NOBODY’S OPINIONS | Robots and Communism – A Look at Our Future

A spectre is haunting America: the spectre of communism. In a world where more and more tasks are being automated, and more and more people are seeing the skills that separate them from the lower rungs of society reduced to a few lines of code on a computer, more and more people are starting to ask: what makes me more valuable to the company than the guy two floors down who makes half as much as I do? So let’s take a look at this issue: what separates a white collar worker from a blue collar worker, how that will change in the future, and what we can do about it as new social and labor classes emerge due to automation. Conventional wisdom tells us that some people are paid more than others because society values their skills more. This notion is pretty meaningless – it’s easy to talk about society and social structures, but who is really valuing their skills?

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | The Death of a Dream

Since Trump rescinded the DREAM Act a few days ago, a number of articles have appeared on the internet citing the extreme cruelty of his decision. Many of these articles make their point by showing a Hispanic male in their early 20s doing something admirable—graduating as Valedictorian from high school, saving people’s lives during Hurricane Harvey, researching a cure for cancer—and juxtaposing it with the inevitable fate Trump has forced upon them just to gain a few political points: being deported to a country they have never known. While all DREAMers are skilled workers with no criminal record who have little memory of their country of origin, in many respects this picture is highly inaccurate. It exemplifies the tendency of our media to make its readers complacent by not painting an issue with stark, clear strokes, but rather a blurry impressionism that elicits emotion rather than a logical response. In this article, I will explain why Trump’s rescission of the DREAM Act is significantly more damaging to the soul of this nation than the media would have you believe, by repudiating these headlines piece by piece.

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 2)

For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on why gaming may or may not be viable as a college sport. Part 1 of this interview can be read here.  

One thing I want to touch on a little bit is how collegiate sports is developing. Blizzard is really pushing TESPA (Collegiate eSports) pretty hard.

OFFICE HOURS | Professor Walker White Discusses eSports and Gaming (Part 1)

For our first installment of “Office Hours,” a series of interviews with prominent personalities on Cornell’s campus, Sunspots writer Bruno Avritzer sat down for a chat with Computer Science Professor Walker White, Director of the Cornell Game Design Initiative. In the interview below, which has been edited for clarity, White shares his thoughts on the global popularity of eSports, their potential as spectator sports and comparisons between certain video games and sports like football.  

So the first thing I wanted to ask you is about your opinions on eSports, the phenomenon. Why is it sort of limited in the USA, compared to Europe or Korea? I think some of it is just the cultural acceptability of it.

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | Alternative Trump

Most people probably think at this point that Trump is not very competent. It certainly seems to be a reasonable conclusion, considering the non-stop flow of fiascos – Muslim ban, Jeff Sessions, now the Obama wiretap tweets – all in his first month or so. Now, I’m not saying Trump isn’t stupid, but I’d like to consider an alternative: that Trump is in fact extremely competent, that his staff is competent and that they are all in league with Putin. Let’s see how well this theory holds up to stress. I mean, for me it’s hard to totally dismiss the Trump team after they managed to win the general election with no pre-existing reputation in politics (outside the birther movement).

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | THE REAL MEANING OF TRUMP’S MUSLIM BAN

A few weeks ago, I could’ve woken up without seeing something totally insane in my news feed when I checked Facebook in the morning. “Donald Trump suddenly and without warning implements Muslim Ban, causing massive backlash worldwide.” “Eric Trump has a suspiciously high secret service bill.” “Sarah Silverman advocates military revolt against the presidency.” Honestly, though, the most surprising and annoying thing about the last one is that it’s news. Why is it important? It’s obviously not realistic, and it’s not profound, and yet somehow people still care. It’s one of those rare and paradoxical instances where caring about something shows you’re NOT actually taking it seriously (I hope).

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | Things Kellyanne Conway Will Say in the Next 4 Years

“No, Donald Trump’s pledge of allegiance to Putin does not disqualify him from being President, and the fact that you would even suggest that, Anderson, is just another example of this media bias that we see all the time now.”

“I think Justin Bieber is the best alternative rock musician, period.”

“No one really cares about Trump’s Muslim registry besides the press, so we’re just going to go ahead and do it.” “Mr. Trump has nominated me today to be his new Secretary of Propaganda. Despite vocal opposition from Marco Rubio, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, we’re pretty sure they’re all going to vote for it anyway.” “General Mattis, execute Executive Order 66.”

“Apple pie is one of the most overrated pies in America. Frankly, it is undeserving of an Oscar and the fact that it is even being considered for one reflects such massive media bias.

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | OBSERVATIONS OF THE WEEK

When considering what to write about this week, I realized that I haven’t really lived up to my promise of providing “highly varied content” – not that anyone cares, but I would feel bad only writing articles related to the election all semester, no matter how much it reflects the current news cycle. Instead, here is a collection of things I thought about this week, which you may or may not find interesting. First, I still have no idea what to make of Donald Trump. He did some serious backpedaling and also looks to be considering Mitt Romney for a highly important post – Secretary of State. This is a man who has denounced Trump at every possible turn and called him a fraud, but is now seeking to reconcile and has apparently been forgiven, at least to some degree.

NOBODY’S OPINIONS | Fallout

In the wake of this week’s election results (and it really does seem like a literal wake), the American people experience at this moment an unprecedented and unsettling division. There are calls for revolution and for resolution, for peaceful protest and property damage, for faithless electors and for faith in the decision made by the citizens of our great nation. These are indeed trying times, when no one knows the truth from lies. This Tuesday, I too was shocked and uncomprehending, but it is important that as we move forward we create a compelling narrative to explain all that has happened since the cycle began in 2015. This means addressing all of the arguments circulating on social media, and that is what I will do here.