IDEAS

I Am Anti-AI. How Do We Get It Out Of Schools?

At times, I find myself speaking with my kids about A.I. in the same terms that we might discuss a creepy neighbor who lives down the block: avoid eye contact, cross the street when you walk past his house, and, when in doubt, call on a trusted adult. - The New Yorker

Blame It On The Culture

Someone observes a behavioral difference between groups or countries. They can’t immediately identify the mechanism. So, they invoke “culture” as an explanation or, even worse, “the culture.” The word lands with a satisfying thud that sounds like an explanation but isn’t one. It is the terminus of inquiry, not the beginning. - Laissez Faire

The Complicated Calculations Behind FOMO

By recognising the social orientation of the experience, we can take a step towards understanding the nature of FOMO and what it can do for us. Emotions that feel bad often serve important purposes. Anger can help us realise when things are unjust, regret can motivate us to make amends. - Psyche

A 60s Art Experiment That Redefined How We Think About Creativity

The discovery of this “problem-finding” creative process was a seminal moment in creativity research. In the decades since, countless researchers have shown that many of the most meaningful forms of real-world creativity and invention depend less on solving well-defined problems than on figuring out what the problem is in the first place. - Psychology Today

Another Human Threshold Crossed: Robot Beats Elite Ping Pong Players

Named Ace, the robotic system developed by Sony AI, won three out of five matches against elite players, but lost the two it played against professionals, clawing back only one game in the seven contests. - The Guardian

Grappling With What A Soul Is

This soul of yours has obviously come into existence with your body. Yet equally obviously it’s not made of bodily stuff. It lasts through the night when your body sleeps. It wanders off and leaves your body when you dream. - Aeon

Rethinking How Our Brains Process The World Using Categories

“The stimulus, cognition, response model of the brain is wrong. The brain prepares for a response and then perceives a stimulus. A brain is not reactive. It’s predictive. Action planning comes first. Perception comes second, as a function of the action plan.” - Picower Institute

Uncertainty Can Be Toxic. But Understanding it Creates Possibility

Research suggests uncertainty can be more distressing than negative certainty. In one study, people were calmer when they knew they would receive an electric shock than when there was only a 50% chance of one. - The Guardian

How AI Will Accelerate Human Creativity

The most successful organizations of 2026 and beyond will not be those that simply use AI to do more things faster. Instead, they will be the ones that use AI as a creativity accelerator, freeing up human capacity for the work that only we can do: imagining, connecting, and creating meaning. - Fast Company

The Board That Built Apple – And A Personal Computing Revolution – Is Turning Fifty

“The Apple I marked a great leap forward in convenience by coming already assembled, albeit without a monitor, a keyboard, or even a case; the purchase price of USD $666.66 (closer to $4,000 today) just got you the board. But what a board.” - Open Culture

What It Means That Hampshire College’s ‘Experimental’ Liberal Arts Education Is Saying Goodbye

“The shuttering of Hampshire College … feels different, not so much another liberal arts domino falling as the symbolic end of a whole tradition of progressive education in the US.” - New York Review Of Books

This Absolutely Unhinged Theme Park Presaged The Rise Of Silicon Valley

"From elephants to enterprise software — is there a better metaphor for the last half-century of radical change in San Mateo County? But mostly we should mark this anniversary so we don’t forget perhaps the most bonkers destination in Bay Area history.” - San Francisco Chronicle

One Restaurant Decided To Replace Its Workers With QR Codes, And Then It Found Out What That Would Mean

Oops. The Walker Art Center is not happy: "Cardamom is slated to shutter within the next 60 to 90 days. The museum is now seeking proposals for a replacement restaurant.” - ArtNews

The V&A East Is Just One Example Of How England, And The Entire UK, Could Put Money Back Into The Arts

Make the United Kingdom truly good again - with culture. - The Guardian (UK)

The Film About France During WWII That Is Very, Alarmingly Relevant To Several Other Countries Right Now

Yes, you need to watch The Sorrow and the Pity, and you need to do it right now. Why? Because “Ophuls’s film is illuminating precisely because its lessons about complicity apply to evil and corruption of all kinds.” - The Atlantic

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