But - unsurprisingly! - the accuracy leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, a Pompeii “reconstruction” ignores the actual eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger. - BBC
In Brazil, for instance, “museum director Niomar Moniz Sodré Bittencourt hid artworks and advised artists on how to leave the country after officials from the country’s military regime entered her museum and demanded the removal of ‘dangerous’ images.” - The Guardian (UK)
“The uncensored literature flooding the country wasn’t reaching Poles by chance. It was sent as part of a decades-long US intelligence operation ... designed, in the words of the programme’s leader, George Minden, to assault the eastern bloc with an ‘offensive of free, honest thinking.’” - The Guardian (UK)
The evolution of cooperation has been of interest to biologists, philosophers and anthropologists for centuries. If natural selection favours self-interest, why would we cooperate at an apparent cost to ourselves? - Aeon
If we could stop bickering about which creatures do or don’t deserve to be called smart, an emerging movement of scientists and philosophers argue that we might discover fundamental elements of intelligence that are common to all life. - Noema
Only recently has the human collective begun accepting the fact it is itself mortal. We now appreciate that events unfolded for aeons before us and that our species can disappear, never to return. One day, the cosmos will persist without human witness, nor any inherent tendency to manifest things we cherish. - Aeon
“The first half of the 20th century … was ‘extraordinarily social.’ Shared spaces—libraries, theaters, and playgrounds—were rapidly built across the U.S. People were gathering regularly in public, and participating in clubs and organizations with their peers.” Then things changed, drastically, and not because of cell phones. - The Atlantic (Yahoo)
Fifty years of Saturday Night Live will do that to a person. "Writers don’t just conceive and pen sketches—they also produce and direct them, getting a huge say in everything from set decoration to costumes.” - Fast Company
We must recognise that the natural and the mental order of things go hand in hand. Neither can be fully understood without the other. And neither can be traced back to the other. - Aeon
It can be easy to take our maps, images and story of the Moon for granted. But over the past six decades, our cultural and scientific relationship with the Moon has been radically altered. - Aeon
“The data shows a shift in cognitive effort as knowledge workers increasingly move from task execution to oversight when using GenAI,” the researchers wrote. “Surprisingly, while AI can improve efficiency, it may also reduce critical engagement, particularly in routine or lower-stakes tasks in which users simply rely on AI." - 404 Media
Someone who knows more, is more successful, or who seems to be smarter than you is often seen as a threat, and so in order to prevent them from standing out too much (or surpassing too many others), we glorify ignorance as the de facto normal position. - Big Think
