Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
Thinking About Machines Being Self-Aware
Theory of mind helps us communicate with and understand one another; it allows us to enjoy literature and movies, play games and make sense...
Why Our Handwriting Is Getting Worse
“The bad handwriting specifically comes from I’m thinking too fast for my hand. I feel like being able to type as quickly as I’m...
Global Museum Attendance: Which Museums Have Recovered (And Those That Haven’t)
That 141 million is double the number we recorded last year, and nearly three times that of 2020. But there is still some way...
What Elephants Are Teaching A Neuroscientist About Music
Elephants tend to keep a steadier beat than humans do, a study by the neuroscientist Aniruddh Patel later found, and Luk Kop’s sense of...
How Public Radio Could Fill Gaps In Local News
With more staff, local public radio stations could help fill the information gap created by the decline of local newspapers. They could afford to...
Something’s Terribly Awry With The “Creator” Economy
For the past few years, social-media platforms have used creator funds to lure content creators from their rivals with the promise of money to...
Sorry, The Problem Isn’t Misinformation, It’s “Knowingness”
In 21st-century culture, knowingness is rampant. You see it in the conspiracy theorist who dismisses contrary evidence as a ‘false flag’ and in the...
Ibrahim X. Kendi: Changing The Definition Of An Intellectual
The traditional construct of the intellectual has produced and reinforced bigoted ideas of group hierarchy—the most anti-intellectual constructs existing. But this framing is crumbling,...
Met Museum Attendance Down By 1.7 Million In 2022
The Met was not alone among New York’s major institutions in experiencing a drop in attendance compared to 2019, with the Solomon R. Guggenheim...
Hong Kong’s New M+ Becomes One Of The Most Popular Museums In Asia
M+ reported 2,034,331 visitors for the whole of 2022, placing it 18th on our table of the world’s most visited art museums. If visitors...
Family Discovers Hidden Brueghel “Masterpiece” Behind Door In Their House
The family, who wishes to remain unknown, had asked Malo de Lussac of auctioneers Daguerre Val de Loire to estimate the value of their...
How Artists Are Fighting Back To Protect Their Work In The World Of AI
Artists are fighting back, using a range of tactics from legal action to IT hacks, in order to protect their creative output and secure...
AI’s Challenge To Traditional Education
For all the opportunities ChatGPT might bring, its greatest threat right now is to the teaching of writing. There are other ways to assess...
Burnout Afflicts Toronto’s Theatre Community
Even without hard numbers, many of the designers, technicians and stage managers who are still around agree: there are more job contracts available in...
How Professional Wrestling Explains American Culture
Millions of people love wrestling; millions more loathe it. Many people simply don’t know what to do with it. Although the symbiotic relationship between...
Neil Young: Tickemaster Has Ruined Touring
"It’s over. The old days are gone. I get letters blaming me for $3,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does...
ChatGPT Suggests A New Way To Search. But Will Microsoft Ruin It?
Microsoft’s rollout of a Bing search chatbot based on technology underlying OpenAI’s ChatGPT has prompted concerns that Microsoft is unfairly squeezing out its search data customers as...
The Inherent Dangerousness Of Janet Malcolm’s Method
For a writer so relentlessly suspicious of the accounts we give of ourselves, and so attuned to the meager defenses we muster against self-exposure,...
Disney Will Make Three Rounds Of Layoffs This Year
This week’s initial round comes a few days before the company’s annual shareholder meeting on April 3. Iger had first announced plans for the...
Banksy’s Migrant Rescue Boat Seized By Italian Authorities
A rescue ship funded by British street artist Banksy was seized in Lampedusa on Sunday after Italy's coast guard said the boat had disobeyed...
The Problems In Properly Authenticating, Protecting Indigenous Art
The Native community finds itself in this fight against the misrepresentation. This leaves consumers in a tough spot, parsing through what efforts businesses are...
Dear Parents: In Our Art Class There’s Going To Be Art. Okay?
You signed up for a classical education, in theory — at least, that word is in the name of our school! — so I...
Book-Banning Crusades Are Energizing Indie Bookstores
As book banning efforts intensify—along with assaults on women’s bodily autonomy and on the AP African American studies curriculum—old-school feminist bookstores and new intersectional...
Are Expensive German Opera Training Programs Worth It?
There’s no guarantee that the programs will help young singers get roles in the first place. - Van
Marty Baron: In Defense Of Journalistic Objectivity
These critics of objectivity among journalism professionals, encouraged and enabled by many in the academic world, are convinced that journalism has failed on multiple...
