North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?
?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?
US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty
Anti-Empire >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Fraud and mismanagement at University College Cork Thu Aug 28, 2025 18:30 | Calli Morganite
UCC has paid huge sums to a criminal professor
This story is not for republication. I bear responsibility for the things I write. I have read the guidelines and understand that I must not write anything untrue, and I won't.
This is a public interest story about a complete failure of governance and management at UCC.
Deliberate Design Flaw In ChatGPT-5 Sun Aug 17, 2025 08:04 | Mind Agent
Socratic Dialog Between ChatGPT-5 and Mind Agent Reveals Fatal and Deliberate 'Design by Construction' Flaw
This design flaw in ChatGPT-5's default epistemic mode subverts what the much touted ChatGPT-5 can do... so long as the flaw is not tickled, any usage should be fine---The epistemological question is: how would anyone in the public, includes you reading this (since no one is all knowing), in an unfamiliar domain know whether or not the flaw has been tickled when seeking information or understanding of a domain without prior knowledge of that domain???!
This analysis is a pretty unique and significant contribution to the space of empirical evaluation of LLMs that exist in AI public world... at least thus far, as far as I am aware! For what it's worth--as if anyone in the ChatGPT universe cares as they pile up on using the "PhD level scholar in your pocket".
According to GPT-5, and according to my tests, this flaw exists in all LLMs... What is revealing is the deduction GPT-5 made: Why ?design choice? starts looking like ?deliberate flaw?.
People are paying $200 a month to not just ChatGPT, but all major LLMs have similar Pro pricing! I bet they, like the normal user of free ChatGPT, stay in LLM's default mode where the flaw manifests itself. As it did in this evaluation.
AI Reach: Gemini Reasoning Question of God Sat Aug 02, 2025 20:00 | Mind Agent
Evaluating Semantic Reasoning Capability of AI Chatbot on Ontologically Deep Abstract (bias neutral) Thought
I have been evaluating AI Chatbot agents for their epistemic limits over the past two months, and have tested all major AI Agents, ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Perplexity, and DeepSeek, for their epistemic limits and their negative impact as information gate-keepers.... Today I decided to test for how AI could be the boon for humanity in other positive areas, such as in completely abstract realms, such as metaphysical thought. Meaning, I wanted to test the LLMs for Positives beyond what most researchers benchmark these for, or have expressed in the approx. 2500 Turing tests in Humanity?s Last Exam.. And I chose as my first candidate, Google DeepMind's Gemini as I had not evaluated it before on anything.
Israeli Human Rights Group B'Tselem finally Admits It is Genocide releasing Our Genocide report Fri Aug 01, 2025 23:54 | 1 of indy
We have all known it for over 2 years that it is a genocide in Gaza
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has finally admitted what everyone else outside Israel has known for two years is that the Israeli state is carrying out a genocide in Gaza
Western governments like the USA are complicit in it as they have been supplying the huge bombs and missiles used by Israel and dropped on innocent civilians in Gaza. One phone call from the USA regime could have ended it at any point. However many other countries are complicity with their tacit approval and neighboring Arab countries have been pretty spinless too in their support
With the release of this report titled: Our Genocide -there is a good chance this will make it okay for more people within Israel itself to speak out and do something about it despite the fact that many there are actually in support of the Gaza
China?s CITY WIDE CASH SEIZURES Begin ? ATMs Frozen, Digital Yuan FORCED Overnight Wed Jul 30, 2025 21:40 | 1 of indy
This story is unverified but it is very instructive of what will happen when cash is removed
THIS STORY IS UNVERIFIED BUT PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT AS IT GIVES AN VERY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT A CASHLESS SOCIETY WILL LOOK LIKE. And it ain't pretty
A single video report has come out of China claiming China's biggest cities are now cashless, not by choice, but by force. The report goes on to claim ATMs have gone dark, vaults are being emptied. And overnight (July 20 into 21), the digital yuan is the only currency allowed.
