Catch up links, after a couple previews
An update on plans for the next few weeks, and then some catch-up links relating to previous posts.
I’ve been quiet for a while
Or, at least I’ve been more erratic in posts to Technocomplex. Now that the semester is done except for the socializing that follows into year’s end, I’ll be back more regularly.
Before I lay out some web links that relate to previous posts, I want to let you know about some upcoming articles. (I do this in part to set an agenda for myself, so pardon me as I plan out loud.)
Two items are likely to appear as 2023 wanes: a consideration of a year in the “bakery” — items that have irregularly appeared in the Boulangerie — and a holiday consideration of the heavens and one part of the winter sky in particular.
One item to kick off the New Year: A book review, this time of
’s Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, which will be released in mid-January. I’ve read it once, and I’m ready to check it twice, using copious bookmarks as guides, like the navigation buoys that bring you into port at night.
I can easily say now that Chayka’s book is a keeper, and worth pre-ordering (via Amazon or, better, Bookshop) especially for readers who are interested in the relationships of technology to human society and human identity. Those relationships have been particularly pressed in the past decade, and Chayka examines how the algorithm remakes culture — actually remakes human experience in ways that undermine human qualities that culture has celebrated, re-evaluated, preserved.
Look for my review in early January.
And now, the catch-up links….
Book review: Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time
A timely, well wrought book. I dive pretty deeply in jam, which can be sticky.
Osman, Nikki. “When Did You Last Hang Out?” Substack newsletter. Mate Expectations, November 19, 2023.
Marchese, David. “What If Instead of Trying to Manage Your Time, You Set It Free?” The New York Times, May 15, 2023, sec. Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/15/magazine/jenny-odell-interview.html.
We're playing the role of King Thamus & The "writer" at your side, helping ... or not
Large Language Models in education could reform or transform. My stab at using ChatGPT in my seminar. I think it worked, but there are big questions.
A collection of links from Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, which I must say is considerably more bullish on ChatGPT than I am. Brockelsby, Angela. “Adapting to AI in the Classroom.” Duke Pratt School of Engineering, October 17, 2023. https://pratt.duke.edu/news/adapting-to-ai-in-the-classroom/.
Johnson, Tom. “My Experience Trying to Write Original, Full-Length Human-Sounding Articles Using Claude AI.” I’d Rather Be Writing, October 25, 2023. https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/writing-full-length-articles-with-claude-ai.
A business professor and a commie provide an intriguing path to trace
Will AI behave like earlier automation? What affect will AI have on skill requirements? They're open questions.
An interesting paper that uses “field experimental evidence” to map out what AI can do somewhat well … or not. This is a way to track the kinds of human skills that AI may influence or replace. Dell’Acqua, Fabrizio, Edward McFowland, Ethan R. Mollick, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf, Katherine Kellogg, Saran Rajendran, Lisa Krayer, François Candelon, and Karim R. Lakhani. “Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Harvard Business School Technology & Operations Mgt. Unit Working Paper 24–013. Rochester, NY, September 15, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4573321.
… But this group in Europe might have thoughts. “We find that exposure to ChatGPT increased productivity in all tasks, with greater benefits observed in more complex and less ambiguous tasks. ChatGPT did reduce performance inequality within occupational groups in most cases, but not between educational or occupational groups. Inequalities between younger and older workers even increased.” Haslberger, Matthias, Jane Gingrich, and Jasmine Bhatia. “No Great Equalizer: Experimental Evidence on AI in the UK Labor Market.” SSRN Scholarly Paper. Rochester, NY, October 6, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4594466.
Book review: Hold Still & Flimsy film, ethereal pixels. Pictures and us.
A photography theme: Sally Mann's memoir is one of the best books I've read. You should read it, too. And: An image captured, rectangularly framed. The 35mm frame-of-mind. Cannonballs, OFF and ON. "Seeing machines."
Great interview. “I had no sense of the history of photography. But when I left that photo shoot with Robert [Frank], and I went out on the street, everything there seemed dynamic. The way someone hailed a taxi, the way an old woman was carrying the bags, bent over from the stress of schlepping. The way the dog pulls her owner. Everything seemed to have a moment of humor or beauty or poignancy or tragedy or joy, as if all the emotional capacities of the world were suddenly visible to me in a way that I didn’t understand before.” Kent, Charlotte. “Joel Meyerowitz with Charlotte Kent.” The Brooklyn Rail, November 1, 2023. https://brooklynrail.org/2023/11/art/Joel-Meyerowitz-with-Charlotte-Kent.
Sally Mann discovered a bunch of glass plate negatives at Washington and Lee University. Apparently other attics around the world hold some others. Mothes, Kate. “A Photo Preservationist Saved a Trove of 4,000 Glass Plate Negatives That Nearly Went Into the Trash.” Colossal, November 1, 2023. https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/11/terri-cappucci-glass-plates/.
Imagined, but somehow real
Virtual Reality affects how we see ourselves and others. What if you had a tail? What if you were homeless? Researchers have something to say about it.
Harrison, Maggie. “Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers.” Futurism. Accessed November 29, 2023. https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers.
Immerwahr, Daniel. “What the Doomsayers Get Wrong About Deepfakes.” The New Yorker, November 13, 2023. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/a-history-of-fake-things-on-the-internet-walter-j-scheirer-book-review.
Shaping the shapers
We humans are tool makers, shaping our environment. Tools shape us, too, often imperceptibly and with unintended consequences. Can we shape our shapers?
Video of Cal Newport’s talk at Duke is linked in the article. “This is an example of technology that is drastically changing our day-to-day experience. Ten years ago, we did not look down at our hand 150 to 200 times per day. Today we do. Twenty five years ago we did not stop what we were doing and check an email inbox once every six minutes, but today we do. So these are important case studies of major technological change.” Sanford School of Public Policy. “Crown Lecture Explores Techno-Distraction and Its Consequences,” October 8, 2023. https://sanford.duke.edu/story/crown-lecture-explores-techno-distraction-and-its-consequences/.
Loving and naming cars
Emotional attachments we have with cars make climate change solutions more difficult. It's not all science and technology.
Wilson, Ellen. “Your Car Has a Name.” Substack newsletter. I Would Prefer Not To, October 23, 2023.
Three sonnets on a lone majestic oak & "An unloved sweetgum is a trusty herald"
A few sonnets, all with trees in mind.
McKibben, Bill. “At Least We Can Give Thanks for a Tree.” The New Yorker, November 23, 2023. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/at-least-we-can-give-thanks-for-a-tree.
Got a comment?
Great post, Mark!
I love bookmarks, too - I have a large selection (like my book collection!) cut out of leftover card, painting projects, birthday and Christmas cards. Tip: ask Santa for a corner punch for Christmas. Your bookmarks will thank you - the corners won't get caught in the gutters of books, nor will they get dog-eared and tatty. Tis a simple gadget that will make your books and bookmarks very happy. 😊
I’m looking forward to that book review, and as always, you’ve given me some links to follow up on.