“Many people were likely stunned to read recently the announcement by Microsoft that AI was proving to be better at reading X-rays than trained radiologists. Most newspaper readers don’t realize how much of their daily paper is now written by AI. That wasn’t supposed to happen; robots were supposed to supplant manual labor jobs, not professional brainwork. Yet here we are: AI is quickly gobbling up entire professions—and those jobs will never come back.” – Scientific American
Tag: 05.04.20
How ‘Sesame Street’ Has Reflected 50 Years Of American Society Back To Itself
Jill Lepore traces the history (and prehistory) of “the most extensively researched television program [ever made]” — from the educational and social ideals of its creators (and the entertaining arguments over the show’s name) to the ways the show has responded to criticism (and how important those critics thought Sesame Street was) to the long slide into commercialism that began in the Reagan years. – The New Yorker
Treasure Trove Of Russian Avant-Garde Art Discovered In Small-Town Museum’s Basement
“A leading Russian avant-garde expert says he has identified dozens of works by artists such as Wassily Kandinsky, Alexander Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova languishing in [the Yaransk Museum of Local Lore], 800km away from Moscow.” – The Art Newspaper
Violinist Offers Free Lessons Online Culminating In A Big Virtual Concert. 800 Take Her Up On It
Nicola Benedetti already offered online music classes through her own Benedetti Foundation. But the lockdown made her wonder whether they could reach an even wider audience on social media platforms. Although the sessions are free, donations are welcome. Nearly 800 people have signed up so far to teach or play, including fellow musicians The Ayoub Sisters. – BBC
Disney Company’s Massive Size Was Always A Strength — Until The Pandemic Hit
“After a decade of spectacular growth, the entertainment conglomerate has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its 14 theme parks (annual attendance: 157 million) delivered record profits in 2019. They’re now padlocked. Its movie studios (there are eight) controlled a staggering 40 percent of the domestic box office last year. Now, they’re sitting at a near standstill.” – The New York Times
Washington Attorney General Is Investigating Brown Paper Tickets
Until recently, BPT had enjoyed a good reputation, sometimes called the David to Ticketmaster’s Goliath. One unpaid client, the Taste of Philadelphia Food Tour, had been doing business with the company for 10 years, but is now waiting on $2,782 in bounced checks from events as far back as December 2019 (the checks weren’t deposited until March 16), plus $207 for March events canceled by coronavirus lockdowns. – Seattle Times
Where (And Why) Science Is Failing Us
The average scientist’s acquaintance with philosophy tends to be of the passing variety. This is a great pity. Deep-rooted, seemingly intractable problems in foundational theoretical physics – the physics of matter and radiation, space, time and the Universe – have now frustrated progress for 50 years or more. We’re living through a period in the history of foundational physics in which ideas about nature are cheap, but gathering the empirical facts needed to show that these ideas have anything at all to do with the real world has become extraordinarily expensive, protracted and time-consuming, and without guarantee of success. – Aeon
How’s Canada’s Arts Sector Holding Up Through The COVID Crisis? Better Than In The States
Things are far from perfect north of the border, but overall Canadian artists and organizations say they feel relatively well taken care of, especially when they look south. Kate Brown reports. – Artnet
Mezzo Rosalind Elias Dead At 90
She made her Metropolitan Opera debut at age 23 and sang 54 roles there over 42 years, becoming one of the most beloved singers within the company. Perhaps most notable among the many operas she sang at other houses was Samuel Barber’s Vanessa: she created the role of Erika in the opera’s premiere, and almost 50 year’s later she sang that character’s grandmother. What’s more, at age 81 she made her Broadway debut. – The Washington Post
Large Hoard Of Fake Antiquities Found And Impounded At Heathrow
“A Border Force officer at Heathrow Airport discovered the hundreds of clay figurines, pots, and tablets covered in cuneiform script in a pair of metal trunks last July. Intercepted en route from Bahrain to a private address in the UK, the objects were sent to the British Museum for inspection. There, they were discovered to be fakes. The striking thing about the discovery, says St John Simpson, a curator at the British Museum, is not the number of counterfeit relics. It’s the type.” – Artnet