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read about language, consciousness, and AI!

We still do not know the exact role that language plays in consciousness, freelance journalist John Last argues [[link removed]] in Noema. And artificial intelligence is yet another piece in this puzzle we’ve yet to complete.

“In the past few years, large language models (LLMs) have spontaneously developed unnerving abilities to mimic the human mind, threatening to disrupt the tenuous moral universe we have established on the basis of our elevated consciousness, one made possible by the power of our language to reflect the hidden inner workings of our brains,” writes Last, who then raises a question: “Can consciousness really develop from language alone?”

Last walks the reader through what is meant by consciousness (“a notoriously slippery term”) and the philosophical debates around the concept, explaining that where “we fall in this debate has major consequences for how we approach the question of whether an LLM could, in fact, be conscious.” Last then turns to “consequences of a life without language” — and, on the other hand, of increasingly sophisticated large language models. Last does not offer conclusions, per se, but does note that “LLMs may well someday offer our first experience of a kind of superintelligence — or at least, with their unfathomable memories and infinite lifespans, a very different kind of intelligence that can rival our own mental powers.”

Conversation on Kashmir

Jewish Currents has a conversation [[link removed]] between Deeksha Udupa and Hafsa Kanjwal, author of Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building Under Indian Occupation “about the way formerly colonized countries can also act as colonizers, the efforts of Hindu nationalists to erase Kashmir’s Muslim histories, and the parallels between the Palestinian and Kashmiri anti-colonial struggles.”

For context, in 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government announced the repeal of Article 370, which had granted Kashmir special status and some degree of autonomy. The move was, per Udupa, “understood by critics as an act of annexation.” Since then, per Udupa, repression in Kashmir has “reached new heights,” “with frequent and arbitrary detention of critics, repeated raids on news organizations, sweeping travel bans, and a growing number of extrajudicial killings.”

The interview itself includes reframing our understanding of colonialism; an overlooked period in the history of Kashmir; how economic dependency is created under the guise of economic development; and the power of the press in regime consolidation. They also discuss Kashmir in the project of Hindu nationalism. “In the image of the goddess that Hindu nationalists impose upon the map of the territory that they define as ‘India,’ Kashmir is the head,” says Kanjwal. “So Hindutva supporters have always been unhappy with the autonomy that the Indian government has given to Kashmir; from day one, they’ve wanted Kashmir to be fully integrated into India.” Kanjwal explains that treating Muslims as foreigners is integral to this project, arguing, “This is the history that Hindutva followers have papered over in order to support their political project.”

FORWARD TO A FRIEND [[link removed]] Soccer sounds

Over on Africa Is a Country, Maher Mezahi has put together [[link removed]] a journey of African soccer (otherwise known as “football”) through songs to mark the Africa Cup of Nations, or AFCON. “Music and African football have always been inextricably linked,” Mezahi writes. “It’s not just the players that punctuate the rhythm of play with dance, at times the terraces at Cup of Nations tournaments can turn into impromptu flash mobs.”

Mezahi includes songs from Cote d’Ivoire to Algeria, from Ghana to Egypt, and the musical samplings span decades: there’s a “Soul Makossa,” by Cameroon’s Manu Dibango in 1972, but there are also more recent hits, like Hamada Helal’s “Amalouha Regala.”

There’s also “Fimbu,” a Congolese number. “There is perhaps no song or dance more synonymous with the African Cup of Nations than Felix Wazekwa’s ‘Fimbu,’” Mezahi writes. “What makes ‘Fimbu’ fun is that it is not necessarily the song itself, but rather its famous dance.” There is, of course, a video at the link.

FORWARD TO A FRIEND [[link removed]] DEEP DIVE Fight, Flight, Recovery, Resilience

In a new paper [[link removed]], Ermela Gianna looked at what she positions as a missed opportunity for the European Parliament. During the COVID-19 crisis, she writes, the EP “had an opportunity to shape Europe’s economic recovery and strengthen its institutional prerogatives through the establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)” — but failed to assert itself as a budgetary authority, which Gianna deems a key element in democratic governance, during the RRF process.

Gianna thus sets out to explain “the EP’s failure to maximize its budgetary powers and argues that the urgency of the crisis and the strategic use of norm-based arguments inadvertently undermined its bargaining position” in the paper. Published in the Journal of European Public Policy, the paper is titled "Fight of flight? Explaining the role of the European Parliament in the establishment of the Recovery and Resilience Facility." She based her research on documentary analysis and also on 14 semi-structured interviews with European Union stakeholders.

