We’ve all been living in a state of permanent crisis, a “permacrisis” if you will, according to lexicographers at the U.K.-based Collins Dictionary who have anointed it the word of the year for 2022. The portmanteau describes the feeling of “living through [a] period of war, inflation, and political instability,” and “sums up quite succinctly just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “Permacrisis,” which is defined as “an extended period of instability and insecurity” by the publisher, is one of a handful of words relating to the challenges posed by climate change, the war in Europe, a cost-of-living crisis and, in many quarters, political chaos. It was first used in academic contexts in the 1970s, according to Collins, but has seen a spike in use in recent months.
Adela Suliman
More articles
Oct
10
2023
‘I couldn’t believe the data’: how thinking in a foreign language improves decision-making
Research shows people who speak another language are more utilitarian and flexible, less risk-averse and egotistical, and better able to cope with traumatic...
May
01
2023
The Desert of the Anthropocene: An ongoing installation from artist Ravi Agarwal
The long engagement is a part of an ongoing investigation into the current state of the nature, both as a crisis which traverses a political realm, but also a cultural...
Apr
20
2023
The surprising thing A.I. engineers will tell you if you let them
by Ezra Klein, The New York Times…This is an example of “alignment risk,” the danger that what we want the systems to do and what they will actually do could...
Apr
15
2023
This changes everything
In a 2022 survey, A.I. experts were asked, “What probability do you put on human inability to control future advanced A.I. systems causing human extinction or similarly...
Apr
15
2023
Regular old intelligence is sufficient–even lovely
Precisely twenty years ago, I published a book called “Enough” that outlined my fears about artificial intelligence and its companion technologies like advanced...
Apr
13
2023
Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the future of our world for the SXSW23 Wonder House
Q&A with Noam Chomsky about the Future of our world. We asked Noam Chomsky about the future of our world, our systems of government and power and our need to come...
Apr
13
2023
Elon Musk and others call for pause on A.I., citing ‘profound risks to society’
More than 1,000 tech leaders, researchers and others signed an open letter urging a moratorium on the development of the most powerful artificial intelligence...
Apr
12
2023
The age of AI has begun
Artificial intelligence is as revolutionary as mobile phones and the Internet.
Apr
12
2023
Our new promethean moment
To observe an A.I. system — its software, microchips and connectivity — produce that level of originality in multiple languages in just seconds each time, well, the...