Arendt wrote the prologue to The Human Condition not long after the successful launch of Sputnik raised the first realistic prospect of humanity taking its… Read More »Hannah Arendt on science, language, politics and our future machine overlords
It would be no surprise to me if it came as no surprise to you that running a leaf blower for thirty minutes produces far… Read More »Fact check: Comparing Leaf Blower Carbon Emissions with Pollution from Cars
Here’s Stephenson, from his Substack: Speaking of the effects of technology on individuals and society as a whole, Marshall McLuhan wrote that every augmentation is… Read More »Neal Stephenson on augmentation as amputation
Oh, when the sun beats down and burns the tar up on the roof,And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were… Read More »Not long ago; or, Little by little (11): Hot feet on hot days
The short film below was made entirely by OpenAI’s Sora people putting a lot of hard work and ideas into Open AI’s SORA. SORA is… Read More »Eye on AI: Shy Kids, airhead slot machine
From the recently updated post at OWID. See also: Our World in Data is Great and Getting Better; or, How I Destroyed Several Billion Medieval… Read More »Three things about the world from Max Roser and Our World in Data
Speaks for itself. See some of the 123 prototypes from 1:40. See also: Design Matters (23): Aqualisa shower control barDesign Matters (22): Phases of the… Read More »Design Matters (24), iteration edition: The Coat Hinger
… what you consider to be good working conditions may not be good for you. There are many illustrations of this point. For example, working… Read More »Richard Hamming on working with the door open
I think people have been seduced into thinking that the advance in information technology is going to bring more change to the future than I… Read More »Lant Pritchett on the limits of information technology; or, The Moore the Merrier?
It could almost have been written yesterday… Sir — There are few things of which the present generation is more justly proud than of the… Read More »Darwin among the machines: Samuel Butler (1863) on the mechanical master race