Tag: Culture
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Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?
Howes says that “innovation is not in human nature, but is instead received. … when people do not innovate, it is often simply because it never occurs to them to do so.” Joel Mokyr says, similarly, that “progress isn’t natural” — Read on blog.rootsofprogress.org/why-did-we-wait-so-long-for-the-bicycle
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‘They take you out of life, out of time’: a journey into Spain’s astonishing cave paintings | Archaeology | The Guardian
Jung built his concept of the collective unconscious on a dream he had about descending the staircase of a big house. Each level corresponded to a lower, earlier layer of human history, from the 20th century all the way down to a bedrock floor scattered with the oldest Homo sapiens skulls. So, to stand before…
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Donald Trump is waging war against human conscience | Osita Nwanevu | The Guardian
Stephen Miller’s proleptic defense of seizing Greenland last week suggests the Trumpists themselves know this. “We live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he declared. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”…
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MTV Rewind
an interface through which you can watch music videos from the 70s to the 20s, organized by decade. There are also “channels” for 120 Minutes, MTV Unplugged, Yo! MTV Raps, Headbangers Ball, and the first full day of MTV programming. — Read on kottke.org/26/01/mtv-rewind
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The Goon Squad, by Daniel Kolitz
From these companies’ perspective, the ideal consumer would do literally nothing but goon, lose at gambling, and maybe watch other people play video games. You can try to fight this. You can read a book, pet a dog, buy a stupid box to lock away your phone. You can make a joke about the box,…
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Thin Desires Are Eating Your Life
The business model of most consumer technology is to identify some thick desire, find the part of it that produces a neurological reward, and then deliver that reward without the rest of the package. Social media gives you the feeling of social connection without the obligations of actual friendship. Pornography gives you sexual satisfaction without…
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What ’67’ Reveals About Childhood Creativity – Atlas Obscura
Language is still new to them, and they find difficulty in expressing themselves. When on their own they burst into rhyme, of no recognizable relevancy, as a cover in unexpected situations, to pass off an awkward meeting, to fill a silence, to hide a deeply felt emotion, or in a gasp of excitement.” This is…