These magical machines were supposed to provide a solution to the economic and political problems of the late twentieth century, a way to transcend and break free of the confining aspects of postwar capitalism. This was a feint, a way of imagining a miracle fix to tensions and conflicts that had no easy resolution. Computers, Margaret O’Mara suggests, have long been metaphors as much as machines. – The New Republic
Tag: 09.27.19
Why We Need To Learn How To Do Nothing Well
Paying attention is not easy to do. It demands “a state of openness that assumes there is something new to be seen”, and the discipline to “resist our tendency to declare our observations finished.” – The Guardian
The Tech Revolution Was Supposed To Be Fun. So What Happened?
For many years, Silicon Valley and the machines that came out of it were presented as personally, economically, and socially transformative, agents of revolution at both the level of the individual and the whole social order. They were democratizing, uncontrolled, anarchic, and new. Most of all, they were supposed to be fun—to open up a space of play and freedom. How is it, then, that just a few decades in, we find ourselves trapped in a dreary spectacle that seems to replicate the old patterns of exploitation and dominion in almost every sphere, but with a creepy new intimacy? – The New Republic
Is Audible’s New Captions Service A Copyright Violation?
The publishers’ attorney, said that Captions—a feature that scrolls a few words of an AI-generated transcription alongside a digital audiobook as it plays—represents a “quintessential” case of copyright infringement. – Publishers Weekly
Jimmy Nelson, Star Of Golden Age Of Ventriloquism, Dead At 90
Introduced by Ed Sullivan as “the greatest I’ve ever seen in his field,” Nelson, with his puppet sidekicks Danny O’Day and Farfel the hound dog, performed on television variety shows and in nightclubs, but he — they — became most famous for humorous commercials for Texaco and Nestlé’s Quik. – The New York Times
Percentage Of Americans Who Listen To Audiobooks Has Doubled In Eight Years
“A new [survey] by the Pew Research Center … found that 20% of adults listened to an audiobook in the 12 months prior to the period in which the survey was conducted. In 2011, only 11% of adults said they listened to an audiobook.” – Publishers Weekly
In Paris, A New Musée De La Libération Commemorates The Nazi Occupation Of The City And Its Emancipation
The museum’s collection of archival film and photos, maps, letters, posters, and pamphlets focuses on two heroes of de Gaulle’s Free French movement: the former préfet Jean Moulin and General Philippe Leclerc. – Apollo
Marin Alsop Remembers Christopher Rouse
“Chris was a collector, and a collector of unexpected things: meteorites, records, guns. He started collecting composers’ signatures when he was a kid and amassed what I imagine is the largest private collection of composers’ autographs in the world. He knew how much I loved Brahms ( because we argued about Brahms regularly) and gave me his Brahms autograph last week…kind hearted to the end.” – NewMusicBox
It’s Time To Get Rid Of ‘Show, Don’t Tell’
Show-don’t-tell is a mantra for early writers, the training wheels on the bike, the interior wax holding up a bronze sculpture. But. “The real goal of ‘show, don’t tell’ is to force a discipline that encourages the writer to see subjectivity emerging through those details. But that sentence—that command—doesn’t say that. It’s saying specifically don’t tell. And we need to just stop saying it to another generation of writers.” – Literary Hub
Are Zoos, With Their Barbaric Architecture, Finally Over?
To be fair, the architecture was a lot more barbaric at the beginning of the zoo. Now design is more focused on attempts to break down the human/animal barrier … invisibly. But is that enough? “The architecture of zoos reflected man’s changing relationship with animals: going from a sense of exoticism and wonder, to better hygiene and animal welfare, to the idea that the architecture should disappear altogether.” – The Guardian (UK)