Gianna begins by explaining the historical empowerment of the EP, which she believes “can be attributed to a two-level game, as explained by two different accounts: institutional bargaining theory and normative institutionalist theory.” Gianna also notes that while member institutions can advocate for the EP, the EP is also the EU’s only directly elected institution, enabling it to use normative arguments to push for greater power.

Gianna then unpacks her methodology, which she describes as most closely resembling that of a case study. The formal documents she analyzed “included the Commission’s proposal for the RRF, the EP’s report, the Council’s mandate for negotiations, and the interinstitutional negotiation records outlining the positions of all three institutions during the RRF negotiations” as well as “the EP press releases and the plenary debates that focused specifically on the RRF. This approach allowed me to consider essential issues, potential concessions and gains that were identified in the preliminary stage.”

Between June 2021 and March 2022, she conducted 14 interviews spanning 30 minutes each. Each of the interviewees "represented diverse institutional affiliations," among them the EP, the European Council, and the European Commission.

It was from this that Gianna was able to look at what the EP got and gave up in the RRF process, ultimately concluding that “while the institutional gains made by the EP in the context of the RRF may enhance transparency and communication they do not hold the same weight as the tangible influence that accompanies budgetary authority.” Gianna chalks this up in part to “impatience” on the part of the EP, but also to “rhetorical action and the EP’s entanglement in it,” as “the EP would be easily exposed for inconsistent behavior and shamed for opportunism.”

Gianna concludes by looking at the long-term relevance of the EP’s inability to push for greater institutional power — and how its future power may hinge on whether the EP is able to to use the soft accountability powers that it did achieve. “After all,” she writes, “the value of any power is only as good as its application.”

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FORWARD TO A FRIEND [[link removed]] SHOW US THE RECEIPTS

Alexander Langlois wrote [[link removed]] that Congress is failing to hold Israel accountable on human rights. Langlois placed a recent US Senate vote against a resolution proposed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders that would have required a report from the US government on Israel’s war in a broader context. “One can be excused for confusing a rare Congressional push to hold the executive branch accountable with radicalism given that it rarely happens today,” he wrote. “But this push was hardly a radical concept.” Enforcing US law, he added, is “not radical.”

Asfandyar Mir examined [[link removed]] recent strikes from Iran into Pakistan, and the tensions they revealed about this “generally peaceful” border. “Since the revolution in Iran in 1979, ties between Iran and Pakistan have been functional, and in periods warm, but ultimately not particularly strong,” Mir explained. But “the current standoff will deepen the divisions that have existed in the bilateral relationship.” Mir also delved into Iran’s logic and Pakistan's plan, ultimately concluding with implications for US policy, and why a “basic diagnosis” makes clear that there exists a “ceiling” on US-Pakistan cooperation regarding Iran.

Chris Harland-Dunaway presented [[link removed]] the fractures in Israel’s “war cabinet,” which are deepening as pressure to bring the Israeli hostages in Gaza home increases. Gadi Eisenkot, one of three people whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought into the war cabinet from outside his own party, has criticized “Netanyahu’s strategy and neglect of the hostage issue.” “The relatives of the remaining 100 plus hostages have become a powerful pressure group in Israel. They're fearful that the Israeli authorities are not doing enough to bring them home. Last month, Israeli troops accidentally shot and killed three hostages in Gaza,” Harland-Dunaway explained. The piece also includes an interview by Carolyn Beeler Ehud Eiran, a former foreign policy aide to past Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

FORWARD TO A FRIEND [[link removed]] WELL-PLAYED

Hey, Mr. DJ, won’t you turn the music [[link removed]] up.

Don’t stop believing [[link removed]].

Vive les street names [[link removed]].

This is not what the doctor ordered [[link removed]].

Cheers [[link removed]]!

In loving memory [[link removed]] of Norman Jewison.

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Critical State is written by Emily Tamkin with Inkstick Media.

The World is a weekday public radio show and podcast on global issues, news and insights from PRX and GBH.

With an online magazine and podcast featuring a diversity of expert voices, Inkstick Media is “foreign policy for the rest of us.”

Critical State is made possible in part by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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