39 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2023
    1. It would seem that people who spend too much time online experience more anxiety. Could it be that we've evolved to only be able to manage so many inputs and amounts of variety of those inputs? The experiencing of too much variety in our environments and the resultant anxiety may be a result of the limits of Ross Ashby's law of requisite variety within human systems.

      This may also be why chaos machines like Donald Trump are effective at creating anxiety in a populace whose social systems are not designed to handle so many crazy ideas at once.

      Implications for measurements of resilience?

    1. blah. this surveillance system is one big personality test.<br /> the problem is, they do not want a balance of all personality types or "natural order",<br /> but they do a one-sided selection by personality type.<br /> aka socialdarwinism, socialism, survival of the social, social credit score, civilization, high culture, progress, "made order", human laws, human rights, humanism, ...

  2. Oct 2023
  3. Sep 2023
    1. What interests me most is bringing the humanities into the discussion of this most human enterprise, which has for too long been dominated (as print was in its first half-century) by the technologists.

      Jeff Jarvis specifically points out the shift in technology which is now injecting more humanity into the process.

  4. Aug 2023
    1. Whatever work there is should have as much meaning aspossible. Wherever possible, workmen should be artists; theirwork should be the application of knowledge or science andknown and enjoyed by them as such. They should, if possi-ble, know what they are doing, why what they are doing hasthe results it has, why they are doing it, and what constitutesthe goodness of the things produced. They should understandwhat happens to what they produce, why it happens in thatway, and how to improve what happens. They should under-stand their relations to others co-operating in a given process,the relation of that process to other processes, the pattern of-them all as constituting the economy of the nation, and thebearing of the economy on the social, moral, and politicallife of the nation and the world. Work would be humanizedif understanding of all these kinds were in it and around it.

      Is this the same sort of shift in work noticed by Barak Obama in his four part documentary series Working: What We Do All Day which aired on Netflix in 2023?

      Politicians should focus here especially.

  5. Jun 2023
    1. We should strive to pass on thetraditions of human thinking while teaching new generations how to engagecritically with those traditions.
    1. Considerate la vostra semenza: Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, Ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza.

      The human--animal - the Darwinian, rather than Hobbesian, social animal endowed with ‘social instincts’ and ‘moral sense’ - is surely the anthropological substratum of the ‘study of certain aspects of the human mind’ that Levi carries out in SQ. However, these verses from canto 26 of Dante’s Inferno seem to contravene such evolutionary--anthropological assumptions, instead claiming the humanist identification of humanity with reason.

      This apparent ‘conceptual anomaly’ has led interpreters to diverge, between those who see in this chapter a patent affirmation of Levi’s humanist creed (Farrell, Patruno) and those who remind us that these pages should always be read along with Levi’s naturalistic essays from the 1960s and the 1970s (Benvegnù, Ross), or indeed through the ‘Fascist’ Ulysses of the liceo (Druker). Of course, Levi’s reflection on the human mind is not immune from contradictions or unsolved questions.

      However, we might propose that ‘Il canto di Ulisse’ can be read as an expression of Levi’s mindset as a man of science who does not conceive any rift between the so-called ‘two cultures’. Levi can pair Darwin and Dante without perceiving any contradiction; a mutual reinforcement that does not entail the lack of spirit in the former and the lack of matter in the latter. Put simply, for Levi, in certain moments, the Scholastic Dante (or the Catholic Manzoni) could say more about human experience than the materialists Darwin and Lorenz, but this is no escape from our finitude.

      SG

    1. Considerate la vostra semenza: Fatti non foste a viver come bruti, Ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza.

      The human--animal - the Darwinian, rather than Hobbesian, social animal endowed with ‘social instincts’ and ‘moral sense’ - is surely the anthropological substratum of the ‘study of certain aspects of the human mind’ that Levi carries out in SQ. However, these verses from canto 26 of Dante’s Inferno seem to contravene such evolutionary--anthropological assumptions, instead claiming the humanist identification of humanity with reason.

