Links

  • On Giving Up

    Psychoanalyst Adam Phillips writes, “We tend to think of giving up as a lack of courage, as an improper or embarrassing orientation towards what is shameful and fearful. That is to say we tend to value, and even idealise, the idea of seeing things through, of finishing things rather than abandoning them. Giving up…

  • Learn to be curious

    “If you understand how to have a deep curiosity about everything — and I mean everything — you have an edge that cannot be beaten.” – Michael Ovitz, via interview with David Senra

  • Rebellious attention

    Algorithms drive our attention In a world where we are spoon-fed every next thing, reclaiming our attention may be the new most counter-cultural action. Spontaneous discovery — the act of aimlessly browsing a book store or stepping into that little corner museum no one knows about — can be an act of reclaiming our…

  • Sleep, mosquitos

    Mosquitos staying active longer In less encouraging news for my upcoming trip to Southeast Asia: “A new study published in the Journal of Insect Physiology suggested that artificial lights are disrupting mosquitos and delaying their dormancy, meaning that they stay active longer. Mosquitos rely on shortening daylight in the fall as a cue to enter a…

  • Procreating parakeets

    Love birds “The New Zealand native kakariki karaka, or the orange-fronted parakeet, has twice been declared extinct only to later be rediscovered in the wild. As it stands, the bird remains critically endangered with just 450 specimens left, mostly in sanctuaries and predator-free islands. And while the species’ survival is no doubt thanks to…

  • A.I. art coming to Los Angeles

    What has it cost us? “The project’s dataset is a large nature model (LNM) – an open-source model trained on half a billion images sourced “ethically” from partner institutions including the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, and London’s Natural History Museum.”