AI-generated art illustrates another problem with computers | John Naughton

In the event, though, some of the steam has gone out of the GPT-3 controversy (though not out of the question of the environmental costs of such extravagant computing). However much sceptics and critics might ridicule human hacks, the crooked timber of humanity will continue to outwit mere machines for the foreseeable future. Journalism schools can relax.

Dall-E might turn out to be a less straightforward case, though. As with GPT-3, its appearance generated intense interest, perhaps because while most people can write text, many of us cannot draw to save our lives. So having a tool that could enable us to overcome this disability would be quite a boon. You could, say, ask for a portrait of Shrek in the style of the Mona Lisa or Jane Austen as an astronaut and again it would do its best. So one can view it as a welcome augmentation of human capability.

Smooth runningElectric Vehicles Are Way, Way More Energy-Efficient Than Internal Combustion Vehicles is a sobering summary from the Yale Climate Connections project.

Getting betterThe Efficiency Movement is a marvellous essay by Rob Miller on how all modern societies have been shaped by their worship of efficiency.

Biological clock The Nautilus site has a fascinating article about the evolutionary mysteries of the menopause.