      This apparent ‘conceptual anomaly’ has led interpreters to diverge, between those who see in this chapter a patent affirmation of Levi’s humanist creed (Farrell, Patruno) and those who remind us that these pages should always be read along with Levi’s naturalistic essays from the 1960s and the 1970s (Benvegnù, Ross), or indeed through the ‘Fascist’ Ulysses of the liceo (Druker). Of course, Levi’s reflection on the human mind is not immune from contradictions or unsolved questions.

      However, we might propose that ‘Il canto di Ulisse’ can be read as an expression of Levi’s mindset as a man of science who does not conceive any rift between the so-called ‘two cultures’. Levi can pair Darwin and Dante without perceiving any contradiction; a mutual reinforcement that does not entail the lack of spirit in the former and the lack of matter in the latter. Put simply, for Levi, in certain moments, the Scholastic Dante (or the Catholic Manzoni) could say more about human experience than the materialists Darwin and Lorenz, but this is no escape from our finitude.

      SG

  6. Apr 2023
    1. In the cultural story of secular, technologically advanced democracies, human life is valued from a humanistic standpoint. That is, from a belief that we don’t need a higher power to be ethical. We have the capability, and the responsibility, to lead ethical lives of personal fulfilment that aspire to the greater good. This is a prevalent view in the scientific and tech worlds.

      Question - What is meant by "higher power"? - a belief in God, religion?

  7. Feb 2023
    1. Only through open and ongoing dialog between technologists and artists can we build tools that have a positive impact on the world.

      We definitely need more focus on digital humanism.

  8. Jan 2023
  9. Dec 2022
    1. I want to insist on an amateur internet; a garage internet; a public library internet; a kitchen table internet.

      Social media should be comprised of people from end to end. Corporate interests inserted into the process can only serve to dehumanize the system.


      Robin Sloan is in the same camp as Greg McVerry and I.

  10. Aug 2022
  11. Jul 2022
    1. Humanist critiques began to erode Pliny—the major source for natural history since antiquity—in the1490s. The lengthy critiques of Ermolao Barbaro (1454–1493) and Niccolò Leoniceno (1428–1524) were,however, based on Greek texts prior to Pliny, not on the natural world.

      Pliny's work had been the standard text for natural history since antiquity. The early humanist movement including critiques by Ermolao Barbaro and Niccolò Leoniceno in the mid 1400s began to erode his stature in the area. Interestingly however, it wasn't new discoveries or science that was displacing Pliny so much as comparison of Pliny with even earlier Greek texts.

  12. May 2022
    1. In general, I would say that I think there are only a few circumstances in which markets produce good incentives and distributions, and that these depend heavily on publicly accountable governance that set up their rules.

      Amen. This resonates with my concern about systems that want to govern human relations without humans at the center. It's not like I believe having humans at the center of our relations guarantees good practices and outcomes (we have ample proof it does not), but rather that NOT centering humans in human relations may cast aside what's good about humanity along with what's bad.

  13. Apr 2022
    1. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1514938507407421440.html

      A former Redditor's perspective on Musk's purchase offer of Twitter. Sounds like he gets many parts right, but doesn't address the specific toxicity of social media's part in amplifying it all using metrics and algorighms which encourage the fringes to fight. Simply turning off algorithms and tamping down on amplifying marginal content would make it all vastly more human.

  14. Mar 2022
    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTSEr0cRJY8

      Starts out with four and a half minutes of anti-crypto and Web3 material. Presumably most of her audience is in the web3 space.

      http://youvegotkat.neocities.org

      Neocities: http://neocities.org

      The Yesterweb: http://yesterweb.org

      Marginalia Search: https://search.marginalia.nu/explore/random

      It [the IndieWeb] is so so queer. Like it's super gay, super trans, super good.

      The indie web also questions tech solutionism which often attempts to solve human problems by removing the human element. But easily the most remarkable and powerful thing about the internet is the ability it has to connect us with one another.

    1. Important tools are still needed for group formation and discussion within communities of tens, thousands, and millions of people. Participation in democratic political processes are appealing, but ensuring informed participation, respect for opposing views, and adequate time for deliberation will be difficult. A major research effort would help to grapple with complex issues of thousand of active participants in discussion groups. How would an electronic Robert's Rules of meetings help to keep orde r, permit caucusing of subgroups, support voting, and allow objections to be aired?

