Humanitarian Unknown 047.
1. Ur-Fascism.
Connecting the dots yet?
By Umberto Eco.
2. Pope Urges Vigilance Over AI at World Economic Forum
I had to include this because of the title. Moving on.
3. Why is African Teen Fertility So High?
"Teenage fertility has fallen globally. Yet one region bucks the trend. Why is teen fertility still high in Sub-Saharan Africa, and what does it mean for women?"
Comprehensive findings from Alice Evans .
4. Syria Needs a Strong Society, Not a Strongman
"The Islamism vs. secularism debate misses the point — the real struggle for the post-Assad state is democracy vs. authoritarianism."
From Robin Yassin-Kassab.
5. What a Big Experiment Giving Money to Parents Reveals
"In 2018, a remarkable experiment was launched called Baby’s First Years, studying young children in the US. The main question it asked was simple: What does giving $4,000 a year, unrestricted, to families with young kids do for them?"
Dylan Matthews investigates.
6. The Global Struggle Over How to Regulate AI
"Big AI companies have come out hard against comprehensive regulatory efforts in the West — but are receiving a warm welcome from leaders in many other countries."
From Katie McQue Laís Martins Ananya Bhattacharya and Carien du Plessis, including dispatches from India, Brazil, and South Africa.
7. Why DeepSeek Is a Gift to the American People
Whoever controls AI will control the answers to questions like: What happened on June 4, 1989? How many genders are there? Did Covid-19 lockdowns work? What’s happening in Israel?
From Alastair (Alex) Rampell .