The Saker >>
Teenagers Must Be Warned About the Dystopia Being Built Around Them Thu Oct 09, 2025 19:00 | Mike Fairclough
Mike Fairclough was a nationally feted headteacher before he was cancelled during Covid for speaking out against the tyranny. Now he has written a novel to warn teens about the dystopian world being built around them.
The post Teenagers Must Be Warned About the Dystopia Being Built Around Them appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Italy to Ban Burka Thu Oct 09, 2025 17:00 | Will Jones
Italy is to ban the burka as part of new legislation against "Islamic separatism" that includes strengthening penalties for forced marriages and stricter financial regulation of Muslim organisations.
The post Italy to Ban Burka appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Great Reverse Ferret is Underway Thu Oct 09, 2025 15:05 | Joanna Gray
It's the season for the reverse ferret, the narrative whiplash ? call it what you will, but everyone seems to be at it, says Joanna Gray. As the recantations roll in, how do we avoid making the same mistakes again?
The post The Great Reverse Ferret is Underway appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Children to Be Able to Choose Their Own ?Gender? at Any Age Under New EU Rules Thu Oct 09, 2025 13:18 | Will Jones
Children will be able to choose their own?'gender'?at any age under new EU rules set to be imposed across the continent with penalties for countries that refuse to comply.
The post Children to Be Able to Choose Their Own ‘Gender’ at Any Age Under New EU Rules appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Gaza Ceasefire Will Begin Tonight, Israel Announces Thu Oct 09, 2025 11:13 | Will Jones
A ceasefire in Gaza will come into effect this evening ahead of the release of the remaining hostages after the first?stage of a peace agreement was signed by Israel and Hamas this morning.
The post Gaza Ceasefire Will Begin Tonight, Israel Announces appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en
Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en
The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en
Voltaire Network >>
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Comments (14 of 14)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14Yikes - I thought I had experienced a timeslip there and that we were back around 1989!
Horrendous to think that in this day and age college authorities engage in this level of ridiculous - and totally pointless - censorship.
Best of luck to the UCC Pro Choice Society!
I am one of the founder members of the Cork Family Planning Clinic, and it is amazing that, more than thirty years later, we still do not have free and open availability of contraceptives, nor has the government legislated for abortion (legal in certain circumstances, but still without guidelines in the form of legislation).
This decision by UCC Societies Guild is bizarre. It is unacceptable that they would say "the issue" is covered by other Societies in debate, and deeply insulting to students and others like me that they would cite an anti-choice Society as capable of filling the same role.
Far from being a debating issue only (and it is, of course, that also), the fight for the 'right to choose' in Ireland is a practical grassroots information and campaign activity. If young pregnant women are to have any semblance of control over their lives, the right to choose their own destiny is fundamental to their own planning of what is their future.
The Societies Guild, one would presume, exists to enhance the experience of UCC students for the duration of their studies. The students' welfare should be paramount. They are failing in their duty of care towards the student body in their willingness to prevent the setting-up of this Society. The members of the Societies Guild must lack foresight if they do not accept that things change constantly. They seem to me to be acting just like the GAA hierarchy in Cork - and just look at where it got them.
As a Cork City resident, I believe this campaign should be active within and outside UCC. Living in a university town, I have a vested interest in what is happening in UCC; this is my university too. This is winnable.
Since they are clearly commited to their stance I would suggest getting as many pro-choice people as possible to join the pro-life society as suggested by the societies guild. Either this will lead to a succesful takeover bid or alternatively cause so much upheaval as to convince the guild that a pro choice society is perhaps the better alternative. It is disgraceful that there is still such a blatant aversion to open and balanced argument on this point. I feel a little sick with disgust after reading this article.
