Wokeness Comes for Google Gemini & Draft EPA Scientific Integrity Policy
Here's the latest dispatch.
Good afternoon,
For you newbies out there, welcome to Outsider on the Inside. I hope this dispatch from in and around the nation’s capital on underreported topics finds you well.
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Quick Thoughts of the Week
If you don’t already, follow IWF’s Center for Energy and Conservation (which I helm). We’re turning ONE next week on February 28th.
Announcing my first spring 2024 campus tour destinations and dates:
Georgia State College of Law - March 5th at 12pm ET | Atlanta, GA
Sam Houston State University - April 2nd at 4pm CT | Houston, TX
Pre-order my friend and IWF colleague Carrie Sheffield’s forthcoming memoir MOTORHOME PROPHECIES, out March 12th, 2024 and Riley Gaines’ book - Swimming Against the Current - on May 21, 2024.
My friend and former Young Voices colleague, Roy Mathews, has a good piece in RealClear Energy about two U.S. towns - Hibbing, MN and Cameron, LA - that are casualties of President Biden’s anti-fossil fuel energy agenda
Rabbits are the most “climate-friendly” pets, apparently.
Utah federal lawmakers are getting support from the National Park Service to return some federal lands near Antelope Island to the Beehive State.
No, the GOP won’t ban IVF in wake of an Alabama court ruling. C’mon!
That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for next Friday’s update!
Google Gemini Ignorant About Communism’s Horrors
Google Gemini became the laughing stock of America this week.
The artificial intelligence (AI) platform was mocked for producing ahistorical AI-generated images of non-white Vikings, Founding Fathers, and other erasure of history in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
A lot of critics attributed the mishaps to the program’s chief executor. The executive overseeing the product, Jack Krawczyk, was caught being a hypocritical white progressive who preaches the gospel of wokeness, as reported by The NY Post.
“White privilege is f—king real,” Krawczyk allegedly wrote in one tweet dated April 13, 2018, according to screenshots of the post circulating on X. “Don’t be an a—hole and act guilty about it – do your part in recognizing bias at all levels of egregious.”
On Jan. 20, 2021, Krawczyk allegedly referred to President Biden’s inaugural address as “one of the greatest ever” for “acknowledging systemic racism” and “reiterating the American ideal is the dream for the world but we need to work on ourselves to earn it.”
When I tinkered with Google Gemini and asked it to produce images showing the evils of communism, here’s how the app responded:
The response was so ridiculous, technologist Marc Andressen shared it and his good old, THE Elon Musk, responded to the ludicrous reply I got.
I explored the topic further on Instagram:
AI can be useful, despite being susceptible to biases like this. Regulation, however, would make AI more problematic.
EPA Draft Scientific Integrity Policy Puts DEI Ahead Of Science
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s proposed Scientific Integrity Draft Policy promises to base its science-based decisions on the best available science. Yet, it’s too greatly informed by flawed socially progressive platitudes.
The EPA says it must urgently enhance its “culture of scientific integrity.” How so? By factoring in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and indigenous knowledge.
The draft policy says DEI promotes a “strong culture of scientific inquiry” at the agency by “ensuring a professional environment that is safe, equitable, inclusive, and free from harassment.” The document adds that DEI is “integral to the scientific process, including the responsible and ethical conduct of research and other scientific activities.”
With respect to indigenous knowledge, the EPA pledges to consult Tribal Nations and indigenous peoples to “include Indigenous Knowledge in decision making” but said input won’t be factored into federal decision making “without first obtaining consent or communicating Federal abilities and limitations to protect Indigenous Knowledge from disclosure or re-use.”
…
As the Washington Free Beacon reported, it’s hard to consider indigenous knowledge as scientific inquiry with 600 federally recognized tribes in the U.S. boasting different interests, traditions, and religious beliefs. The report added anything could also qualify as indigenous knowledge if a Native person declares it. Native input on scientific integrity grounds was found to be non-consequential in Canada.
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—Gabriella