Three ways of improving understanding: Curve Fitting, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): a not entirely monotonic scale of performance A working paper to help me think through the categories of capabilities that align with each Current technology seems to primarily consist of slick statistical correlations of the …
Reading Sianne Ngai’s Theory of the Gimmick made me hyper sensitive to aesthetic evaluations that were primarily based upon the level of effort input to the work by the artist rather than relying on the “output” of the work aka the experience it induces in its audience . Unsurprising then, …
by Andreas Keller I’ve had a background interest in the sense of smell since reading Luca Turin’s The Secret of Scent back in the day. I found it compelling because the complexity of olfaction seemed to exceed the capability of the receptor paradigm However, that was before my recent encounter with …
In his article “Scrolling,” Gavin Francis mistakenly blames devices for the deleterious effects of the apps that run on them. There are many experiences one can have while using one’s phone (or “screen”), and it’s misleading to treat the most egregious experiences as characteristic of the whole. Phones are …
The Feeling of Life Itself by Christof Koch Note: many of the quotes use the term consciousness, which I think that has implications beyond what is actually implied — a better term would be awareness Koch presents a broad, generous view of organic consciousness. He delineates 5 necessary properties of …
Andy Goldsworthy’s Leaning Into The Wind is primarily another chapter in his ongoing documentation of what he’s been working on lately, but it had a few items whose timing/length didn’t quite fit with that format. It made me think about time, time lengths of visual snippets and how they can …
Note: In this post I’m discussing viewing art that was not originally intended to be viewed online, e.g., paintings, sculptures, etc. that were created to be viewed in person. Deficiencies encountered when viewing artwork online that was intended to be viewed online are deficiencies of the artwork’s conception or execution …
Inside out comes from this appleworld post Which, although it’s in reference to something a bit different (head mounted mixed reality displays), captures a fundamental aspect of this newest set of technological affordances. If we think in terms of the skin as being a boundary layer between us and the …
Reading the (in)famous recent letter in Harpers https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/ and the responses it engendered. I was struck that I hadn’t seen anything addressing the empirical research on how people process information, and bring those results to bear on evaluating the issue. I’ve been, and continue to be, an advocate of an …
The existence of prostitution in all its forms lowers the value of wifely sexual services, This is a Phrase from Ann E. Cudd’s Analyzing Oppression which has stuck in my brain ever since I read it a few weeks ago. I don’t plan to talk about the book, other than …