Sam Harris: The Self is an Illusion – Big Think
Sam Harris describes the properties of consciousness and how mindfulness practices of all stripes can be used to transcend one's ego. — Read on bigthink.com/videos/sam-harris-on-self-transendence
Fact-checking has flourished. But it’s more complicated than it looks. – The Washington Post
Like everything else these days, even facts are debatable. — Read on www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fact-checking-has-flourished-but-its-more-complicated-than-it-looks/2019/01/10/42c52f18-1510-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html
Finding New Value in the Work of Anonymous Shutterbugs – The New York Times
Museums, colleges and the art market are beginning to see amateur photographs as both collectibles and cultural artifacts. — Read on www.nytimes.com/2019/01/09/arts/design/vernacular-photography.html
Extremely Overweight
twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1084393080546054144
Creative machines will be the next weapon in our fake news war | WIRED UK
Machine-made images and videos offer novel ways to spread fake content online, according to AI experts and neuroscientists — Read on www.wired.co.uk/article/artificial-intelligence-threat-creative-machines-fake-news
How We’ll Forget John Lennon – Issue 68: Context – Nautilus
A few years ago a student walked into the office of Cesar A. Hidalgo, director of the Collective Learning group at the MIT Media Lab.… — Read on m.nautil.us/issue/68/context/how-well-forget-john-lennon
The first “social network” of brains lets three people transmit thoughts to each other’s heads – MIT Technology Review
BrainNet allows collaborative problem-solving using direct brain-to-brain communication. — Read on www.technologyreview.com/s/612212/the-first-social-network-of-brains-lets-three-people-transmit-thoughts-to-each-others-heads/
Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound | Maryanne Wolf | Opinion | The Guardian
When the reading brain skims texts, we don’t have time to grasp complexity, to understand another’s feelings or to perceive beauty. We need a new literacy for the digital age writes Maryanne Wolf, author of
Trauma in childhood leads to empathy in adulthood
A new study suggests that children who suffer through major trauma grow up to be adults with greater levels of empathy than others. — Read on bigthink.com/mind-brain/childhood-trauma-adult-empathy
The Biological Phenomenon That Explains Why Wit Works – The Atlantic
They prey on a phenomenon that goes to the very heart of nature. — Read on www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/12/biological-phenomenon-why-wit-works/578842/
The ‘Future Book’ Is Here, but It’s Not What We Expected | WIRED
Visionaries thought technology would change books. Instead, it's changed everything about publishing a book. — Read on www.wired.com/story/future-book-is-here-but-not-what-we-expected/
Robot vigil, funny AI, algorithm bible
Robot vigil, funny AI, algorithm bible — Read on go.technologyreview.com/robot-vigil-funny-ai-algorithm-bible
Tech Companies Dragged Feet on Russian Interference Data, Reports Say – The New York Times
In reports to the Senate on Russian interference, Google, Twitter and Facebook were criticized for their disinclination to reveal details. — Read on www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/technology/tech-companies-russian-interference.html
Is the black hole at our galaxy’s centre a quantum computer? | Aeon Essays
Might nature’s bottomless pits actually be ultra-efficient quantum computers? That could explain why data never dies — Read on aeon.co/essays/is-the-black-hole-at-our-galaxy-s-centre-a-quantum-computer
Wit’s End by James Geary review
In ‘Wit’s End,’James Geary takes a serious look at humor. Like metaphor, the subject of Geary’s previous book “I Is an Other,” wit often yokes together dissimilar entities to achieve a sudden illumination. Geary devotes several pages
Brainwaves suppress obvious ideas to help us think more creativel
The human brain needs to suppress obvious ideas in order to reach the most creative ones, according to scientists. These obvious associations are present in both convergent thinking (finding an 'out-of-the-box' solution) and also
Retinal Circuits: How We See The Forest And The Trees
Retinal Circuits: How We See The Forest And The Trees — Read on reliawire.com/contrast-encoding-retina/
Social Media Is Terrible For Mental Health
Last year, Facebook created an algorithm to monitor teenagers’ moods for signs of insecurity and worthlessness (both risk factors for suicidal thoughts) for the purpose of serving them ads for mental health services. Other offerings like