M healthcare AI initiative with few public details
Experts say only a few university health systems have launched such comprehensive plans around AI, with the potential to impact millions of patients, students and faculty.
More Americans are concerned about political corruption
89% of Americans believe government corruption is widespread, a Gallup poll found.
More Americans are concerned about political corruption
89% of Americans believe government corruption is widespread, a Gallup poll found.
Don’t trade your mental health to be the best
Columnist Sara Sayed emphasizes the importance of students taking advantage of mental health resources to manage academic stress.
Rural MAHA followers say Trump health policies haven't reached their communities
About half of rural voters identify with Make America Healthy Again, a sprawling political movement championed by the Trump administration, but most said President Donald Trump’s healthcare policies have not benefited their communities, according to a new poll from The Associated Press in partnership with KFF.
Maryland Democrats should reject gerrymandering and set a national precedent
Marylanders have a chance in November to turn the tide against one of the worst tactics in American politics.
Disappointing 29,000 jobs added in September as unemployment ticks up
Friday's jobs report is the last one that will come out before the Nov. 3 elections that will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republicans maintain full control of Congress.
'This Matters': Researchers Identify Thousands of New Tells in AI Writing
The days of freaking out over em dashes are over.
Rural MAHA followers say Trump hasn't improved health of their communities, an AP-KFF poll finds
A new poll from The Associated Press and KFF reveals that while approximately half of rural voters identify with the Make America Healthy Again movement, eight in ten believe the Trump administration's healthcare policies have failed to benefit their communities.
Paramount’s Warner Bros. megamerger will just be called Skydance
David Ellison doesn’t want a ‘new corporate identity’ to overshadow Warner Bros. and Paramount’s brands.
Trump is expected to name Jay Clayton as AI czar
President Donald Trump is expected to pick Jay Clayton to be the White House’s new czar of artificial intelligence, two sources familiar with the discussion told CNN.
A Decade After His First Presidential Run, Bernie Isn’t Alone
It’s a mark of the influence of Bernie Sanders’s first presidential campaign that the American political landscape before he ran looks unrecognizable now. Most of the hundreds of socialists who now ho...
Trump and Vance hit the campaign trail in deep-red areas
Trump traveled to Texas and Oklahoma and kicked off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
Trump and Vance hit the campaign trail in deep-red areas
Trump traveled to Texas and Oklahoma and kicked off what the president said will be a 32-day campaign blitz leading up to Nov. 3.
Prominent Team Owner Shares Leadership Lessons on the Future of Profes
Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, co-owner of the New York Giants and Gotham FC, joined President Jens Frederiksen, Ph.D., for the latest Sports Leadership Exchange Speaker Series, as part of the Frederiksen Fo
'A beacon to the world,' faculty and students mourn Academy of Natural Sciences' closure
The Academy of Natural Sciences has officially closed, ending a chapter in both Drexel University's and Philadelphia's history.
UW-Milwaukee helps student grow her love of science – and her confidence
After she graduated from UW-Milwaukee in May, Ally Ruffino moved to the Washington area to take a fellowship conducting research at the National Institutes of Health. She recently was riding the Metro train around the city when she had a realization about this new phase of her life. “I was sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, younger […]
NAMIWALKS bring QC together for mental health awareness
Residents across the Quad Cities are invited to join NAMIWalks Greater Mississippi Valley on Saturday, Oct. 10, to be a part of what is the nation’s largest mental health awareness event series. NAMIWalks is more than a walk – it’s a movement, organizers say. This year’s “Together We Are NAMIWalks” theme reflects the strength, connection […]
Opinion: UChicago’s growing gender imbalance deserves answers
A former UChicago admissions officer questions why the university is enrolling more male students when substantially more female students applied.
11,000+ Washington residents lose healthcare, food benefits
More than 11,000 Washington state residents are losing access to healthcare and food benefits today due to changes under the federal law known as H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Act.
Is Trump too focused on political content creators as midterms approach?
