Eyes Here: Weekend Reads From the Opinion Section

_____

How Lies Spread Online

Researchers analyzed the diffusion of all of the major true and false stories that spread on Twitter from its inception in 2006 to 2017. Disturbingly, they found that false stories spread significantly more than did true ones. Read a report from the researchers, featured in the “Gray Matter” column from Sunday Review.

_____

Photo

Making Artificial Intelligence That’s Good for People

Reconnecting A.I. with fields like cognitive science, psychology and even sociology will give us a far richer foundation on which to base the development of machine intelligence, writes Fei-Fei Li, the director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab.

_____

Photo

How a Bad Law and a Big Mistake Drove My Mentally Ill Son Away

Since the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., officials have been calling for changes in how we handle people with mental health problems. Norman J. Ornstein wrote about his painful experience trying to get help for his son, advocating for both gun reform laws and better resources for the mental health system.

_____

Photo

What Will Trump Give Up for Peace with North Korea?

The North Korean regime never gives anything away for free, writes Victor Cha, an expert once under consideration to serve President Trump as ambassador to South Korea.

_____

Photo

I Was Assaulted. He Was Applauded.

Jules Woodson says she was 17 when her youth pastor, Andy Savage, sexually assaulted her. In an Op-Ed video, she offers commentary while viewing Mr. Savage’s apology to his mega-congregation for what he calls a “sexual incident.” He received a standing ovation.

_____

Photo

The Mexican Directors Who Conquered Hollywood

The remarkable successes of these directors — and the ways in which they’ve made their heritage part of more-universal movies — is a reminder of how ethnic and cultural diversity can enrich the movie industry. By Ioan Grillo, a contributing writer.

_____

Photo

Why Are We Surprised When Buddhists Are Violent?

How, many wonder, could a Buddhist society — especially Buddhist monks! — have anything to do with something so monstrously violent as the ethnic cleansing now being perpetrated on Myanmar’s long-beleaguered Rohingya minority? Even if we suppose that most Buddhists, or members of any other religious group, really do hold beliefs that are pacifist and tolerant, we have no reason to expect that they will really be pacifist and tolerant. From The Stone series on philosophy.

_____

And I will close with a message from a reader:

Photo

Fix My Face? Sorry, No

“In some societies the elderly are revered. I don’t wish to be revered, only to be accepted as I am, for who I am, an 88-year-old woman who holds the wisdom of her years and looks it.”

(Right there with you, Betty.)

Continue reading the main story