“I don’t believe there is any such thing as genius,” says the author of the new book The Nature of Technology, “… There are not magic wands or bright ideas in bathtubs. … What you really need in invention is a superb command of the pieces in a toolbox” and the ability to combine them in new ways.
Tag: 09.03.09
A New Era For Life-Enhancing Drugs (For Whatever Ails Ye)
“Scientists now see possibilities to modify our moral character, using neurological techniques to make us ethically better–or perhaps worse. And the latest research holds out the promise of drugs to help forget traumatic memories, or even to stay devoted to our sexual partners. Many people–notably some religious leaders, doctors, scientists, politicians and philosophers–have misgivings about much of this.”
The Art Of YouTube (And We Do Mean Art)
“They are helping themselves and creating what can only be called an art scene, all around the many, many videos of their genre on YouTube. In serving these niche audiences with their microgenres, YouTube has solidified its slot as a home for the vernacular avant-garde.”
Left Vs. Right – It’s What Makes Your Brain Smart
“Animals, including humans, which process information using a preferred hemisphere of the brain — left or right — fare better than individuals who always use both sides of their brain simultaneously, according to a new study.”
Glenn Beck, Nut-Job As Art Critic
“How nutty did Beck get? As nutty as usual. He pointed to a portrait of Lenin in Mexican master Diego Rivera’s destroyed Rockefeller lobby mural, “Man at the Crossroads,” but forgot to mention that old John D. had the mural removed because of it.”
Should New Deals On Music Rights Be Kept Secret?
“The increased use of Non Disclosure Agreements in pretty much every deal that is struck between music services and record labels (and the PRS) has become a huge thorn in the side of artists and songwriters – and their managers.”
Are Dogs Smarter Than Human Babies?
“A new study shows that dogs and young human babies both make the same classic error in [Piaget’s] famous psychology experiment — while wolves raised by people do not.” The dogs, not as swift as (but perhaps more respectful than) the wolves, are brighter and more discriminating than the babies.
Another Bay Area Theatre Sends SOS Over Money Trouble
“The Willows Theatre Company, which began entertaining Contra Costa County audiences 34 years ago with well-known musicals and popular comedies, will close at least one of its two theaters if it can’t raise $350,000 in the next two months, officials say.”
How Music Can Help Overcome A Grim Past
The Bucharest Festival has “the kind of programme you’d expect at one of those glitzy middle-European festivals such as Salzburg or Lucerne… The festival’s budget of £7 million may be modest compared with Salzburg’s, but it’s a vast sum in a country that’s struggling to move from a command economy to a free-market one.”
Tyler Perry To Adapt For Colored Girls As Film
The movie version of Ntozake Shange’s Obie Award-winning 1975 play, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf,” will be “Perry’s first to be based on non-original material” and “will have a cast of all female actors.” He will write, direct and produce.