ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

IDEAS

Behavioral: Why We’re Addicted To Work

Work requires and supports a certain ecology of tasks, an economy of attention. You train your mind to it. When the job’s gone, that attention economy is rendered useless. But you’ve devoted so much time to it that you don’t know how else to deploy your behavioral resources. - 3 Quarks Daily

Does Choice Make You Free? (The Costs Of Choosing)

If choice has indeed become an end unto itself, absent a set of principles for actually making choices, then something has gone awry. - The Atlantic

Our Technologies Keep Trying To Give Us “Experiences.” They’re Fake.

More and more, our “mediating technologies” are in the business not of enhancing our own senses to encounter the world better, but in replacing authentic experience with “experiences.” - The Point

What Jaws Did To, And Also For, Sharks

“Before Jaws premiered in 1975, most shark research was conducted by the U.S. Navy. Much of it involved experimenting and testing repellents to prevent shark attacks on sailors.” - The New York Times

Lessons From The Apocalypse

How humanity, or at least some humans, can survive. (Hint: Study archaeology.) - Fast Company

Instead Of Replacing Journalists, Can Targeted AI Use Help Indie News Sites Get Better?

Minnesota’s nonprofit Sahan Journal "has been working on ways to support internal workflows with AI. Now, it’s even testing a custom ChatGPT bot to help pitch Sahan Journal to prospective advertisers and sponsors.” - Nieman Lab

K-Dramas Are Actually A Cry For Help

“As the most popular Korean dramas are desperately trying to tell us, you can’t fix a first-world problem when crucial areas of your society are still stuck in an outdated mentality.” - The New York Times

That Guy In The White House Is Terrified Of Black Artistry And Culture

“Trump knows that culture in the hands of subjugated peoples is a political weapon that he can’t best. His lavish attempts at conjuring a culture via pageantry seem pathetic because they are. In a culture war fair fight, ... he will lose.” - The Guardian (UK)

Authors Are Creating Time-Lapse Tik-Toks To Prove They Don’t Use AI

One young adult fantasy author “doesn't say a single word in the video, but her captions on the screen speak volumes. ‘Using GenAI to write a book doesn’t make you a writer, it makes you a thief,’ reads one.” - Wired

The Loneliness Epidemic And Its Link To Technology

Studies link loneliness and social isolation to increased mortality, dementia and stroke. Among adults, loneliness is linked to chronic diseases such as heart disease and obesity, and it is known to worsen job performance and commitment. - Aeon

AI Is Rewiring The Internet And… Of Course There Are Downsides

A growing body of research correlates persistent use of AI with a drop in critical thinking; humans become reliant on AI and unwilling, perhaps unable, to verify its work. As chatbots creep into every digital crevice, they may continue to degrade the web gradually, even gently. Today’s jankiness may, by tomorrow, simply be normal. - The Atlantic

So Why Does Everyone Seem To Be Identifying With Imposter Syndrome?

The phrase “impostor syndrome” often elicits a fierce sense of identification, especially from millennial and Gen X women. When I put out a call on Twitter for experiences of impostor syndrome, I was flooded with responses. - The New Yorker

AI Bots Are Scouring Our Museum and Library Collections. Is Our Culture Being Stolen?

"For example, one respondent’s online collection included a semi-private archive that normally received a handful of visitors per day. That archive was discovered by bots and immediately overwhelmed by the traffic, even though other parts of the system were able to handle similar volumes of traffic.” - 404 Media

How Medieval Monks Spread Culture And Learning

 The importance of monasteries for the emergence of the Renaissance can hardly be overstated. Their number increased many times over from the sixth to the fifteenth century, from about one thousand to over twenty thousand. They were agents of cultural transmission. - LitHub

What, Exactly, Defines Real Creativity?

What is the difference between great and mediocre art? Why do some songs, poems, and paintings move us profoundly, while others—even if they impress us with their technical skill—leave us cold? - Psychology Today

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