Shooting Stars
Dedicated (with apologies) to email subscribers who received a three word “Constellation” a few hours ago… …the Seriph, in his bijou wildernessette, has just riffled… Read More »Shooting Stars
Our World in Data is Great and Getting Better; or, How I Destroyed Several Billion Medieval Manuscripts
Revisionist History Thursday, 20:02 hrs I report an error on an OWID graph in their preliminary collection of information about books. Some of the numbers… Read More »Our World in Data is Great and Getting Better; or, How I Destroyed Several Billion Medieval Manuscripts
Technological Solutions
“This problem can’t be solved with technology.” In one sense, there are lots of problems that aren’t amenable to technological solutions – particularly problems caused… Read More »Technological Solutions
Writing and Reading as Technology (6): Stop Press. Who invented moveable type?
Not Gutenberg Gutenberg put several important pieces together in a new way in 1439(ish) when he built what most of us probably think of as… Read More »Writing and Reading as Technology (6): Stop Press. Who invented moveable type?
Sam Altman on Public Sector AI, ownership and incentives
Ezra Klein: How should I feel about the idea these [artificial intelligences] will be privately owned, if they’re going to be this powerful? Sam Altman:… Read More »Sam Altman on Public Sector AI, ownership and incentives
Technology (16): Clustering Technologies, Clustering People (v2)
Sorry to email subscribers receiving this twice due to a scheduling error. The extra bit at the bottom is interesting! The previous post in this… Read More »Technology (16): Clustering Technologies, Clustering People (v2)
Aeroplane; or, Business and Pleasure
I like pleasure spiked with painAnd music is my aeroplaneIt’s my aeroplaneSongbird sweet and sour JaneAnd music is my aeroplaneIt’s my aeroplane Red Hot Chili… Read More »Aeroplane; or, Business and Pleasure
Technology (15): Jerry Neumann on technological systems and constellations of innovations
This extract comes from a much longer piece on Jerry Neumann’s blog, Reaction Wheel. Highly recommended. A Technological System is a set of technologies that… Read More »Technology (15): Jerry Neumann on technological systems and constellations of innovations
Writing and Reading as Technology (5): Literacy as Infrastructure for Thought
The development of spoken language was humankind’s first great networking technology.* Speech allows us to communicate thought and to think far better than we could… Read More »Writing and Reading as Technology (5): Literacy as Infrastructure for Thought
Technology (14): Only Forward? Kevin Kelly on tech and cities as possibility factories
… for me, the only real case, or the only real evidence for what a world without technology looks like is the past and the… Read More »Technology (14): Only Forward? Kevin Kelly on tech and cities as possibility factories