“True authority is not oppressiveness, and it is not control. Nor is it charisma or popularity. Authority is the socially granted right to be relied upon when the stakes matter. It is what allows us to place our bodies, our livelihoods, and our futures in the hands of others without fear.”

“The evidence indicating that our mental and emotional health are at historic lows is mounting. People are tired, burned out, and so focused on their smart phones that they can hardly notice the person standing next to them who’s had a difficult day and might feel a lot better if someone would just acknowledge her.”

“One can only wonder how many triggers are pulled on movie sets each year. But this one time, on this one day in New Mexico, a live cartridge was in the chamber, not a blank.”

“In assessing the impact that AI is having on various occupations, our systems of criminal and civil justice are no exception. In fact, the potential for AI to revolutionize how cases are evaluated, prepared, prosecuted, and defended is nothing short of mind-numbing. “

“The courts decide what is junk and what is not, in keeping with the relevant rules of evidence. Activists will do what they do, and so will scientists. But in considering the claims of activists committed to discarding long-standing, well-tested forensic methods, it is important to recognize that these activists are often not scientists, and when they are, rarely have any experience or training in forensic science.”

“Bias bullying, if you’ll excuse the provocation, is the systematic and unjustified deflating of people’s confidence by exaggerating the threat of their natural tendency to make assumptions about people, things, and situations. It is often directed at people and institutions that are perceived as having excessive power or prominence. The bullying might be very subtle and even couched in a deceptive effort to seem supportive, empowering, or rooted in scientific research. But the goal is to stop people in their tracks with an argument that cannot be won, which is that bias is part of the human condition and, therefore, human judgement is always in doubt, by default.”

“Mental modeling refers to a psychological process where individuals construct internal representations or “models” of the external world. Scottish psychologist Kenneth Craik wrote of mental models in his 1943 book “The Nature of Explanation,” where he proposed that the mind constructs “small-scale models” of reality that enable better forecasting, problem solving, and decision-making. Mental models are shaped by previous experiences, knowledge, cultural norms, and individual beliefs, to name a few.”