“Ethical concerns about these advances focus at one extreme on the use of AI in deadly military drones, or on the risk that AI could take down global financial systems. Closer to home, AI has spurred anxiety about unemployment, as autonomous systems threaten to replace millions of truck drivers, and make Lyft and Uber obsolete. And beyond these larger social and economic considerations, data scientists have real concerns about bias, about ethical implementations of the technology, and about the nature of interactions between AI systems and humans if these systems are to be deployed properly and fairly in even the most mundane applications.” — Harvard Magazine
Author: Matthew Westphal
The Joys Of Old English (The Secret Is The Kennings)
New Republic cultural critic Josephine Livingstone: “Kennings are essentially portmanteaus, Old English words made of two nouns that have been mashed together to create a new one. … For example, hron means ‘whale.’ Rad means ‘a road,’ or ‘a path.’ Put them together … and you get hronrad, or ‘whale-road,’ which means ‘the sea.’ The ocean is not an empty space, hronrad says — it belongs to the whale.” — The New York Times
Watching A Theme-Park Jesus At Work
A reporter and photographer travel to Orlando to see 44-year-old Michael Job acting his role at a Biblical theme park called The Holy Land Experience. — National Geographic
Memories Of One Of ‘The Old Gang’ At Judson Dance Theater
Aileen Passloff, now 87 and still working as a choreographer, talks to Gia Kourlas about the 1950s and ’60s, when a new generation was transforming what dance could be; her studies with a Diaghilev alumna; and climbing up a fire escape in heels and sneaking into City Center. — The New York Times
In Defense Of Opera In English Translation
Mark Wigglesworth, former music director of English National Opera, makes the case: “If opera is drama first and foremost, why is the question of the language it’s sung in so hotly debated? Shouldn’t the same rules as drama apply? I don’t hear complaints about Ibsen or Chekhov being compromised by translations. … Both Verdi and Wagner were energetically supportive of translations. If we could ask them about surtitles, I suspect they wouldn’t understand the question.” — Bachtrack
Leonardo’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ Is Missing — And It’s Mixed Up With The Saudi Crown Prince And The Mueller Investigation
The world’s most expensive artwork was supposed to have been on display at the Louvre Abu Dhabi four months ago, and it’s been more than 100 days since anyone (other than some Saudi royals) has known where it is. What’s more, special prosecutor Robert Mueller is investigating both the buyer of Salvator Mundi (Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman) and its seller (Trump-connected oligarch Dmitri Rybolovlev, who made a $300 million profit on the sale). Reporter Zev Shalev connects the dots. — Narativ
This One Nifty Chart Shows The Danger Facing Netflix
The problem: “most viewership on Netflix gravitates toward audience favorites that first aired on other networks, which Netflix itself doesn’t own” — which means it could lose the right to stream them. — Vox
Art Dealer/Tax Fraudster Mary Boone Tries The Officer Krupke Defense
“New York art dealer Mary Boone pleaded guilty in September to filing false tax returns. Now, as she awaits sentencing — which could be up to six years in jail — her lawyers have filed a massive memo calling for leniency from the judge, citing a history of childhood trauma that has left Boone to battle mental illness and addiction.” (Gee, Officer Krupke …) — Artnet
The Story Of ‘Spider-Man’, France’s Most Spectacular Art Thief
“Long before the burglar Vjeran Tomic became the talk of Paris, he honed his skills in Père Lachaise, the city’s largest cemetery … Tomic and his friends turned the cemetery into a parkour playground, leaping from the roof of one mausoleum to the next, daring one another to take ever-bolder risks.” — The New Yorker
UK Launches Campaign To Expand Music Therapy For Dementia Patients
Research has shown that musical activities have a variety of positive effects for dementia patients, but, despite encouragement from the NHS, financially strapped facilities often put music low on their list of priorities. A new campaign called Music for Dementia 2020 aims to change that. — The Guardian