General

When I was on the phone with a robot - how AI is conquering the phone and how to recognize it

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Phone call with an AI robot

There are moments in everyday life that seem completely banal at first. You're sitting at your desk, working on an article, thinking about a new topic - and suddenly the phone rings. A number you don't recognize. In my case, it was an area code from the Ruhr region: 0233 something. As a self-employed person, you occasionally get calls like that. It's usually about advertising, services or advice that you don't actually need.

So I initially answered the call as normal. A friendly female voice answered on the other end. She introduced herself as an employee who works with Facebook and Instagram. Unsurprisingly, it was about advertising. About ads. About reach. Visibility for companies.

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Europe between freedom of expression and regulation: New US info portal raises questions

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EU censorship, hate speech and the new US portal

I recently stumbled across a piece of information that initially interested me rather casually - and then stuck with me. A report said that the US government was planning a new online portal. A portal that would make content accessible that is blocked in certain regions of the world. Countries such as Iran and China were mentioned. But then another term came up: Europe.

Europe.

The idea that American agencies are developing an information portal that is expressly intended for European citizens, because certain content is no longer accessible here, made me wonder. Not outraged or panicked, but wary. When Europe is suddenly mentioned in the same breath as traditional areas of censorship, it is worth taking a closer look.

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Johann Sebastian Bach - Order, attitude and the foundation of our music

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Johann Sebastian Bach Portrait

As a child and teenager, I grew up in a family of musicians. Both my parents are music teachers. My mother plays the flute, my father the piano. Music was not a decorative background in our home, but a natural part of everyday life. We practiced, taught, discussed, sometimes even wrestled. Sheet music was laid out on the piano, not in the cupboard.

I played the piano myself, and later also the saxophone. And like so many people who go through classical training, I ended up with Johann Sebastian Bach at some point - more specifically the first prelude from the „Well-Tempered Clavier“. I can still play it. Maybe not flawlessly, I would have to practise again. But the structure of this piece is still with me today. This calm sequence of broken chords, the clear harmony, the self-evident order - even as a pupil you can sense that something important is happening here. This portrait is dedicated to my mother on her 70th birthday, who made it possible for me to take piano lessons at that time.

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TMD and new dental crowns: How a minimal misalignment affects the body

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CMD and new dental crown

It started unspectacularly. No accident, no loud bang, no dramatic moment. An old crown on a lower molar simply crumbled. These things happen at some point. Materials age, stresses add up over the years. I didn't give it much thought at first. It wasn't an emergency, more of a technical problem - something you repair and then tick off.

The appointment with the dentist was appropriately routine. Examination, quick look, factual explanation. The old crown had to come off, underneath it was cleaned, prepared and built up. Nothing out of the ordinary. No long discussions, no complicated decisions. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that the problem would become bigger and last longer than initially expected.

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Cancel Culture in the West: Sport, universities, the military and EU sanctions analyzed

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Cancel Culture in the West

When you hear the word „cancel culture“ today, you quickly think of universities, social networks or prominent individuals who come under pressure for making a thoughtless statement. Originally, the phenomenon was actually very much located in the cultural and academic sphere. It was about boycotts, protests and symbolic distancing. But something has shifted in recent years. The dynamic has grown, it has become more serious - and above all: it has become more political.

Today, we are not just observing individual debates about lectures or Twitter posts. We see athletes who are not allowed to compete. Artists whose programs are being cancelled. Professors coming under massive pressure. Military officers whose statements make international waves within hours. States that keep lists. Entry bans. Sanctions that affect not just institutions, but specific individuals.

This is more than a marginal cultural phenomenon. It has become a political mechanism.

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Learning to think dialogically with AI: Why good questions are more important than good models

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Learning to think dialogically with AI

The term „AI as a sparring partner“ now appears frequently. It usually means that an AI helps with writing, generates ideas or completes tasks faster. A first basic article on this has already been published in the magazine. This article now aims to show in reality how AI can be used as an effective thinking partner. In practice, it is clear that AI only becomes really interesting when it is not treated as a tool, but as a counterpart. Not in the human sense, but as something that answers, contradicts, leads on - or even mercilessly reveals where your own thinking is flawed.

This is exactly where the real benefit begins. Not where the AI „delivers“, but where it reacts. Where it does not simply process, but makes thought processes visible. This is more inconvenient than a classic tool - but also more sustainable.

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Energy, power and dependency: Europe's path from world export champion to consumer

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Europe and energy

If you look around Germany today, you will notice one thing: The energy situation is different than it was twenty years ago. And fundamentally so. Two decades ago, Germany was considered the epitome of industrial stability. Reliable electricity supply, predictable gas prices, robust grid infrastructure. Energy was not an ongoing political issue, but a matter of course. It was there. It worked. It was affordable. It was - and this is crucial - plannable.

Today, however, energy has become a strategic uncertainty factor in Europe, especially in Germany. Prices fluctuate, industry is shifting investments, political debates revolve around subsidies, emergency reserves and dependencies. Energy is no longer just infrastructure - it is a power factor, a bargaining chip and a geopolitical lever.

In this article, we want to calmly trace this development. Not in an alarmist or conspiratorial way, but step by step. What has changed? What decisions have been made? Who benefits? And above all: how did a continent that was sovereign in terms of energy policy end up in a situation in which it barely has any independent control over its most basic foundation - its energy supply?

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How animals perceive time - and what this means for the future of AI

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Animals, AI and time perception

A cat is lying on the carpet. It does not move. It may blink briefly, turn an ear, sigh inwardly at the impositions of existence - and nothing else happens. The human looks at it and thinks: „Typical. Lazy cattle“. But what if the exact opposite is true? What if the cat is not too slow - but we are? This article was written after I watched a video by Gerd Ganteför on this topic and found it so interesting that I would like to present it here.

Humans have been observing animals for centuries and always come to the same wrong conclusions. We interpret their behavior with our speed, our perception, our inner clock. And this clock is, soberly considered, more of a cozy wall calendar than a high-speed processor. Perhaps the cat only seems so disinterested because its environment feels about as dynamic to it as a queue of officials on a Friday afternoon.

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