In a letter to Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley dated Friday, new Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III reiterated the institution’s position that it is legally bound to keep the name of the late benefactor, Arthur M. Sackler, who, in 1982, donated 1,000 objects and $4 million toward the construction of the museum. – Washington Post
Author: Douglas McLennan
Revealing Toni Morrison: A New Film Shows The Public-Averse Author
Given her absence from my generation’s digital public square, it is a gift to “see” Morrison through reflections from Angela Davis, Oprah Winfrey, the critic Hilton Als and the poet Sonia Sanchez among others. – Washington Post
Would You Trust A Robot More If It Had A Sense Of Humor?
Some scientists believe if robots can master conversational humor, and speak like the people they serve, it could help humans accept them as part of our lives. But is that even scientifically possible? – Daily Beast
End Of Anonymity? AI Can Match Anonymous Writing With Its Author
An artificial intelligence, or AI, successfully “recognizes” an author not as a person, but instead as the likeness of features that characterize a body of work. In order to find patterns across texts, the algorithmic “reader” uses a collection of textual traits—like frequently used words or punctuation—to draw conclusions about who wrote what.
Ideas And Progress Flow From Chaos And Complexity Of Ideas – But We’re Retreating From That
Felipe Fernández-Armesto: ‘Confused by chaos, infantilized by ignorance, refugees from complexity flee to fanaticism and dogma.’ But something else is happening too. Human history was formerly all about divergence; now, as cultural differences are eroded, we are converging. The result, according to his hypothesis, will in the end be a slowing down of the imagination and ideas.” – Spectator
The Digital Age Has Been Unkind To Classical Music (It’s About The Meta-Data)
Browsing and accessing classical music online has been a chore. The data structures were set up for pop music, not classical. Finally, companies are working on some solutions. – The New York Times
Want To See A Model Of LACMA’s Redesign?
LACMA has dedicated a space to the exhibition of the new plan with a 15-foot model built in Zumthor’s studio. The site model is a single slab of molded cement, reproducing several blocks of the Miracle Mile with abstracted precision to focus attention on an all-white volumetric model of the LACMA addition. – Archinect
A Thorough Consideration Of Access To The Arts In The Internet Age
The challenges vary between access to the consumption of art and access to making and platforming it. In this multimedia age, these have to an extent blurred. However, a hierarchy remains. – Ken Taylor
San Francisco’s School Board Is Spending $600,000 To Destroy A Mural
Bari Weiss: “The notion of erasing art has an American pedigree. The [immigrant New Deal-era artist] Victor Arnautoff was intimately familiar with it, having been interrogated in 1956 by the House Un-American Activities Committee for drawing a caricature of Vice President Richard Nixon. But I suspect he would have been surprised to learn that more than 60 years later, progressives in charge of educating San Francisco’s children are merrily following this un-American playbook.” – The New York Times
Latest Investment? Now You Can Invest In Hit Songs
The fund floated on the London Stock Exchange in July 2018 and recently published its first-ever annual results. The man who founded it, Merck Mercuriadis, says hit songs are “as investable as gold or oil”. – BBC