Author: Matthew Westphal

Could Artificial Intelligence Become Conscious?

“Forget about today’s modest incremental advances in artificial intelligence, such as the increasing abilities of cars to drive themselves. Waiting in the wings might be a groundbreaking development: a machine that is aware of itself and its surroundings, and that could take in and process massive amounts of data in real time. It could be sent on dangerous missions, into space or combat. In addition to driving people around, it might be able to cook, clean, do laundry – and even keep humans company when other people aren’t nearby.”

You’d Think Dancers Would Be Careful With Their Bodies – So Why Do So Many Do Drugs?

“Behind the satin and tulle, the ‘work hard, play hard’ mentality thrives and some dancers depend on good genes to cancel out bad behavior. ‘I don’t know any group of people that treats their bodies worse than dancers,’ says [Miami City Ballet’s Simone] Messmer. ‘They don’t rehab from injuries, they drink too much, they eat a lot of sugar. The idea that all dancers are healthy is a big myth.'”

Turning Hurricanes Into Music May Help Us Understand Them Better

“We are colleagues from different areas of the Penn State campus: One of us is a professor of meteorology, and the other a professor of music technology. Since 2014, we have been working together to sonify the dynamics of tropical storms. In other words, we turn environmental data into music. By sonifying satellite videos like those often seen in weather reports, we hope that people will better understand how these extreme storms evolve.” (includes video)

García Márquez’s Archive Is Now Available Online – For Free

“The online archive, which is catalogued both in English and in Spanish, includes drafts and other material relating to all of García Márquez’s major books, … [as well as] previously unseen photographs, notebooks, scrapbooks, screenplays and personal ephemera, like a collection of his passports. Many archives are digitizing their holdings. But to make so much material from a writer whose work is still under copyright freely available online is unusual.”

Jesse Green And Paul Rudnick Dish Gay Theater Past, Present, And Future

“During the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, there was a rise in plays about gay life that addressed issues of identity, homophobia and the decimating AIDS epidemic. Plays like Boys in the Band, The Normal Heart and Angels in America shattered taboos and brought gay characters into the mainstream. Many of these groundbreaking plays are now returning to Broadway, but will they hold up a generation later?” (audio)

Let The Berkshire Museum Sell The Paintings: Tyler Cowen

“The board of the Berkshire Museum made a decision to just shift focus [to history, natural science, and tech], not to tear up the institution and start all over again. … The sad truth is that the people running the Berkshire Museum just don’t care that much about American art any more, at least not from an institutional point of view. Given that reality, it’s actually better if they are not entrusted with important artworks.”