Ever since I read Guns, Germs, and Steel, and then more books like it, I started a mental category of “books that changed the way I see the world.” These books have a few things in common: they are non-fiction; they often span eras; they present grand theories based on solid evidence; they’re engagingly written for a relatively broad audience; in most cases, I couldn’t put them down, finishing them in a short amount of time, and then buttonholed all my friends telling them to read the...| Aaron Hertzmann’s blog
Fads are nothing new, but an online-first culture has made raw trendiness the primary cultural value, which is moving the base of cultural production away from the U.S. Amanda Mull, Bloomberg: The Social Media Machine is Spitting Out Weirder and Weirder Results Mull’s article is a solid primer| Culture: An Owner's Manual
The best way to understand generative AI art and aesthetics is to consider how previous "synthetics" lost value in the long-run For the first half of the 20th century, white-collar workers wore business shirts made from cotton or linen that wrinkled in the wash. Ironing them into a presentable shape| Culture: An Owner's Manual