"For all the madness on display, there are, however, reasons to cautiously celebrate what has become of Paddington. ... Paddington is nearly as old as the queen’s now completed reign." And indeed, he "is the sort of characteristic English creature who values decency, politeness and tolerance of difference." - Irish Times
I knew that if I merely retreated to my “side,” I would only contribute to the problem. With some trepidation, then, I set out to ask twelve scholars what they see as the main challenges facing literary studies and literary criticism today. - The Point
Rituals are highly structured. They require rigidity (they must always be performed the “correct” way), repetition (the same actions performed again and again) and redundancy (they can go on for a long time). In other words, they are predictable. This predictability imposes order on the chaos of everyday life. - Nautilus
Unlike search or social media, whose arrivals the general public encountered and discussed and had opinions about, artificial intelligence remains esoteric—every bit as important and transformative as the other great tech disruptions, but more obscure, tucked largely out of view. - The Atlantic
The paper, published last month in the peer-reviewed AI Magazine, is a fascinating one that tries to think through how artificial intelligence could pose an existential risk to humanity by looking at how reward systems might be artificially constructed. - Vice
British philosophers from the 18th century, who were fixated on impressions and ideas, would have taken successful conversations to be those that moved the relevant cluster of ideas from one conversant’s head to another’s. - Psyche
In practice, physical diseases are treated by physicians working for medical services, and mental illnesses are treated by psychiatrists or psychologists working for separately organised mental health services. These professional tribes follow divergent training and career paths. - The Guardian
“If you have a brain response to anything that is important, how does it differentiate whether it is good or bad? It’s a central problem in the field.” - Scientific American
The modern idea of the self emerged "in a quiet university town called Jena, some 150 miles southwest of Berlin. It was there that, in the 1790s, a small group of rebellious playwrights, poets, and writers revolutionized the way we think of ourselves and the world." - The Atlantic
Thanks, public domain! No, but truly, thank you for expiring, copyright. We now have everything from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to "all-time classic" 10 Things I Hate About You. - NPR
Why doesn't its history with a content provider who had zillions of subscribers - but was a favorite of the neo-Nazis - get the same blowback as other social media? (Transcript of this podcast here.) - Slate
Shelly Lowe, the first Native American chair of the NEH, wants to make some changes: "More small organizations that haven’t had NEH funding will be applying and will be announced as receiving grants. This will bring more attention to ... untold stories of our country." - Inside Higher Ed
The author of a new book argues that while math can give some pretty cool possibilities, the real-world evidence isn't there. She argues that "there are still plenty of cool ideas, including weather control, faster-than-light communication, and creating new universes, that don’t contradict known science." - Wired
Several lines of contemporary scholarship emphasize what might be gained by moving from a focus on science education to a focus on reciprocal power-sharing, cooperation, and exchange between researchers and citizens. - Boston Review
