Category: Policy

With my tin foil hat on

I am suggesting that there are sets of affinities that encourage people and their friends, firms, institutions, communities, governments and enterprises to act in certain ways. Blackboard provided a means towards control of the curriculum should someone want to. The patent application was, possibly, late dot-com chutzpah. Its subsequent deployment strikes me as strategic and in line with neoconservative affinities. Evidently, today in the deep winter of 2025.

Zombie Apocalypse

It occurs to me that a zombie apocalypse may be the outcome of AI development. You could say that AI IS the zombie apocalypse. Since Dawn of the Dead, zombies have eaten brains. This seems an apt metaphor for what generative AI using large language models is doing. Machine reading as much of the world's … Continue reading Zombie Apocalypse

For a new left?

An idea central to my "political philosophy" these days is that Marxism and neoliberalism, while considered antitheses, each grows from European Enlightenment thinking where hierarchy and teleology are both values and organising principles (principles encode values). Each strives to "better" the world through arranging things in orders and directions. "Growth" in wealth is a common … Continue reading For a new left?

The war machine’s greed

George Monbiot was speaking over Al's shoulder, of the vandals who are wrecking the earth, and spoke of the energy industries, water and other extractive activities. But I didn't hear him name the "war machine", the defense and security industry, the military-industrial complex or the fin-tech infosys sustaining it all. When the masses are happy … Continue reading The war machine’s greed

Teachers professional development as an NSS action?

I read our recently issued NSS action table in the context of preparation guidance for staff annual Performance and Development Review (PDR): For academic and other student facing staff, are they adhering to the Brookes Charter (Regulation E3) and the 8 NSS Principles. One of the NSS actions (dressed up as principles) and echoing the UK PFS … Continue reading Teachers professional development as an NSS action?

Where risk lies for HEIs: the conflation of regulation, reputation and enhancement

I had a conversation with our head of QA about the consultations current in HE regulation. Her pragmatic approach is refreshing. I thought I might share the gist of my side of the conversation. I am working through documents at a more leisurely pace than the folk at Wonkhe. And I did read David kernohan's  A game of … Continue reading Where risk lies for HEIs: the conflation of regulation, reputation and enhancement

Pay gaps, gender gaps and other crap

Money is power. More particularly, money is patriarchal power. Now here is the rub. If you use the powerful's form of power to overthrow the current power, you simply replicate power as it is. You do not transform it. OK, it is a little more complicated, but that is about it. If you use hierarchised … Continue reading Pay gaps, gender gaps and other crap