Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World

in their motivations, such as protecting children, any barrier to information is ultimately harmful. The AAUP statement included as an appendix to Jones’s essay is the same one quoted by Gavin-Herbert as an example of the educational system’s brokenness, thus illustrating the wide range of perspectives presented in the first section. The book’s second section is composed of nine case studies involving trigger warnings. All case studies come from the world of higher education, and each presents a unique point of view. There are lessons learned from the inclusion of a trigger warning in an all-campus reading program. A student details the problems she faced after suggesting that a content warning be provided for a specific reading in future iterations of the course (and, modeling her own beliefs about the efficacy of content warnings, included one for her chapter). Two incidents at Smith College involving invited speakers (one who came; one who withdrew) provide an opportunity to go beyond trigger warnings and explore how arguments about academic freedom often ignore the motives of student activists and, in some cases, willfully misinterpret the desire for more engagement with a topic as a demand to be sheltered from ideas that prick their comfort. An instructor details the tools she uses in addition to trigger warnings when addressing traumatic topics in the classroom. One professor reflects on her successful use of content warnings throughout her career while another makes the case that her avoidance of such warnings has resulted in better learning outcomes for her students. Experiences with military veterans in the classroom cause two English faculty to consider adopting trigger warnings in the future. Public speaking courses are held up as an appropriate venue for trigger warnings. Finally, an instructor grapples with his internal conflict over using trigger warnings in graduate courses in library and information science, as the discipline’s enduring focus on intellectual freedom is not a natural complement to content warnings. Like the historical and theoretical essays in the first section, these case studies draw from such a breadth of experience and perspective that the reader is left with more questions than answers about trigger warnings. Spoken like a true librarian, Knox closes her introduction by stating that “readers will have to come to their own conclusions regarding the debate.” Indeed, on any topic, librarians aim to provide information and let the readers decide for themselves. In the case of trigger warnings, the question remains as to whether they interfere with a reader’s ability to make a determination without prejudice or whether they provide a necessary tool for those readers whose lived experiences have impacted the way they need to interact with information. After reading this book, it’s clear that the jury is still out. Knox should be commended for compiling such a compelling collection of essays and case studies that really forces the reader to think critically about trigger warnings.