This skeptical, Hobbesian view of human nature, in which war is an “integral part of human experience,” may be unflattering to our species, but it at least keeps us on our toes. – Washington Post
Blog
Report: Brexit Will Isolate UK Cultural Institutions For Two Years
Dr Charlotte Faucher, who oversaw the research, said the fear was that a lack of clarity on insurance, visas and travel restrictions, paired with potential complications caused by the global pandemic, would make European collaborations too risky. – The Guardian
Why Our Brains Are Built To Forget
“We remember and we forget. Lots of people know that marijuana makes us forget, and researchers in the sixties and seventies wanted to understand how. They discovered that the human brain has special receptors that perfectly fit psychoactive chemicals like THC, the active agent in cannabis. But why, they wondered, would we have neuroreceptors for a foreign substance? We don’t. Those receptors are for substances produced in our own brains.” – Paris Review
How Linguistics And Evolution Are Joined
Linguists today aim to apply methods from other sciences to messy social phenomena. But the influence once ran the other way, with discoveries in linguistic history leaving a mark on evolutionary theory. – The Economist
Produce Theatre? In A Pandemic? In Finland? Of Course – It’s “Essential”
“I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Art has played a major role in bringing this once poor and isolated country into the international arena, and the government subsidizes culture in a big way. That’s why artists continue to be employed — and why, even though socially distanced performances will never cover their costs, companies in Finland are putting them on, secure in the knowledge they have a financial cushion.” – The New York Times
How The Personal Productivity Revolution Backfired
The knowledge sector’s insistence that productivity is a personal issue seems to have created a so-called “tragedy of the commons” scenario, in which individuals making reasonable decisions for themselves insure a negative group outcome. – The New Yorker
Dept. Of Who-Thought-Of-This?: Spike Lee Is Making A Movie Musical About Viagra
The screenplay is by Lee and Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of London’s Young Vic theatre; the songs will be by Heidi Rodewald and Stew, who won a Tony and three Drama Desk Awards for Passing Strange; the project is based on an article in Esquire, “All Rise: The Untold Story of The Guys Who Launched Viagra” by David Kushner. There’s no title yet, but oh, the possibilities … – Deadline
Donald Byrd On Making A Career As A Choreographer
“I think that caused me to be really clear for myself about why I was doing what I was doing. I could not take into consideration how people would respond. That included funders and audiences. Part of the risk, then, is that maybe nobody will show up. But when I tried to make things that I thought would please people, I thought those pieces were disasters.” – Dance Magazine
An Oral History Of Alex Trebek
“We talked to nearly 30 [Jeopardy!] contestants [from] over the past four decades — ranging from a player in the first episode to one whose winning moment went viral just earlier this month — about how Trebek became America’s most beloved game-show host.” – The Washington Post
Report: Virtual Art Fairs Have Been A Failure
Given the extraordinary volume of resources dealers poured into online sales platforms, and the attention the web has garnered across the industry, the anemic returns on art e-commerce are all the more distressing. – Artnet