A Manufacturing Town by L.S. Lowry (National Media Museum/Royal Photographic Society/SSPL/Getty Images), from an essay by Salford’s own Terry Eagleton.
When I look at the choices offered to Americans by their two chief political parties, I always remember a line from Woody Allen’s “My Speech to the Graduates”: “One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”
I understand that this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I find Alec Goldfarb’s Indian classical music on guitar fascinating. ♫
My chatbot gives me
The gift my unsoul longs for:
Freedom from knowledge.
The Resonant Computing Manifesto:
Regardless of which path we choose, the future of computing will be hyper-personalized. The question is whether that personalization will be in service of keeping us passively glued to screens—wading around in the shallows, stripped of agency—or whether it will enable us to direct more attention to what matters.
In order to build the resonant technological future we want for ourselves, we will have to resist the seductive logic of hyper-scale, and challenge the business and cultural assumptions that hold it in place. We will have to make deliberate decisions that stand in the face of accepted best practices—rethinking the system architectures, design patterns, and business models that have undergirded the tech industry for decades.
See further reflection on these issues by one of the authors of the Manifesto, the brilliant Sam Arbesman.
Ars Technica: “Meta is building an artificial intelligence version of Mark Zuckerberg that can engage with employees in his stead.” I wonder if anyone will be able to tell the difference.
After decades of business email, many people still default to Reply All when they’re talking only to the person who sent the original message. (I am also grieved by how many original senders fail to use BCC to deter the reply-allers.) You’d think people would have this sorted by now.
What Happened After a Teacher Ditched Screens - The Atlantic:
Education, Kane knows, is profoundly and stubbornly social. “There are a lot of students who need accountability,” he said. The answer is not more surveillance, but more companionship in the struggle. “Students benefit from being in a room with a bunch of other people who are learning the same thing, the collective effervescence of all trying to make progress together,” he said. “And they benefit from an adult who knows them, who is in the room, who says ‘I care about your learning.’”
Screens, Kane noticed, had made it easier for students — and, if he’s being honest, for teachers — to opt out of that contract. “Chromebooks can be a classroom-management strategy,” he said. “Students tend to be a little more docile with a screen in front of them. And it was just so easy for me to sit behind my screen and watch the little dots marching across the dashboard and not really teach.” He’s noticed that teaching in an analog environment is more demanding. “I’m more fatigued,” he said. “But I’m happy with that.”