Catch up links (and 4 web search services)

Some links relating to previous posts. Plus: When you're tired of Google's mediocrity....

Even though I didn’t write a post on new web search engines, I thought that some people might be interested in giving new search engines a try. Here are four options, and I’m sure there are more. Not all of them are AI-powered (or, more properly SALAMI-powered). My experience has been thin with these, mainly because I find I lack the trust that the search results are solid. I did confirm some of the results, especially from Perplexity for no other reason than I used it a bit more than the others. Perplexity’s results checked out, but I’d be hesitant to say that it’s free of confabulation. (The product’s name — Perplexity — perplexes. I want clearer understanding, not perplexity.)

If you have to confirm results thoroughly, it does make you wonder whether using an AI-powered search adds any value or saves time. I’m going slowly on adopting this new mode of search. It is intriguing to see what might happen in web search — and to ponder what kinds of structural changes a new mode of search will require.

I think it’s worth knowing about these services, despite my qualms. I’m not ready to give up on DuckDuckGo yet.

Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai/)

The screenshot shows Perplexity’s results to my query “What is the most common eye color in humans?” The results feel like chatbot responses, which appear below a selection of links (called “Sources”). The interface is easy to use, and you feel a bit as though you are drilling down as you use the other search queries at the bottom. A useful feature is that you can save “threads” of queries.

exa (https://exa.ai/)

This one is AI. A little bit of baffle-gab, but you can decipher the vibe at least from the FAQ: “Exa search is fully neural. We use a transformer-based model to understand your query and return the most relevant links. Exa has embedded large portions of the web so you can make extremely specific and complex queries, and get only the highest quality results.” (Note that 1,000 searches per month are free!)

Consensus (https://consensus.app/)

This is a search engine that its makers say is for research, so there’s a sensitivity to needs of the academic market. See How a Consensus Search Works & Other FAQ’s. They spent some time on the graphics. I have not tested out this search, and it comes via

Jane Friedman

’s Electric Speed newsletter.

Marginalia search (https://search.marginalia.nu/)

This is search of a different kind, and it’s not an AI thing. “If you are looking for facts you can trust, this is almost certainly the wrong tool,” the Marginalia spokesperson wrote. “If you are looking for serendipity, you’re on the right track. When was the last time you just stumbled onto something interesting, by the way?”

And now the catch up links for the quarter!

Orion and stars for the season

A different Christmas message to my friends in a world that maybe already has too many difficult stories.

Vera C. Rubin Observatory. “See the Universe in Action.” Accessed March 18, 2024. https://rubinobservatory.org/

Cannat writes and shares his photography on the heavens regularly for Le Monde, and he offers print publications, including a calendar. His contact information at the bottom of the article, which is in French, but remember there’s always Google Translate. Cannat, Guillaume. “Observez La Couleur Des Étoiles.” Le Monde, February 1, 2024, sec. Autour du Ciel. https://www.lemonde.fr/blog/autourduciel/2024/02/01/observez-la-couleur-des-etoiles/. “If the number of stars whose color is easily perceptible to the naked eye remains small over the entire celestial sphere, a binoculars or telescope will allow you to discover hundreds of them, and photography will push this limit even further.”

Imagined, but somehow real & Practice and product

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.

The table is a technology like headsets. Extended Reality relies on technologies, but the pedagogy is emerging in different ways. Reflections on yesterday's panel.

Hunter, Tatum. “In Nursing Homes, VR Is a Hit. Is That a Good Thing?” Washington Post, December 21, 2023. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/12/21/virtual-reality-eldercare-benefits-loneliness/.

Brake, Josh. “Our Slovenly Willingness.” The Absent-Minded Professor, February 6, 2024.

Our Slovenly Willingness

The History of Virtual Reality That Led to Apple Vision Pro. BBC Reels. BBC, February 7, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0h9dxvq/the-history-of-virtual-reality-that-led-to-apple-vision-pro.

