“Most of the time, we’re still better at subconsciously editing our own recollections than any new technology is. But with researchers working on techniques that can chisel, reconstruct and purge life’s memories, it becomes crucial to ask: do we need our real memories? What makes us believe that memory is so sacrosanct? And do memories really make us who we are?”
Category: ideas
A New Tactile Language Helps Create Comic Books For The Blind
“‘Comic books have a language,’ says comic artist Ilan Manouach. ‘They have specific devices’ to convey certain actions or emotions, like ‘a lightbulb, [or] a drop of sweat,’ that get lost when a visual story is translated into a fully language-based one. But Manouach believes he’s found a way to overcome that particular hurdle.”
What Pizza Delivery Big Data Tells Us About Ourselves
“During O.J. Simpson’s famous, slow-speed police chase in the summer of ’94, Domino’s Pizza reported record-breaking pizza sales. (According to the same company, not a single person in the entire country ordered a pizza from them during the five minutes the Simpson verdict was read out the following year.)”
Is The Internet Really One Giant Art Project?
“The magic of the Internet — the recession of the material world in favor of a world of ideas — is not pure delight. It seems we are missing something very worthwhile and identity-forming from our predigital lives. Is it a handwritten letter? Is it an analog phone call? Is it a quality of celluloid film, a multivolume encyclopedia, or a leather-bound datebook? Is it a way of thinking or being or even falling in love?”
Reclaiming Public Life After A Dictatorship, Using Snacks And Architecture
“The kiosks offer affordable and traditional drinks and snacks, conversation and community – and also employment in a country struggling with the staggering levels of unemployment and recession gripping much of western Europe.”
In Praise Of Dewey’s Democracy
“He envisions a society where each person can express himself or herself in a manner that enriches everyone – in the way that an orchestra harnesses the gifts of its members or a potluck becomes more fun when many people bring their signature dish.”
What’s The World’s Responsibility When Languages Disappear?
“While some languages survive by transplanting their speakers to more hospitable locations—New York City is especially fertile, hosting communities who languages have effectively become extinct in their places of origin—others don’t have the option of finding a home elsewhere.”
How ‘Hamilton’ Has Affected This Presidential Campaign Season
“In Mrs. Clinton’s speech, she fitted her opponent with an absurd crown to cast him as her show’s erratic, vain and autocratic King George.”
Why Is Whether Or Not Athletes Dope So Important To People?
Consider the anger at Lance Armstrong once the truth came out. Consider all the time and money spent on catching and eliminating athletes who dope. “If technology can help sports officials perform their jobs more efficiently and fairly, why can it not be used to help athletes do their jobs more effectively? The answer is quite simple: Athletes have to be human.”
Our Digital Expanses Have Made Us Confidently Arrogant. Where’s The Value In Humility?
“The internet and digital media have created the impression of limitless knowledge at our fingertips. But, by making us lazy, they have opened up a space that ignorance can fill.”