Also if there are any U.C.C. students reading this could you let me know if they still refuse to give the morning after pill or pill in the U.C.C. health center? When I was there a couple of years ago they would give students in need of the morning after pill the name and telephone number of a doctor who charged something in the region of 40 euro for the visit and then more for the prescription. It was the Health center's policy to not prescribe or administer contraception to students. They were doing a damn fine job of looking after the female students welfare there.
I don't know about Cork, but certainly about 6 years ago when I was a DCU student, the Health Centre there was doing the same thing - sending students who showed up looking for a morning-after pill over the road (literally) to the fee-paying GP surgery.
Btw, I do like the idea of pro-choice UCC students joining the anti-abortion society en-masse and taking it over. Poetic justice!
A comment (now deleted for breaking the guideline on discussing editorial matters) suggested that the UCC Pro-Choice Society was "self-censoring their actual aims behind a nice cuddly-sounding euphimism" and should change it's name to "The U.C.C. pro-Abortion Society".
The name of the proposed UCC society is actually completely accurate.
The proposed society has presented two constitutions. The first focussed on reproductive rights, including, though not exclusively, abortion rights. The second took a wider brief with its stated aim being "Primarily to promote issues of reproductive justice for students based on the concept that good reproductive health and access to reproductive and sexual health services is an issue of social justice."
This is clearly not reducible to simply being "pro-abortion".
Being for the right to abortion no more means being "pro-abortion" in any particular pregnancy than being for the right to divorce means that any particular couple should split up. But if a woman decides she wants to have an abortion, or if either party in a marriage wants a divorce, then they should have that right.
And like any other medical procedure abortion should be safe, easily available and free. In Ireland this links the fight for free and safe abortion on demand as an integral part of the struggle for both women's liberation and access to free health care for all.
So how come "reprductive rights, including though not exclusively abortion rights ......" etc etc etc is "reductable" (Huh?!) to "simply" "pro choice"?
And what point are you trying to make anyhow? And what in heavens name is the fact that any pregnancy might be terminated by abortion, or any marriage might end in divorce got to do with a cowardly choice of name anyhow?
The reason why pro-choice was chosen as the name for this society was because its promoters are aware of the abhorrence or distaste most people have for abortion. In the realm of "choice" the choice of name for the proposed society is a funk and cop-out.
And by the way, I have a deep distaste and abhorrence of censorship, and I fully support the cowardly promotors of this organization to have their outfit recognized like any other student society.
I am thinking myself of applying to have a Anti-Jargon Society recognized.
Well of course any society like this isn't "simply reducible" to a particular name but it is fairly clear that "pro-choice" is a much more accurate reflection of the aims of the proposed society than "pro-abortion" would be, as my analogy with the right to divorce shows.
The society wants to promote the idea that people have the right to choose how they control all their reproductive processes, including the right of women to choose whether to have an abortion or not.
The promoters of this society are in no way "cowardly" as we openly state our support for a women's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion. In Ireland women are denied the right to exercise that choice so exposing, and attempting to overturn, that democratic deficit will necessarily form an important part, but not all, of our activities.
You have a "right to choose" to have your unborn child aborted in England or elsewhere in the EU at the price of a Ryanair ticket.
You have a "right to choose" FGM for your daughter in Somalia and several other countries in North East Africa.
You have a "right to choose" whom your daughter shall marry in parts of Pakistan.
All of these "rights to choose" are unavailable within Ireland because they are in fundamental conflict with our values.
However, I would presume that you are not campaigning for a "right to choose" generally and that the main thrust of this group is to lobby for another referendum (just like our native euro-nuts who won't accept "no" for an answer either) on the legalization of non-therapeutic abortion in Ireland.
You should have the guts to call a spade a spade and stop all the tedious beating about the bush about "reproductive rights (Didn't you know that condoms are available at several sites on campus, and that contraceptive advice is available from Student Medical Services?
You should get out more often.