Goode, Lauren. “Crying in Apple Vision Pro Is No Laughing Matter.” Wired, February 22, 2024. https://www.wired.com/story/crying-in-apple-vision-pro/.

Neistat, Casey. The Thing No One Will Say about Apple Vision Pro. YouTube video, 2024.

Extended mind

Where does the mind end and the world begin? Two great articles relating to extended mind. A follow up of an earlier post.

Not about “extended mind” per se, but about Tetris, which finally met its match. Stafford, Tom. “Tetris: How a US Teenager Achieved the ‘Impossible’ and What His Feat Tells Us about Human Capabilities.” BBC Future, January 3, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240103-tetris-how-a-us-teenager-achieved-the-impossible.

Uh, pass the salt, please

Making the perfect cuppa. American chemist applies a scientific approach to a religious challenge. Paging Rebecca Holden and Terry Freedman!

“As food historian Helen Saberi writes in the opening sentences of Tea: A Global History: ‘The Chinese sip it from tiny cups, the Japanese whisk it. In America, they serve it iced. The Tibetans add butter. Russians serve with lemon. Mint is added in North Africa. Afghans flavour it with cardamom.’ ” Greenwood, Veronique. “The Mythos of Drinking Tea: What Makes It Essentially British?” BBC Travel, February 1, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240201-the-mythos-of-drinking-tea-what-makes-it-essentially-british.

James Hoffman considers a battery-powered drip coffeemaker and asks WHY DOES THIS EXIST? Good question. There are responses in the comments, which, this time at least, are worth looking at. (James Hoffman, it is said, is the David Attenborough of coffee.) The Makita Coffee Machine: A Bizarre Battery-Powered Brewer, 2022. (H/T Sarah DeLong)

But really, who actually wants to have a healthy relationship with caffeine? Tagle, Andee. “How to Have a Healthy Relationship with Caffeine.” NPR, January 24, 2024, sec. Life Kit. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/06/1161394509/the-truth-about-caffeine.

Penfield's homunculus and the like

"I am a little world made cunningly." A meditation on connections of people and the world.

Science marches on with good correction. Costandi, Moheb. “The Iconic Brain Map That’s Changing Neurosurgery and Gaming.” Aeon, March 1, 2024. https://aeon.co/essays/the-iconic-brain-map-thats-changing-neurosurgery-and-gaming.

The villainy of things

Some 99-year-old tools might scare you. Fantastical creatures I ran into while reading for a chapter I'm writing. And children working with tools.

Lots of very old tools and things in this watchmakers’ workshop. Baraniuk, Chris. “Inside a Hidden Studio Making Intricate £50,000 Watches.” BBC Future. Accessed March 25, 2018. http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180316-the-watchmaking-skills-that-nearly-died-out.

A humorous story about a dustbuster and an air fryer. “You little squirt, if there is a natural disaster such as a flood, a fire, an earthquake or even the rare tsunami, do you really think rescue vehicles will be loaded with the likes of you? No, siree. In a disaster you will shrink to nothing and we, vintage home appliances and enduring electrical Masters of the Universe, will save the day.” Fischkin, Barbara. “A Tale of Two Appliances.” 3 Quarks Daily, February 5, 2024. https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2024/02/a-tale-of-two-appliances.html.

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.

“Ultimately, for our society, this comes down to whether we believe in the potential of humans with as much conviction as we believe in the potential of A.I.” Raman, Aneesh, and Maria Flynn. “When Your Technical Skills Are Eclipsed, Your Humanity Will Matter More Than Ever.” The New York Times, February 14, 2024, sec. Opinion. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/opinion/ai-economy-jobs-colleges.html.

A really long piece of music

Haskins, Rob. “In an Ancient Church in Germany, a 639-Year Organ Performance of a John Cage Composition Is about to Have Its next Note Change.” The Conversation, January 24, 2024. http://theconversation.com/in-an-ancient-church-in-germany-a-639-year-organ-performance-of-a-john-cage-composition-is-about-to-have-its-next-note-change-218987.

