We have surrendered ourselves to our entertainment. We will become so distracted and dazed by our fictions that we’ll lose our sense of what is real. We will make our escapes so comprehensive that we cannot free ourselves from them. The result will be a populace that forgets how to think... - The Atlantic
Considering the aspirations of so many people to return to it, you’d think the answer was a place, a spot in the world, with an address, much easier to locate than a time, though times have dates to identify them as precisely as street names and numbers identify places. - American Scholar
Sceptics were pretty happy about it. They thought of their scepticism as a way of life – as a way of reaching ataraxia or tranquillity. In their view, having beliefs is the ultimate cause of anxiety, and therefore the best way to avoid anxiety is to get rid of beliefs altogether. - Aeon
They were a cohort of historically unprecedented size, whose basic need to be clothed, fed, housed and educated was a decades-long jobs creator and economy stimulator. And they were a cohort whose massive size and timing meant cultural and economic dominance for much of their lives. - Washington Post
We might assume that our pandemic memories are missing because information entered our brains, then slipped from it—like a toy tumbling out of a clumsy toddler’s hands. However, it’s more likely that our brains weren’t storing that information in the first place. - The Walrus
The more general such claims are, the easier it is to agree. But when we delve into what makes the various philosophers different, what sounds like universal good sense can suddenly seem a bit wacky. - The Guardian
It is a city that might have been conceived by WeWork’s founder Adam Neumann in consultation with FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried, with the benefit of management advice from Elon Musk. - Prospect
Synthetic Media is produced by human creators who use computers and purpose-built software (including AI) to realize their production goals. Generative Synthetic Media is media that is produced by AI based only on a description of the desired work product. - Shelly Palmer
What defines humanity is not just our unusual level of intelligence, but also how we capitalize on that intelligence... If we merely lived up to our scientific classification—Homo sapiens—and just sat around thinking all day, we’d be much different creatures. - The Atlantic
"Urban planners, architects and designers around the world are looking to make cities spongier—using nature-based solutions to better absorb water," and that's where playgrounds come in. Instead of asphalt, grass - "or at least porous turf." - Fast Company
The relationship between sleep, dreaming, and creativity has been the subject of conjecture for hundreds of years. Reports of creative inspiration and discoveries made by artists, inventors, and scientists while dreaming suggest these states of mind are intimately bound together. - Nautilus
The worst abusers of the technology tend to be the hardest to catch, operating anonymously, adapting quickly and sharing their synthetic creations through borderless online platforms. - The New York Times
The pandemic accelerated a generational shift: "Past program choices are not adequately energizing younger audiences. They want the experience to be new and different, on their feet, immersed in the experience and socially connected." - Seattle Times
Turns out it's what's already in your mouth. "When people eat, he explains, they don’t actually savor the food itself, but a mixture of the food plus saliva." - Smithsonian
