Tag: Tech
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Painting with your eyes
I coloured this with my eyes, using the cool little feature at Montefiore Einstein’s excellent feature There’s Magic in All of Us. Here’s the video they put together: My wife used to work at a hospital in Toronto with Tom Chau, who is a leading researcher for these things. Here’s a piece about how he’s…
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The Artifice Girl: The best sci fi needs no vfx
This weekend I watched The Artifice Girl. It’s a sci-fi movie that has no special effects whatsoever. It’s split into 3 sections, and in each a conversation takes place with and about an AI. It’s so simple it could be a stage play. And it’s one of the most throught-provoking movies I’ve seen in years. …
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The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu
Having read Wu’s books in the reverse order of publication dates, this book felt a bit underwhelming. What’s interesting is how clearly the seeds of his follow up work are here. It’s a history of ‘information empires’ which includes telephone, radio, film and television. Wu is clearly trying to draw some parallels that can predict…
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“…we find the resilience to do and make beautiful things, and this is where the meaning of life resides.”
This video was on Open Culture today. I don’t know a lot of Nick Cave’s music, but the letter is great, you can read it here if you’d rather not listen. It led me down a rabbit hold of Nick Cave’s letters to fans – here are a couple that landed for me: On his…
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The MANIAC by Benjamin Labatut
I’d read a bunch about this book, but really, I had no idea what I was getting into. This is among the weirdest and best books I’ve read this year. Here’s what I wish I knew going in: Don’t be intimidated by the highbrow reviews — this isn’t some complex science/philosophical deep dive. It’s a…
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“There is no moderation without surveillance because moderation is surveillance”
Garbage Day is one of my favourite substacks right now. Ryan is a sharp writer and the content is right up my alley. Today he published this video (and accompanying post) discussing a novel approach to regulating AI and it’s great: The AI guys are on to the next version of ‘move fast and break…
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…ever wonder why the 21st century feels like we’re living in a bad cyberpunk novel from the 1980s?
Charlie Stross (whose books I’ve never read, but will now) shares the text of a recent speech about the origins of today’s tech leaders and their ethos. We’re sorry we created the Torment Nexus: I’d like to talk about something that I personally find much more worrying: a political ideology common among silicon valley billionaires…
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Technically accurate, colloquially useless
This feature from Pudding.cool isn’t new, but it feels like it was meant for me: You should look at this chart about music genres. It starts with deconstructing a headline about how the ‘most popular music genre on Spotify’ has changed since 2016. It might be listening habits or culture, but it’s most likely a…
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Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
The thesis: It is my intention in this book to show that a great media-metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense. This was published in 1985! Postman’s ideas still work, and in many cases they’re more convincing than ever.…