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PURPLE COWS, CABANAC AND THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date August 26, 2024
 * Categories In Politics



A quick recap for those who aren’t following South African politics: we had an
election this year, and the governing party (the ANC) did poorly enough that
they were forced to join a tetchy, but so far steady, coalition (a term used
loosely) with the DA and (many) other parties.

Continue reading “Purple cows, Cabanac and the Democratic Alliance”


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UCT AND THE PROPOSED ACADEMIC BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date March 10, 2024
 * Categories In Academia and teaching, Daily Maverick

(Photo: Adrian Frith, CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed)

As published in Daily Maverick, 10 March 2024

The University of Cape Town’s Senate convened on February 23 for a regular
meeting, where the agenda included three separate motions calling for one or
more of a range of responses to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. None of the three
motions could be voted on that day following a loss of quorum before any of the
motions could be tabled.

Continue reading “UCT and the proposed academic boycott of Israel”


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LIBERAL DEMOCRACY: ROETS, VEGTER AND VAN STADEN

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date June 27, 2023
 * Categories In Politics

Harriet Taylor Mill
https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/los-feminismos-a-traves-de-la-historia-las-tres-olas

At this point in civilisation’s collapse, I’m tempted to celebrate any attempt
to talk about ideas in political and moral theory that are of universal
interest. Simultaneously, though, a concern regarding how low my own standards
might have sunk leaps out from the idealistic fog.

The topic provoking that thought is something discussed in a recent set of
columns in PoliticsWeb and DailyFriend, where Ernst Roets, Ivo Vegter and Martin
van Staden debate what liberalism means, in respect of themes such as whether it
can accommodate consequences such as negative impacts on individual liberty.

The concern arising from these columns is less that of the dearth of serious
critical engagement, but more the prevalence of think-pieces that contribute to
stupidity, or at least to filter bubble-driven entrenched views.

Continue reading “Liberal democracy: Roets, Vegter and van Staden”


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VALE, EUSEBIUS MCKAISER

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date May 30, 2023
 * Categories In Headspace, People



Just a few hours after Eusebius McKaiser posted a recommendation to his social
media networks, encouraging everyone to listen to Musa Motha, we learn that he
has died at the age of 45.

His death was sudden, with no forewarning, and it was apparently an epileptic
seizure that took him down. My deepest condolences to Nduduzo, and of course
also all the other members of his intimate circle, that I never got to meet.

Continue reading “Vale, Eusebius McKaiser”


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CURRENTS AND UNDERTOADS

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date May 26, 2023
 * Categories In Headspace, Morality, People



Things have been rather adrift for some time, for many of us. Obviously Covid-19
for all of us, and then everyone’s other stuff – perhaps the same as before or
perhaps changed, but always at least complicating the lives of the person
dealing with their particular version of a life.

My novel story (as in “a new thing that one is dealing with”, also sometimes an
escalation of an old thing) involves the last few years at the University of
Cape Town, which has been in the news of late, for the same reasons spoken of in
said news. As you’d expect.

Continue reading “Currents and undertoads”


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FURTHER NOTES ON OPENAI AND CHATGPT

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date February 1, 2023
 * Categories In Academia and teaching, Headspace



Continuing with the theme of my previous post (on higher education and OpenAI),
John Maytham invited me join him in discussion on CapeTalk to explore some of
the implications of these AI tools for student assessment and the educational
project. The audio on my side was not great, but it’s certainly audible, and the
podcast is available here.

In any event, here’s a more structured version of what I said, and wanted to
say. In his introduction, John referred to the comments made by other guests
he’s had on the show, including by some friends of mine, but those contributions
seem to have largely been focused on the implications of ChatGPT/OpenAI on human
creativity, how it is identified (in light of these plausible simulacra), and
the implications of that for culture.

Continue reading “Further notes on OpenAI and ChatGPT”


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THE OPENAI CHATBOT AND THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date December 17, 2022
 * Categories In Academia and teaching



There are many obvious ways to cheat in large (typically 1000+ students)
undergraduate classes such as mine, and one of the frustrations one often has to
deal with is the fact that while it might be easy to see — and to be relatively
certain — that a student has committed academic dishonesty, it’s not always easy
to prove that they have done so.

Continue reading “The OpenAI chatbot and the future of higher education”


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EPISTEMIC EXUBERANCE AT THE DINNER TABLE

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date August 26, 2022
 * Categories In Morality



(This is the accepted manuscript of a recently published paper in Gastronomica:
The Journal for Food Studies 22 (3), DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1525/gfc.2022.22.3.78 | Image credit: Rachel Park via
Unsplash.)

In “The ‘worst dinner guest ever’: On ‘gut issues’ and epistemic injustice at
the dinner table” (Dean, 2022), Dr Megan Dean raises a number of provocative
questions regarding not only the epistemic status of claims that eaters make
regarding what they should (or can) eat or not eat, but also, regarding the
moral and social obligations we should be cognisant of when inviting others to
join our dinner tables in cases where they make claims relating to sensitivity,
intolerance, or allergic reactions to certain foods.

Continue reading “Epistemic exuberance at the dinner table”


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VACCINE MANDATES, PERSONAL FREEDOM AND PUBLIC HEALTH

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date January 24, 2022
 * Categories In Morality, Science



A disclosure right up front, namely that I’m a member of the UCT Covid -19
Vaccine Mandate Panel, which is currently seeking comment on the draft vaccine
mandate policy that we have drafted. (And, it’s no doubt also relevant that I’m
a member of UCT’s Council, which will have to approve the final conditions of
any mandate the panel proposes.)

Continue reading “Vaccine mandates, personal freedom and public health”


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CHALLENGES TO SCIENCE COMMUNICATION IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD

 * Post author By Jacques Rousseau
 * Post date November 30, 2021
 * Categories In Science, Skepticism



This is an original manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in
Communicatio on November 8, 2021, available online here: Challenges to Science
Communication in a Post-Truth World.


INTRODUCTION

Communicating scientific research to a lay audience – or, for that matter,
communicating any contestable or potentially controversial ideas in areas such
as politics or policy – would be a significantly easier task if the audience
agreed on what the relevant facts are, and also on the extent to which the facts
are even relevant (rather than facts being regarded as of secondary importance
to political or pragmatic interests).

The first issue (“what are the facts?”) is an empirical matter, and one which
reasonable people can disagree on in situations of uncertainty or incomplete
knowledge. The second issue is of more concern when communicating complex or
possibly controversial ideas, particularly in light of the increased
polarisation of opinion in public discourse, alongside an increasingly
widespread mistrust of mainstream media and “authorities” in general.

Continue reading “Challenges to science communication in a post-truth World”


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