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Ideas

How Social Media Has Rewired Our Cultural/Political Discourse

IDEAS Posted: January 26, 2021 10:32 am

This expanding cornucopia of tech and entertainment has served as a compensatory narrative of progress and advancement for an empire in decline. The future seems more and more constrained, materially, but, on the flip side, you are freer and freer to build your own virtual worlds and get lost in them. – Artnet

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Read the story in Artnet Published: 01.22.21

The Theatre Of Dreams

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 2:14 pm

We are neurochemically predisposed to find our dreams meaningful, which may suggest that they do have a pedagogical function. Even the common advice to make an important decision only after you “sleep on it” might be worth revising, to “dream on it.” The fact that dreams often generate powerful emotions and deploy narrative structures further strengthens the notion that they perhaps represent a kind of theater of the unconscious, one not always intent on providing concrete solutions so much as making sense and meaning out of our experiences. – Washington Post

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Read the story in Washington Post Published: 01.22.21

Could Amsterdam’s Radical Effort To Transform Itself Leave Capitalism Behind?

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 1:14 pm

In April 2020, during the first wave of COVID-19, Amsterdam’s city government announced it would recover from the crisis, and avoid future ones, by embracing the theory of “doughnut economics.” – Time

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Read the story in Time Published: 01.22.21

The Psychology Of Massive Multiplayer Online Games and The QAnon Delusions

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 12:32 pm

“The art of creating the connections and building communities of others who also come to believe and amplify them is a virtuous circle that keeps growing and strengthening increasingly wacky beliefs.” – Post Alley

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Read the story in Post Alley Published: 01.18.21

A Checklist For Happiness? It Doesn’t Work That Way

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 11:01 am

“Every cultural message we get is that happiness can be read off a scorecard of money, education, experiences, relationships, and prestige. Want the happiest life? Check the boxes of success and adventure, and do it as early as possible! Then move on to the next set of boxes. She who dies with the most checked boxes wins, right? Wrong. I don’t mean that accomplishment and ambition are bad, but that they are simply not the drivers of our happiness.” – The Atlantic

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Read the story in The Atlantic Published: 01.19.21

Here’s What The New American Elite Looks Like

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 10:16 am

“From the American Revolution until the late 20th century, the American elite was divided among regional oligarchies. It is only in the last generation that these regional patriciates have been absorbed into a single, increasingly homogeneous national oligarchy, with the same accent, manners, values, and educational backgrounds from Boston to Austin and San Francisco to New York and Atlanta. This is a truly epochal development.” – Tablet

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Read the story in Tablet Published: 01.19.21

Can Virtual Reality Deliver The Benefits Of Nature?

IDEAS Posted: January 25, 2021 4:45 am

It’s an urgent question for many in lockdown – and in the UK, “whether we are in lockdown or not, four fifths of the UK population lives in an urban environment and one in eight homes do not have a garden.”- BBC

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Read the story in BBC Published: 01.24.21

The Backstage Details Of That Pandemic Inauguration Gala Spectacular

IDEAS Posted: January 24, 2021 6:30 am

The producer of the Celebrating America gala had to be very cautious, and very (very) flexible: “Our plans were carved in Jello. Everything was moldable. In a way, it makes it tenfold harder, but in a way it’s a little freeing because you’re not stuck into shoehorning into the things that exist. The pandemic also caused us to figure out how to not draw a crowd and how to build a show without drawing a crowd, which is against every instinct we have.” – Variety

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Read the story in Variety Published: 01.23.21

Why Love Work? It Doesn’t Love You Back

IDEAS Posted: January 22, 2021 1:32 pm

Over the past few decades, this ethos of cheerless duty has been overtaken by the imperative to love your work. Graduation speakers, human resources departments, and motivational memes keep telling us we ought to merge passion with profession. But work remains stubbornly unlovable. Especially for workers in the United States, the hours are long, wages have not remotely kept up with productivity, and job security is minimal. – The New Republic

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Read the story in The New Republic Published: 01.20.21

Why Conspiracy Theories Are So Attractive

IDEAS Posted: January 22, 2021 12:30 pm

Are conspiracy theories truly more prevalent and influential today, or does it just seem that way? – NiemanLab

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Read the story in Niemanlab Published: 01.19.21

The Power Of Jigsaw Puzzles To Put The World Back Together

IDEAS Posted: January 21, 2021 12:29 pm

If maps are representations of a larger reality, then jigsaws are maps too. Indeed, they began life this way, as ‘dissected maps’. Invented by the British cartographer John Spilsbury in the 1760s, the earliest puzzles were designed to make geography lessons more fun for schoolchildren and, no doubt, inculcate them early into the cult of empire. – Psyche

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Read the story in Psyche Published: 01.20.21

The Culture Of Nothing?