The "writer" at your side, helping ... or not & We're playing the role of King Thamus

It's inevitable. The ChatGPT/AI essay. Here's mine, flavored with the thinking I'm doing about student writing in my fall seminar

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.

Sinaee, Bardia. “One Day, ChatGPT Will Move You to Tears.” The Walrus, December 15, 2023. https://thewalrus.ca/one-day-chatgpt-will-move-you-to-tears/.

Tyrangiel, Josh. “An ‘Education Legend’ Has Created an AI That Will Change Your Mind about AI.” Washington Post, February 22, 2024, sec. Opinion. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/02/22/artificial-intelligence-sal-khan/ (H/T

Tom Pendergast

).

Barbie. My long, tortured, wonderful relationship.

A true story, remembered. "If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you."

Not exactly about Barbie, but interesting use of ASCII to reproduce feature length films. Don’t expect high resolution, and you’ll see that some familiarity with the theater-version is pretty much a necessity. Khalid, Amrita. “Art Collective MSCHF Is Streaming Movies like Barbie in ASCII for Free.” The Verge, January 30, 2024. https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/30/24055041/ascii-theater-mschf-copyright-law-barbie-film-streaming.

Clever. MSCHF. “ASCII Theater.” ASCII Theater. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://ascii.theater.

Screenshot from ASCII-fied Barbie by MSCHF. The shows go on for one day (at least that’s what I’ve been told). Who knows if Barbie will come up again. Rights: Fair use.

And you can do A LOT with ASCII, including misleading your favorite AI/LLM! Goodin, Dan. “ASCII Art Elicits Harmful Responses from 5 Major AI Chatbots.” Ars Technica, March 16, 2024. https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/03/researchers-use-ascii-art-to-elicit-harmful-responses-from-5-major-ai-chatbots/.

Listening to voices of a designer-artist and farmer-poet.

Sara Hendren and Wendell Berry talk with me as I write about the work of humans

Silcoff, Mireille. “Teen Subcultures Are Fading. Pity the Poor Kids.” The New York Times, February 21, 2024, sec. Magazine. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/magazine/aesthetics-tiktok-teens.html.

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.

Rosenbloom, Stephanie. “The Art of Slowing Down in a Museum.” The New York Times, October 9, 2014, sec. Travel. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/travel/the-art-of-slowing-down-in-a-museum.html.

Billion-Dollar babies. Fake and real, too?

Virtual influencers are trying to be a thing. For oldies, that's weird. For young 'uns, it's normal?

Farago, Jason. “A.I. Can Make Art That Feels Human. Whose Fault Is That?” The New York Times, December 28, 2023, sec. Arts. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/arts/design/artists-artificial-intelligence.html.

Johnston, Annabelle. “Take It to the Spank Bank.” The Baffler, December 14, 2023. https://thebaffler.com/latest/take-it-to-the-spank-bank-johnston.

Paton, Elizabeth. “The Hot New Accessory From the Paris Runways: A Robot Baby.” The New York Times, January 22, 2024, sec. Style. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/style/robot-baby-schiaparelli-show.html.

Spring, Marianna. “Trump Supporters Target Black Voters with Faked AI Images.” BBC News, March 4, 2024. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68440150.

Three sonnets on a lone majestic oak

It mysteriously avoided the chainsaw and stands in a widened place in the middle of a four-lane highway. I propose a mythology to explain.

A poem from Donald Hall that reminded me of my own lines:

“My dad, there. His daddy’s prize horse lies here. Spare his grief.”

The tree marks it, now grown to match a taller tale:
boy’s dog transformed to granddad’s ribboned horse.

Donald Hall - Poetry Readings: “Names of Horses” (104/111). YouTube video, 2017.

Hall, Donald. “Names of Horses.” Famous Poets and Poems. Accessed March 21, 2024. http://www.famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/donald_hall/poems/16588.