A new issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 12: Automation & Agency”—can we have a high level of automation and a high level of human control at the same time? Some interesting new examples are pointing the way. (Subscribe)
A new issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 12: Automation & Agency”—can we have a high level of automation and a high level of human control at the same time? Some interesting new examples are pointing the way. (Subscribe)
Belle is having thoughts
Current status: I have been invited to a “Ride with the Rabbis” spin class.
The moon is perched right on top of the Boston Commons Christmas tree
It was a pretty punk move. I was paid $50 that December.
Whenever I see a “Best of the Decade” piece, I am reminded of when I was an intern at Spin in 1989, and worked that entire summer on a big 80s retrospective issue. At the end of the year, Legs McNeil threw everything out and instead wrote a diatribe about how much the 80s sucked.
New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 11: Middle-Aged Software”—what can we learn from software we’ve been using for decades? Also: revisiting my 2010 prediction in the Chronicle of Higher Ed about 2020. (Subscribe to Humane Ingenuity)
Some good things going on at our library this week (aside from, or to help with, the stress of final exams)
Inequality has many deeply troubling effects on individuals and society, but one that is spoken of less than monetary concerns is mental health: the poor and marginalized receive much worse care, which creates a vicious circle. Listen to the latest What’s New podcast.
I love this note about how Nobuyuki Siraisi designed the 1979 version of the New York City subway map.
New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 10: The Nature and Locus of Research”—what happens when research moves from academic to corporate environments; more on GPT-2, plus computer-aided music production. (Subscribe)
The universe is filled with great imponderable mysteries, such as the fact that these three songs were huge #1 hits, in a row, in the fall of 1977:
-The Emotions, “Best of My Love” -Meco, “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band” -Debbie Boone, “You Light Up My Life”
On the latest What’s New podcast, we look at the mysterious and complex nature of human sight—“How We See,” with vision researcher Ennio Mingolla. Includes a discussion of the Mona Lisa and Leonardo’s insight; how frogs see flies; and the problems with self-driving cars’ vision.
Here at @NortheasternLib we have an opening for an Engineering Librarian, who will design experiential learning and research opportunities for engineering students using library content, spaces, tools, and services. I hope you’ll consider joining us.
The view from Northeastern’s library is spectacular right now
New issue of my newsletter is out: “Humane Ingenuity 9: GPT-2 and You” — The act of reading in an age when texts might be artificially generated by a computer, & more on renovating a library. (Or subscribe for all issues—it’s free.)
I think GPT-2 says less about artificial intelligence and more about how human intelligence is constantly looking for, and accepting of, stereotypical narrative genres, and how our mind always wants to make sense of any text it encounters, no matter how odd.
Teaching your kid how to drive is like being in a movie about a video game in which losing means you die in real life
New issue of my newsletter Humane Ingenuity is out: “Ebooks: It’s Complicated”—what went wrong with ebooks and e-readers, why Macmillan’s eight-week embargo on ebooks for libraries stings, and where to go from here. (Subscribe to the Humane Ingenuity newsletter.)
On the latest What’s New podcast, we go inside CERN and the Large Hadron Collider with physicist Louise Skinnari. Hear about the 40 terabytes of data produced per second, the search for dark matter, and how to write a paper with 4,000 authors. Tune in!
Belle has gotten good at blocking the stairs so you have to pet her.
Belle is concerned about the giant spider and dragon that have appeared on our neighbor’s porch
As the dean of a library, the possibility of a raccoon invasion is why I got a coonhound this year.
“You choose the web you want. But you have to do the work.” —@brentsimmons (Yep.)
Fall has reached the Post-Impressionism stage