IDEAS Posted: January 20, 2021 1:02 pm

For years, an aesthetic mode of nothingness has been ascendant — a literally nihilistic attitude visible in all realms of culture, one intent on the destruction of extraneity in all its forms, up to and including noise, decoration, possessions, identities and face-to-face interaction. Over the past decade, American consumers have glamorized the pursuit of expensive nothing in the form of emptied-out spaces like the open-floor plans of start-up offices, austere loft-condo buildings and anonymous Airbnbs. – The New York Times

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Read the story in The New York Times Published: 01.19.21

Unhappiness As A Political Act

IDEAS Posted: January 19, 2021 3:01 pm

The focus of the “medicalization of unhappiness” debate was whether unhappiness should be considered a scientific problem. That issue has given way to the “politicization of unhappiness.” Whatever unhappiness Americans feel in their private lives has spilled over into the public realm, with ramifications far beyond whether people who take drugs to feel happy should be doing so. – National Affairs

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Read the story in National Affairs Published: 01.21

The Different Flavors Of Change

IDEAS Posted: January 19, 2021 1:32 pm

The paradox of change is that while it impacts us on a very subjective, personal level and each of us perceives it very differently, on another level it also unites us because of its universal aspects, aspects that can help us define our common humanity. – 3 Quarks Daily

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Read the story in 3 Quarks Daily Published: 01.18.21

Is American History As We’ve Been Taught It Wrong? Trump Commission Says So

IDEAS Posted: January 19, 2021 11:32 am

The commission’s report charges, in terms quickly derided by many mainstream historians, that Americans are being indoctrinated with a false critique of the nation’s founding and identity, including the role of slavery in its history. – The New York Times

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Read the story in The New York Times Published: 01.18.21

Perhaps We’d Be Happier If We Stopped Pursuing Being Happy?

IDEAS Posted: January 19, 2021 9:31 am

As well as reducing everyday contentment, the constant desire to feel happier can make people feel more lonely. We become so absorbed in our own wellbeing, we forget the people around us – and may even resent them for inadvertently bringing down our mood or distracting us from more “important” goals. – The Guardian

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Read the story in The Guardian Published: 01.18.21

Hey America, Our To-Do Lists Will Never Get Shorter

IDEAS Posted: January 17, 2021 8:00 am

Well, not in the foreseeable future, anyway, unless we can accept some “okayist” awards instead of trying to be number one all of the damn time. “Two developments that are making a substantial group of Americans busier, Sayer explained, are that a larger share of the country now takes on the combined ‘social roles’ of worker, spouse, and parent, and that the expectations of each have risen. Increases in busyness, she told me, are a matter of ‘both feeling like there’s more [to do and] feeling that you have to ‘be the best you can be’ in all of the roles, or you’ve failed as a person.'” – The Atlantic

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Read the story in The Atlantic Published: 01.15.21

The Stagehands Union Says It’s Time To Let Them Run Mass Vaccine Sites In Now-Empty Performance Spaces

IDEAS Posted: January 17, 2021 4:00 am

This seems almost too obvious when one considers it. The people who know how to set up almost any kind of venue, run crowd control with various safety protocols, and already showed they can help create field hospitals? “The response to the tweet has been positive with union members chiming in offering their support. ‘We REALLY want to help,’ wrote one Twitter user, while another suggested using movie studio lots.” – Variety

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Read the story in Variety Published: 01.16.21

Why Conspiracy Theories Are So Attractive To So Many

IDEAS Posted: January 15, 2021 1:31 pm

Experts say that the majority of people do not easily fall for falsehoods. But when misinformation offers simple, casual explanations for otherwise random events, “it helps restore a sense of agency and control for many people,” says Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist at the University of Cambridge. – National Geographic

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Read the story in National Geographic Published: 01.08.21

The Wrenching Realities Of Gentrification

IDEAS Posted: January 14, 2021 2:01 pm

Gentrification is one of the most pressing – and polarising – issues confronting cities today. In popular discussions, defenders of gentrification tend to paint it as an influx of badly needed capital into blighted urban areas… Critics view gentrification as a quasi-colonial invasion of the privileged into economically vulnerable communities. – Aeon

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Read the story in Aeon Published: 01.13.21

Global Culture? It Won’t Really Ever Happen

IDEAS Posted: January 14, 2021 10:25 am

“Populations across the globe today may devour Starbucks, KFC, and Coca-Cola. They may enjoy Italian opera, French couture, and Persian carpets. But no matter how many exotic influences each absorbs or what foreign connections they make, nations don’t just fade away. They retain their citizens’ fierce devotion.” – Nautilus

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Read the story in Nautilus Published: 01.13.21

Needed: A Historic Plan For Rebuilding The Arts In America

IDEAS Posted: January 14, 2021 9:31 am

The Biden campaign promised that America could “build back better,” and throughout 2020 the president-elect extolled F.D.R.’s New Deal as a blueprint for American renewal. For the administration to show that sort of Rooseveltian resolve — and, with control of the Senate, it just about can — it’s going to have to put millions of Americans on the federal payroll: among them artists, musicians and actors, tasked to restore a battered nation. – The New York Times

