Category: ideas

“What does it mean to be worth something? Or worth enough? Or worthless? What does it mean to earn a living? What does it mean to be hired? What does it mean to be let go? It’s May now. More than thirty million Americans have lost their jobs. What mattered in February hardly seems to matter now.” – The Paris Review

What the shutdown has revealed; “The theater industry is crucial to giant studios, which for the most part aren’t interested in proceeding without theaters. The profits come from selling tickets.” – The Atlantic

Domhnaill Hernon: “I believe that the arts could be (should be) more transformational in the way they inform more human-centric design. I believe that the arts should be deeply integrated into all companies but especially technology companies. I believe it is critical that the voice of the artist be heard and taken seriously in the context of business and in understanding the role that technology can play in influencing humanity. It is the role of companies to understand and embrace the unique perspectives of the artists, and it is the role of the artist to better understand the needs of industry.” – Americans for the Arts

“I would only say that some artists feel a curiosity about examining the phenomenology of those things. It is investigative work, not just emotional work, that can enable an artist to determine how a system works and find the right vocabulary to discuss it.” – San Diego Union-Tribune

Time’s elasticity has perplexed philosophers for millennia. It has inspired writers for centuries. More recently, it has captured the attention of psychologists like Ogden, who have crafted experiments to understand the conditions of time perception: whether people feel time differently when they’re hot or cold, stressed or at ease, watching the clock or focused on something else. Time can disappear when we are deeply immersed in an activity we enjoy—the baking of sourdough bread, or the total absorption in an art project. Other studies suggest that fear and anxiety shape our sense of time just as powerfully. – Wired

We should not fear being bored, say psychologists James Danckert and John D Eastwood, the authors of Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom. Their research has revealed boredom to be widely misunderstood, perhaps even unfairly maligned. Boredom evolved to help us, says Danckert. It signals that we are unengaged, in need of an activity to satisfy us. “I think that’s a good thing, in a lot of ways. How we respond to it is up to us. I think you can minimise it. But do you want to totally eliminate it? I don’t think you do.” – The Guardian

That’s what happened in the depression. “What prompted this public investment in higher education was neither sentimentality about the poor nor a noblesse oblige of good works. It was a vision of culture and social wealth, derived from the activism of the working classes and defended by a member of Britain’s House of Lords.” – The New Yorker

Without touch, humans deteriorate physically and emotionally. “We know from the literature that lack of touch produces very negative consequences for our wellbeing,” says Alberto Gallace, a neuroscientist at the University of Milano-Bicocca. He explains that humans are inherently social creatures; studies have shown that depriving monkeys of physical contact leads to adverse health outcomes. – Wired

The scenario that pays off in the end is the Leviathan Scenario, where everyone makes sacrifices and is mobilized to develop local solutions, creating bottom-up experimentation with government support. There is a focus on public goods and social welfare, transforming the economy and creating a more resilient and sustainable foundation. This will lead to post-crisis recovery and result in a New New Deal. – Artnet

“We have the power to decide to value art and culture in ways that support the kind of lives we want to be living. But to do that, we need more skin in the game—a greater shared commitment among a wider pool of stakeholders to recognize, articulate, and collectively wield the power art and culture already has, and to ensure it’s doing the civic, political, and social work we value the most. ” – Artnet