Surely the point is that the so called values you ascribe to the entire Irish population is not a fair reflection on what quite a significant proportion of the population want or believe. This is evidenced in the daily reality of Irish women facing unwanted pregnancies and choosing to terminate it abroad. Countless women are denied that choice because they lack the financial resources to do so. If UCC students want to organise to discuss the issues surrounding this debate then good on them. They want to represent on campus the section of society who have a different opinion and values to your own. If one of the aims of this society is to push for a referendum then so what..its clearly something that would be welcomed by many and there are many political parties who have societies in UCC who I'm sure spend a good proportion of their time pushing for various referenda..
Dear UCC Grad,
Obviously you haven't bothered to read the earlier postings in this exchange of views.
If you had, you would have realized that I am 100% behind the request to have this "freedom of choice" outfit recognized as a student society.
My argument was on other grounds.
The only part of what you say that I would take serious issue with is the ridiculous idea that anyone in this era of cheap flights is prevented from getting an abortion because of expense. Your fellow UCC graduate, Michael O'Leary, sorted out that problem years ago.
Actually I am not for the "right" of parents to impose either FGM or an arranged marriage on their children. But of course this is all a red herring. The aim of the proposed society is not an abstract "right to choose" but rather specifically to do with deepening and extending already existing reproductive rights, such as those to do with the availability of contraception and sex education, and making some headway in those areas, such as access to abortion, where those rights are denied or restricted.
As I have already openly stated, the lack of safe, easy and free access to abortion remains one of the central restrictions on reproductive rights in Ireland and so, to quote my previous comment, "exposing, and attempting to overturn, that democratic deficit will necessarily form an important part, but not all, of our activities."
Your continued claims, all evidence to the contrary, that the proposed pro-choice society involves some hidden agenda makes it pretty clear that you would actually like to deny women the right to control what happens to their own bodies - I see little point in continuing this discussion and can only hope that your "arguments" have had as little impact on other readers of these comments as they have had on me.
Just to let everyone know the Health Centre does prescribe both the pill and morning after pill. It also provides the morning after pill on site. The doctors are extremely understanding and non-judgemental. I believe there are also plans to introduce Chlamydia testing on site, funding permitting. The student's union also lobbies on reproductive health and does information campaigns, provides free condoms and support in the case of crisis pregnancies.
It seems to me that the issue with the Pro-Choice Society is bias within the Societies Guild (particularly considering the SU's declaration that the Societies Guild was a constitution issue, implicitly throwing their support behind the formation of a Pro-Choice Soc). It is well known that the Societies Guild is made up of many conservative members and does not necessarily represent the views of the student body as a whole, being elected by societies as opposed to the student body directly.
Abortion is not cheap, but your glib comments about Ryanair are. Women who have abortions abroad must go privately...meaning that most abortions cost at least 1000 pounds.
Clearly most people in Ireland do not find the idea of abortion abhorrent. Between 6000 and 10000 women abroad a year to have abortions. Considering our population that's massive. People voted down the most recent proposed constitutional amendment to ban abortion in cases of suicide risk. Opinion polls show people's attitude towards abortion is liberalising
Lastly it is not disingenuous to for people to label themselves or a society as Pro-Choice. To label yourself as Pro-Abortion would suggest that you believe that women who are facing a crisis pregnancy should have an abortion, i.e. you a pro-abortion. Being Pro- Choice, on the other hand, means that you believe that women who are unhappy about being pregnant and for whatever reasons they may have, choose to end that pregnancy, should be allowed to end that pregnancy in their own country with the support of trusted medical professionals.
By the way to compare people who choose to make choices about their own bosy to those who mutilate and torture their children or paedophiles is ignorant and shameful. Also most people who do those things in those countries are doing it illegally, there is just little enforcement of laws.
I'm from Galway but work in Cork.
Cork is a very conservative and class divided city overall.
The class division between the Northsiders (disparagingly called "Norries")and southsiders is stark.
Cork is the the "least progressive" city I have ever lived in.
And I've lived in quite a few European cities.
.