Around the Web 26
Around the Web 26
Post-AI Writing 📝, Empiricists 🧠, and the Machine Apocalypse 🦾
Check out my latest AI newsletter.
Watch my latest video essay: The Middle Ages: Not So Dark
For books I have recently read, reviewed, or currently reading, go to the end of the newsletter.
[Talking🗣️points for your next outing📍]
📨 Telegram reaches 900m users.
🇺🇸 U.S. states where people get the most — and the least — exercise.
💵US household wealth soars to record on booming stocks.
👨🏼⚕Surgeons successfully transplant a pig kidney into a man.
🍎The United States Sues Apple.
💭Neuralink patient can control a computer, play games by thinking.
🇮🇳India was home to the four most polluted cities in the world in 2023.
📱Facebook brings back ‘Poke’
[Long Read 📰 / Video 🎥]
[I]: The English Game (Netflix Show)
I am a soccer fan (I also play the game), so naturally I really enjoyed watching The English Game.
“Two 19th-century footballers on opposite sides of a class divide navigate professional and personal turmoil to change the game — and England — forever.”
[II]: Rory Sutherland: Hidden Psychology of the World’s Best Advertising.
Always fun listening to Rory.
[III]: Science Does Not Describe Reality
Fine, short introduction to the empiricist vs. scientific realist debate.
(I got my ‘baptism’ of the empiricist vs. scientific realist debate reading Theory and Reality by Peter GodFrey-Smith, a few years ago.)
[IV]: The Tourist (Netflix Show)
I very much enjoyed watching this thriller.
“In the Australian Outback, a man wakes up in the hospital with no idea who he is — or why so many people want him dead.”
[V]: Resist the Machine Apocalypse
Iain McGilchrist, in this rich essay, addresses the human condition in the modern world, heavily influenced by technology and a skewed reliance on the left hemisphere of the brain, which focuses on manipulation and control rather than a holistic understanding of life.
McGilchrist warns of the dangers of this imbalance, including a loss of connection with nature, culture, and ourselves, leading to a mechanical and reductionist view of existence.
He calls for a restoration of balance, emphasizing the right hemisphere's capabilities for empathy, creativity, and understanding, to avoid a dystopian future dominated by technology and devoid of genuine human experience.
(I still have The Master and His Emissary on my shelf, I am yet to get to it)
[VI]: Israel-Palestine Debate
I don’t know much of anything about the history of the Israeli-Palestine Conflict and I have been reluctant to get into this debate, even privately, amongst friends - I am simply too ignorant of the subject matter.
Admittedly I have watched a few yelling shows on YouTube, but no one need convincing that such settings hardly lend themselves to deep discussions of the issues at hand, talk less of detailed discussion of the historicity of this issue. Anyway, I treated myself to this 5-hour podcast over 2 days in an attempt to cure myself of my ignorance.
[VII]: Venkatesh Rao: My Post-AI Writing
I share Venkatesh’s Post-AI writing sentiments. For virtually all my creative writing, it’s simply impossible to incorporate AI in so many ways (apart of, say LLM-enabled internet and text search).
For one, I write as a way of thinking: most of what I will write at the end of the piece, I simply don’t know at the beginning (I start writing with a kernel of idea, and I then flesh things out as they come to me: For example the last sentence I wrote was not in my head when I started writing this little section.)
As Venkatesh puts it, using AI for my creative writing is like “going for a walk in my car.” Here is a fine, more extended quote from the essay:
“The more the ends matter more than the means, the more AI is helpful. If you like flying a plane, a copilot just cuts in on your time at the controls. If you’re just trying to fly somewhere, you’re happy to let the copilot fly. For me the “ends” of writing barely matter at all. It’s all about the means.”
[VII]: Jonathan Haidt: Social Media, Wokeism
I am fan of Jonathan Haidt’s work, so I listened in. If you have read or listened to his work on social media, much of this content will be familiar.
[VIII]: Marilynne Robinson on Biblical Interpretation, Calvinist Thought, and Religion in America
I don’t know Marilynne Robinson, but I am always turned on by theology contents especially on platforms like Tyler Cowen’s. I enjoyed listening.
“Marilynne Robinson is one of America’s best and best-known novelists and essayists, whose award-winning works like Housekeeping and Gilead explore themes of faith, grace, and the intricacies of human nature. Beyond her writing, Robinson’s 25-year tenure at the famed Iowa Writers’ Workshop allowed her to shape and inspire the new generations of writers. Her latest book, Reading Genesis, displays her scholarly prowess, analyzing the biblical text not only through the lens of religious doctrine but also appreciating it as a literary masterpiece.”
[Books 📚]
Book(s) I read (and reviewed) recently:
- All Creatures Great and Small
- Medieval Horizons: Why the Middle Ages Matter
What I am currently reading:
