Category: Arts & Culture | Page 4

The Statue of Liberty over the Scene of New york cityscape river side which location is lower manhattan,Architecture and building with tourist concept

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Peter Biles
Date
July 4, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
America, freya india, Love, Smartphone, Tech}

Here Are Some Good Pieces to Read Over the Long Weekend

_{Reflections on love and freedom from two gifted writers} _{Peter Biles
July 4, 2024

3

Arts & Culture}

Happy Independence Day to all the American readers, which, presumably, is most of you! Condolences and best wishes to our British friends as they deal with a large-scale election tomorrow. Many people will be enjoying a particularly long weekend full of hot dogs, fireworks, and summer heat, but one can always use the spare time to catch up on some reading. Here are just a couple of links that I’ve found worthwhile over the last couple days. The first comes from novelist Tara Isabella Burton, who writes a candid piece on overcoming smartphone addiction in Plough. Like many of us, Burton both wrestles with spending too much time on screens but has also made resolutions to overcome her dependency again Read More ›

A post-apocalyptic New York City with empty roads and bleak atmosphere. Generative AI

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Peter Biles
Date
July 1, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts and Culture, Beauty, Dystopian, Prayer, religion, transcendence}

A Quiet Place: Two Moments That Stick Out

_{Characters in the dystopian thriller find solace in the transcendent} _{Peter Biles
July 1, 2024

2

Arts & Culture}

Those who can connect with a source of meaning beyond the material pain of the world are the ones who will stay alive in body and spirit.

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Peter Biles
Date
June 28, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Coldplay, Culture}

Coldplay, Pop Music, and AI Mimicry

_{Musicians are being pressured into the pop music mania} _{Peter Biles
June 28, 2024

3

Arts & Culture}

Coldplay is my favorite band. Some make fun of me for this, but their discography, ranging from the raw immediacy of Rush of Blood to the Head (2002) to the synthetic coldness of Ghost Stories (2014) is too wide ranging, beautifully rendered, and personally resonant for me to dismiss. That said, something’s happened to the music industry that has even alt-rockers in its grip, including Coldplay. The super-band’s latest single, “feelslikeimfallinginlove,” is a far cry from their roots. While some bands maturate with age, Coldplay has simplified and infantilized; frontman Chris Martin was writing much more interesting, compelling lyrics at age twenty-five than forty-five. The new single is a simple pop song, youthful, exuberant, without much musical complexity or the Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
June 21, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Anxiety, film, Gen Z, Movies}

Inside Out 2: Anxiety Takes Over

_{New animated film explores the internal anxieties of a teenage girl} _{Peter Biles
June 21, 2024

3

Arts & Culture}

It’s a fun and at times quite insightful and tender film, and its nod to banning phones is rare to see in modern cinema.

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Peter Biles
Date
June 20, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Christianity, internet, Meditation, Online, Paul Kingsnorth, Socrates, Technology, Twitter, Writing}

Kingsnorth: How to Stay Sane in the Deepfake World

_{A lesson for modern people from the desert monks of antiquity} _{Peter Biles
June 20, 2024

4

Arts & Culture}

We might have to get caught up in the online freneticism again at some point, but returning to physical and spiritual reality, is a good practice to cultivate.

the young guy playing an acoustic guitar. Shooting backlit

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Peter Biles
Date
June 17, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture}

George Strait Breaks Concert Record

_{We still flock to what's good and real} _{Peter Biles
June 17, 2024

2

Arts & Culture}

“People have a hunger for live music made by real people — and it’s more than Taylor Swift,” tweeted music and culture critic Ted Gioia in response to the 110,000 souls who showed up for country music George Strait’s Saturday concert in College Station, Texas. Strait’s concert officially broke the record for total attendees at a U.S. concert, which is stunning, considering the phenomenon of Swift’s “Eras Tour” that has captured audiences around the globe and even perked up the U.S. economy. Gioia points out that, even (and perhaps especially) in our society in which listening to music seems to have become an individual, digitalized experience, filled with its fair share of computer-generated beats and bops, it’s obvious that people Read More ›

tyrannosaurus rex walks alone into cold lake, art design

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News
Date
June 13, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance

Tagged
Generative AI, Generative AI and copyright, Isaac Schultz}

Paleoartists — Artists for Dinosaurs — Confront Generative AI

_{Generative AI cannot yet combine science-level accuracy and sensitivity to artistic issues but it is starting to have an impact anyway.} _{News
June 13, 2024

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance}

The paleoartists’ copyright dilemma is one element of the general problem of how to compensate original creators when work is repurposed in AI-generated output.

Text written with a vintage typewriter - That's my story

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 11, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity

Tagged
Chatbots and copyright litigation, Open AI and copyright litigation, Thomas Edison}

How Do Writers Get Paid in an Age When Chatbots “Write” Things?

_{Are lawsuits against Big Tech really the answer? Much of the territory is uncharted} _{Denyse O'Leary
June 11, 2024

5

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity}

A few Big Tech players control the chatbot market. Could bargaining with them for something like Public Lending Right resolve the writers’ issues?

Charles Darwin portrait illustrating evolution theory and natural selection in a vintage style

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Peter Biles
Date
June 10, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Beauty, Charles Darwin, ChatGPT, Computers, Evolution}

This Darwin Quote Eerily Describes AI

_{Does a materialistic worldview lead us believe humans are simply advanced computing systems?} _{Peter Biles
June 10, 2024

3

Arts & Culture}

I’ve been reading the modern classic The Brothers K by American writer David James Duncan. Not to be confused with The Brothers Karamazov, this novel creatively riffs off of Dostoevsky’s iconic novel while retaining its own unique flavor. Set in Washington state during the crazy 1960s, The Brothers K is about the Chances, a family with a father beaten down after a failed shot at pro baseball, and the four brothers who each respond differently to the rapidly changing culture of the United States. The Chances’ grandmother, who they affectionately call “Grandawma,” is a staunch Darwinist, while Mrs. Chance is a devout Seventh Day Adventist. The Chance children have to wade through the opposing worldviews they’re brought up in, and Read More ›

hacker cat working job profession illustration generative ai

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
June 3, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity

Tagged
Copyright and generative AI, copyright law, Jonathan Bartlett (on AI and copyright), Kate Crawford, Model collapse, Robert J. Marks, Robert J. Marks on AI and copyright, Stable Diffusion}

Generative AI Is Creating a Copyright Crisis for Artists

_{How does an artist assert copyright when her image was only one of many used to create a new image? How does she make a living if she can’t?} _{Denyse O'Leary
June 3, 2024

4

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Business and Finance, Creativity}

AI companies could be required to record images’ origin and compensate copyright holders. But as Robert J. Marks notes, end users might then have to pay.

Alienation: The Outsider and Closed Circle - Picture an outsider looking in at a closed circle, illustrating the alienation and isolation often experienced by those outside of a cult

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Peter Biles
Date
May 30, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AEI, arthur brooks, CS Lewis, The Atlantic}

Arthur Brooks and C.S. Lewis on the Cure for Loneliness and Inner Ring Syndrome

_{The modern world is a lonely place. So what are you going to do about it?} _{Peter Biles
May 30, 2024

4

Arts & Culture}

Arthur Brooks, former president of the American Enterprise Institute, writes a column at The Atlantic on the vast topic of happiness. His remarks are consistently thoughtful, encouraging, and oftentimes convicting, particularly with his latest post, which addresses loneliness. Over half of Americans think no one knows them very well, Brooks says in his essay. Men in America are very unlikely to develop new friendships after age thirty. Marriage and birth rates are falling, and in general, our modern world simply isn’t well suited for deep and abiding friendships. Brooks refers to this as the “Poe syndrome.” The 19th century poet Edgar Allen Poe was a recluse, and preferred to spend his days alone and uninterrupted. The introverts in the room Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
May 26, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
censorship, Content creator, Elon Musk, Free speech, Mainstream Media, media, social media, Substack, Writing, X}

Substack: A Return to the Golden Era of Blogging

_{The writing platform is friendly toward free speech. So why doesn't Elon Musk like it?} _{Peter Biles
May 26, 2024

5

Arts & Culture}

Substack very well could the future of independent writing. As mainstream journalism shrinks, we could see Substack grow even more.

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News
Date
May 17, 2024

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Social Media

Tagged
Karl Stephan}

Is the New Synthesia Piano Program a Crutch—or a Skateboard?

_{The Synthesia program is a piano roll in digital form. But instead of a player piano, there is a human piano player, playing the part of the player piano's trackerbar.} _{News
May 17, 2024

6

Artificial Intelligence, Arts & Culture, Social Media}

So are the piano teachers of the world doomed by the advent of Synthesia and its spawn of YouTube videos? It doesn’t look that way.

An ape observes the apocalyptic city after a human disaster

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Peter Biles
Date
May 13, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Apes, Evolution, Human exceptionalism, Progress, science, wonder}

Hurry Up, Let Me Evolve Already

_{A review of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes} _{Peter Biles
May 13, 2024

4

Arts & Culture}

The film, in keeping with the previous three in the series, is smart, exciting, and provocative. It forces the viewer to confront what it really means to be human.

Cave paintings over five thousand years old painted on rocks in the Serra do Cipó region, Brazil

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Denyse O'Leary
Date
May 12, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture, Paleontology, Philosophy of Mind

Tagged
Dinosaur footprints and prehistoric art, Prehistoric art and abstract thought, Serrote do Letreiro Site}

Why Did Our Ancestors Start Drawing in Caves and Making Jewelry?

_{For that matter, why did they choose to develop artworks around fossilized dinosaur footprints?} _{Denyse O'Leary
May 12, 2024

5

Arts & Culture, Paleontology, Philosophy of Mind}

We can’t read the thoughts of the dead who left no decipherable writings but we can study the workings of the human mind from remarkably long ago.

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Gary Varner
Date
May 4, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Dystopian, film, Movies and TV, mystery, robotics, Robots, will smith}

I, Robot Review, Part 2: The Ghosts in the Machine

_{Dr. Lanning describes these ghosts as random segments of code and asks questions like why robots choose to stand together rather than alone when they’re stored in a dark place} _{Gary Varner
May 4, 2024

7

Arts & Culture}

Dr. Calvin has been put in charge of decommissioning Sonny, but she’s found some unsettling things about the robot. For one thing, it can break The Three Laws.

3D rendering of female robot head that shatters.

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Gary Varner
Date
April 27, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Dystopian, film, Movies and TV, robotics, Robots, Sci Fi, Science fiction, Tech, will smith}

I, Robot Merges Sci-Fi and Noir Beautifully

_{Will Smith versus a world of robots} _{Gary Varner
April 27, 2024

7

Arts & Culture}

I, Robot is one of those rare movies that manages to merge two genres seamlessly: sci-fi and noir.

Abstract flight in retro neon hyper warp space in the tunnel 3d illustration

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Gary Varner
Date
April 22, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts and Culture, Dystopia, fiction, Gary Varner, Movies and TV, Science fiction}

Spaceman Review, Part 3

_{Sometimes you have to leave what you love to go on a mission} _{Gary Varner
April 22, 2024

9

Arts & Culture}

Last time, we talked about Jakub’s new buddy, a giant spider that may or may not be real. This potential hallucination wants to help the astronaut with his loneliness because his wife, Lenka, has left him. The trouble is that the spider’s idea of helping poor Jakub is forcing him to remember his past. The writer wanted to give Jakub a redemption arch using these flashbacks; however, the astronaut’s memories were shown in a disjointed order, confusing the story and making Lenka look very bad, which made her and Jakub’s relationship difficult to root for. The chaotic flashbacks, mixed with a variety of plot holes, made for a very irritating story. One of the most glaring plot holes arises when Read More ›

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Peter Biles
Date
April 17, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
AI, Artificial Intelligence, Blake Lemoine, New York City, Sentience, social media, spiderman}

Doc Ock and His Sentient AI Arms

_{Could AI ever control the human mind?} _{Peter Biles
April 17, 2024

3

Arts & Culture}

It’s interesting that the Spider-Man universe (or multiverse, I guess) is studded with well-meaning villains. In my last movie review, we looked at Norman Osborn and his tragic transformation into the Green Goblin. What’s odd about his character is that he’s almost a father figure to Peter Parker throughout the film, offering support, guidance, wisdom. It’s the allure of a mysterious form of biotechnology and corporate pressure that sends him off the deep end. It isn’t so different with the iconic Dr. Octopus. An idealist set on inventing a new source of perpetual energy, Dr. Octavius is a friendly but ambitious scientist, who, like Osborn, takes Peter under his wing. The experiment to create a sustained fusion reaction, though, goes Read More ›

A group of people walking together through a bustling shopping mall. This image can be used to depict a busy shopping day or to illustrate consumerism and retail therapy.

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Peter Biles
Date
April 15, 2024

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Books, David Foster Wallace, economy, Facebook, internet, music, Narcissism, online life, Self, social media, Tech}

The Crisis of Identity That Tech Doesn’t Help

_{Consumerism works well but leaves us empty} _{Peter Biles
April 15, 2024

2

Arts & Culture}

Writer and cultural commentator Aaron Renn wrote recently about the dissolution of identity in the United States, contending that if we don’t know who we are, we will never know what to do. Renn writes frequently on issues facing young men in America and the challenges of living well in the secular world. He writes, The reality is that a lot of people in top positions of our society act as if they want you living like Simba. They want porn available for you to watch. They want you betting on the big game on your phone. They want you focused on “experiences” and consumption, like hitting the latest hot travel destination or going to the new farm-to-table restaurant that Read More ›