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Read the story in The New York Times Published: 01.13.21

What We Need Is Artificial Intelligence That Explains Itself

IDEAS Posted: January 14, 2021 8:29 am

A computer that masters protein folding and also tells researchers more about the rules of biology is much more useful than a computer that folds proteins without explanation. – The Conversation

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Read the story in The Conversation Published: 01.13.21

The Important Privilege Of Being An Absolute Beginner

IDEAS Posted: January 13, 2021 3:01 pm

“For most of us, the beginner stage is something to be got through as quickly as possible, like a socially awkward skin condition. But even if we’re only passing through, we should pay particular attention to this moment. For once it goes, it’s hard to get back.” – The Guardian

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Read the story in The Guardian Published: 01.11.21

The Philosophy Of Wine? But Of Course…

IDEAS Posted: January 13, 2021 8:31 am

“Not content to simply establish the origins of our belief systems, philosophers focus on the evidence that supports our belief systems and whether we have good reasons to believe what we believe, which requires an inquiry into what exactly counts as a good reason. In other words, philosophers think about thinking and try to develop concepts that help us think more clearly.” – 3 Quarks Daily

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Read the story in 3 Quarks Daily Published: 01.11.21

Next Page »
  • Lookback: on joining the National Counncil on the Arts
    From 2005: I went to my framer yesterday afternoon and picked up the presidential commission for my appointment to the National Council on the Arts. It’s a splendidly old-fashioned document, about twice the size of a college diploma, printed in copperplate script on thick cream paper by the Bureau of Engraving... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-26
  • Almanac: Thornton Wilder on hope
    “Hope, like faith, is nothing if it is not courageous; it is nothing if it is not ridiculous.” Thornton Wilder, The Eighth Day Continue reading Almanac: Thornton Wilder on hope at About Last Night.... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-26
  • Almanac: Gore Vidal on the will to power
    “To want power is corruption already.” Gore Vidal, The Best Man Continue reading Almanac: Gore Vidal on the will to power at About Last Night.... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-25
  • Just because: Gore Vidal talks about The Best Man
    In an undated TV interview, Gore Vidal talks about Franklin J. Schaffner’s 1964 screen version of The Best Man, his 1960 play, and the ideas about politics on which it was based: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-24
  • Joseph Conyers on Being an Artist Entrepreneur
    Check out this week’s episode of my show Arts Engines with Joseph Conyers, The Philadelphia Orchestra bassist and entrepreneur, as he shares the passions that have fueled his success!... Read more
    Source: Aaron Dworkin Published on: 2021-01-23
  • Looking for a Fugitive Rainbow—a Very Transient “Gift” to the Bidens
    Laura Baptiste, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s (SAAM’s) always helpful chief of communications and public affairs, found herself fielding misinformation disseminated in a number of news reports after Wednesday’s Presidential Inauguration festivities. She scrambled to set the record straight about Robert Duncanson‘s suddenly famous “Landscape with Rainbow,” after several published... Read more
    Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2021-01-22
  • Verbal virtuosity
    In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I review Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s Shaw! Shaw! Shaw!. Here’s an excerpt. *  *  * Webcasts of the plays of George Bernard Shaw have been scarce during the pandemic. It’s a shame, for Shaw’s plays are for the most part comedies of ideas, political and... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-22
  • Jump-starting an arts revival
    In today’s Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column, I talk about how to jump-start a post-pandemic revival of the arts in America. Here’s an excerpt. *  *  * As everybody with even the slightest interest in the arts knows, the coming of Covid-19 has had a catastrophic effect on creative institutions in every... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-22
  • Replay: Alfred Hitchcock talks to Dick Cavett
    Alfred Hitchcock is interviewed by Dick Cavett on TV in 1972: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Replay: Alfred Hitchcock talks to Dick Cavett at About Last Night.... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-22
  • Almanac: Tolstoy on happiness
    “Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly.” Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace (trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude) Continue reading Almanac: Tolstoy on happiness at About Last Night.... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-22
  • Almanac: Ambrose Bierce on the President of the United States
    “PRESIDENT, n. The leading figure in a small group of men of whom—and of whom only—it is positively known that immense numbers of their countrymen did not want any of them for President.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary Continue reading Almanac: Ambrose Bierce on the President of the United States at... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-21
  • Ominous Juxtaposition? Biden Flanked by Duncanson’s “Rainbow” & Statue of a Murdered President
    In a jolting inauguration installation, marred by unintentionally dark symbolism that, hopefully, wasn’t discerned by the Bidens, this afternoon’s celebration after the joyful swearing-in of the new President and Vice President included a brief walk through the Capitol rotunda led by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, chairman of the Senate Republican... Read more
    Source: CultureGrrl Published on: 2021-01-20
  • Snapshot: FDR’s 1933 inauguration
    Sound footage of the presidential inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933: (This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) Continue reading Snapshot: FDR’s 1933 inauguration at About Last Night.... Read more
    Source: About Last Night Published on: 2021-01-20

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