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How Our Talent For Charades Facilitated Spoken Language

If words are arbitrary and purely a matter of convention, then how did they come to be established in the first place? In practical terms: how did our ancestors create the original words? - Psyche

Detroit Symphony Picks New Chief Exec

Erik Ronmark has spent virtually his entire career with the DSO, having started as a part-time assistant in the music library in 2005. He was named general manager eight years ago and became vice president three years later. - Detroit Free Press

Why Are DeepFakes So Morally Unsettling?

Deepfakes, for better or worse, are here to stay: apps that make use of this technology are widely available, and will only become more so. That means it is incumbent upon us to think through our moral intuitions about this new and dangerous technology. - Psyche

Learning Isn’t Enough: Why Robots Will Need Genetic Codes

“I would love to have a robot load up dishes into my dishwasher, and I’d love to have a robot clean my house,” says Zador, but we are far from making such helpful assistants. When it comes to household chores, we’re at the level of Roomba. - Nautilus

New Report: Who Leads The World’s Ballet Companies

Of 179 artistic directors of major ballet companies, 59 are women (33%), while 119 are men (66%), and 1 is gender expansive (0.6%). Similarly, of artistic directors of the Largest 50 U.S. ballet companies, there are 15 women (29%) and 36 men (71%). - Dance Data Project

The Power Of A Great Hollywood Actor

The effect that actors have — the source of their power and fascination — is more than just subjective. It’s interpersonal. Watching them act, we don’t simply appreciate their discipline or admire their craft. They offer the potent, sometimes uncomfortable possibility of intimacy. - The New York Times

Doom Metal Organist Picketed By French Catholics Who Call Her Music “Satanic”

One critic describes Anna von Hausswolff's music as "where post-rock, doom metal, modern classical and high church music all coexist." Her concert at a church in Nantes was called off after protesters chanting Hail Marys blocked the entrance; tonight's performance at Saint-Eustache in Paris is cancelled. - The Guardian

Hollywood’s Progress In Diversity Hits A Speed Bump

“Diversity” may have become an even more popular buzzword in show business circles since the summer of 2020, but the goal of attaining full and meaningful multicultural representation remains elusive. - Los Angeles Times

In Germany, Stage Directors Rule, But It’s The Actors Who’ve Been Keeping The Theaters Running

"One of the main reasons theater here has been able to rebound after repeated closures is that Germany effectively has a standing army of actors, most of whom continued to receive most of their salaries during the monthslong stretches when stages were dark." - The New York Times

The First Piece Of Music Created By An AI Was In 1956

Decades before today’s artificial intelligence pop stars, Auto-Tune and deepfake compositions was Lejaren Hiller’s piece, described by the New York Times in his 1994 obituary as “the first substantial piece of music composed on a computer” – and indeed by a computer. - The Guardian

Now *This* Is How To Design Attractive Affordable Housing

Critic Oliver Wainwright says that the architects of this east London project, called A House for Artists, have found a way to follow local regulations and codes and keeps building costs low while still creating living spaces that are flexible and filled with light. - The Guardian

Transformative Director Of NYC’s City Center Steps Down After 18 Years

During her tenure, Arlene Shuler has transformed City Center from a mostly rental space for dance companies to a producing house that commissions and presents, on average, around 60 percent of its annual programming. The New York Times

How “Squid Game” Has Transformed International TV

Better, perhaps, to say that the Korean hit marks a transformation that has been happening for several years now: the gradual acceptance by anglophone audiences of what Parasite director Bong Joon-ho called "the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles." - BBC

Research: Why Sustainable Careers In The Arts Are So Difficult

In the interviews taken as part of my research, I repeatedly found financial constraints underpin three problems causing career unsustainability in the arts. - The Conversation

Ebook And Audiobook Stats From UK Libraries Have A Few Surprises

The sleeper among audiobooks — ahead of Michelle Obama and Kazuo Ishiguro, behind only J.K. Rowling — is mystery writer Brenda Chapman's Cold Mourning. Among ebooks borrowed, at #4, ahead of this year's Booker winner and just behind Ishiguro, is Ellery Adams's The Secret, Book & Scone Society. - The Guardian

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