With Republicans deeply worried about the looming midterms, is President Trump focusing too much on politically obsessed content creators and consumers instead of ordinary voters? Join The Hill’s s…
South County Health becomes first health system in Rhode Island to join Mayo Clinic Care Network
South County Health (SCH) and Mayo Clinic today announced SCH has become the first healthcare organization in Rhode Island to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a select group of independent healthcare organizations carefully vetted by Mayo Clinic and granted special access to Mayo Clinic's knowledge, expertise and resources.
N.C. A&T Announces 2026 February One Scholars Cohort
N.C. A&T welcomes 16 February One Scholars, a distinguished group of students earning full four-year scholarships and honoring the legacy of the A&T Four.
Android malware can steal your PIN and bank logins
RatHat Android malware uses AI to steal banking credentials, intercept two-factor authentication codes and reconstruct your PIN from touch inputs.
How to find compromised passwords on iPhone and Android
Apple and Google password managers can flag compromised, weak and reused passwords on your phone before credential stuffing attacks can strike.
Free health services available in Canyon County today
Photo: Courtesy Hush Naidoo Jade Photography/Unsplash There’s a chance to get some free health services in Canyon County today. Molina Healthcare of Idaho, in partnership with Love Heals and Just Serve, is providing no-cost dental, vision, and medical services to community members in Canyon County today, October 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at […]
Rock Hill students run real businesses, build skills and fund scholarships
For students at Rock Hill High School, learning about the real world doesn’t always happen inside a traditional classroom.Two student-run businesses are giving
🗳️ It’s Bucks season| PA 2026 Newsletter
And why not everyone who wants Josh Shapiro for governor wants him to run for president.
How Anti-Corruption Politics Destroyed Brazil
Brazil’s upcoming election pits President Lula da Silva, eighty, against Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, forty-five. If he wins, Lula will serve a record fourth (non-consecutive) term.
Prairie Meadows HR vice president is voice for employees
Gina Vitiritto has spent her professional career as a confidante and advocate for the people of Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. What started as a seasonal waitressing job in her hometown of Altoona became a 32-year career in human resources. She worked in the clubhouse beginning in 1989 and joined the HR team in 1994. …
Crain’s event: UChicago president talks Chicago’s research-to-business challenge
The program is part of Crain’s Most Innovative Companies event, which will celebrate Chicago businesses that are using technology, strategy and new approaches to gain a competitive edge.
Hopkins Political Union encourages dialogue across differences
With support from the Student Blue Jay Dialogue Innovation Fund, which is currently accepting applications, groups like the Hopkins Political Union are promoting meaningful conversations on campus
Scientists could one day remove your bad memories. Here's how
Madeleine Finlay hears from Steve Ramirez, an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University, whose book How to Change a Memory was shortlisted for this year’s Royal Society Trivedi science book prize. He explains how scientists have been able to locate memories in the brains of rodents, trigger them artificially and even remove them, and reveals what the practical applications of this science could one day be for humans.
Flydubai flight FZ1073 passenger recounts incident, emergency landing
A passenger recounts the incident aboard Flydubai flight FZ1073 where a pilot was attacked, explaining how he kept his family calm mid-crisis.
As quantum’s presence grows on the southeast side, Chicago State University students eye future careers
Chicago State University staked its claim in quantum research nearly a decade ago, aiming to attract research and talent to the Southeast Side.
Wisconsin governor candidates offer opposing plans to address rising healthcare costs
Health insurance was the third highest ranking issue among voters, and outranked data centers, abortion, schools or crime.
Some new Medicaid rules have already changed: Why New Jersey officials and residents are worried about what happens next
Hundreds of thousands of Garden State residents covered by NJ FamilyCare will need to fill out paperwork on a new reporting schedule starting Jan. 1.
Dear SEC presidents: You're about to ruin college football for a payday
SEC leaders appear ready to expand the College Football Playoff to 24 teams, chasing revenue while risking the sport's best asset: its season.