      Highlights of some important humanist problems that haven't had nearly enough work on the internet. Instead we allow rampant capitalism of certain areas without forcing companies to spend time working at the harder problems.

    2. A key issue is the role of empathic communications in forming trusting relationships (Pr eece, 1998).

      It's depressing to see that this fundamental problem of the early web seemingly has seen almost no progress in almost a quarter of a century.

    3. Of course, users are still the source of the insight that makes a complete document also a compelling document.

      Nice that he takes a more humanistic viewpoint here rather than indicating that it will all be artificial intelligence in the future.

  15. Jan 2022
  16. readingsdmsp21.commons.gc.cuny.edu readingsdmsp21.commons.gc.cuny.edu
    1. But no other crea-tures can use memory to create, to record experience, to forge self-con-scious associations, to form and practice language, to know, collect, narrate, and write their pasts.

      The author's specist position projecting humans as the only animals able to utilize memory signals a common humanist ontological position. The dichotomous statement separating humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is reinforced when a few sentences later he suggest that human intelligence (which we can already tell is being praised as the superior intelligence) is "the root, the fountain of human intelligence."

      The issue is we have a plethora of research into the cognitive cognition in other species, for instance corvids, not to mention our own anecdotes, i.e. having the memory of an elephant.

    1. Looking up their net worths, we find that Bill Nye is worth $8 million. That’s great, really. A scientist that is worth $8 million is pretty rare. Even Neil Degrasse Tyson is only worth $5 million. I say “only” with tongue in cheek because $5 million is really a LOT of money. But, it’s only about 63% of Bill Nye’s net worth. So, comparatively speaking, Bill Nye has done very well for a scientist.Let’s compare that with Ken Ham. He has a net worth of $54 million. That ark has made Ken Ham his fabulous wealth. And, if it wasn’t for the Bill Nye debate, it might never have come into existence since the project had stalled out.

      All this demonstrates is the amorality of capitalism. Ham is richer, but also an immoral propagandist for a demented worldview.

  17. Dec 2021
  18. Sep 2021
    1. One of the less developed ideas in The Extended Mind concerns the things we prioritize in tech development. Too often, Paul says, we think speed is the height of achievement. Instead, we need technology that builds off of our innate, human capacities.

      Perhaps we need more songlines in our instructional design?

      This is also a plea for a more humanistic approach to technology in general.

  19. Jun 2021
    1. The arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press, in the 15th century, set off another round of teeth gnashing. The Italian humanist Hieronimo Squarciafico worried that the easy availability of books would lead to intellectual laziness, making men “less studious” and weakening their minds. Others argued that cheaply printed books and broadsheets would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread sedition and debauchery.

      Technology fears definitely repeat themselves. This pattern also repeated with social media, television, radio, etc.

      The key may be to worry about the thing that gets lost or changes, and come up with a way to exercise and utilize it despite the newest technology?

      How might we prevent ourselves from repeating this cyclic history with the next major change?

  20. Jun 2020
  21. Dec 2019
    1. I arrived at Strasburgh,

      Strasburgh, or more commonly Strasbourg, is the capital of the Grand Est region of France, the official seat of the European Parliament. It is located close to the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace. In Shelley's day, Strasburgh was a well-known center of humanism, at the crossroads of French and German intellectual traditions.

  22. Aug 2019
    1. and that even the values of non-religious people have been absorbed from the religious history around them

      Was interesting to note that some humanists referred to the golden rule as the basis for their morality. I wonder if they realise that came from the New Testament?

  23. Feb 2019
    1. ew are qualified to give judgment on any work of ar

      This is still humanism, but perhaps a humbler humanism. Descartes still looms large. The objective capital T truth is still out there somewhere, and we can tell that it is perceived because of the universal rules, but the human is fundamentally not the kind of thing that can perfectly perceive objective reality because the organs of internal sensation don't work well enough, or reliably enough.

    1. designs ~ot to copy anything really existing, but to denominate and rank things as they come to agree with those archetypes or forms it has made

      This kinda sounds like a posthuman critique of humanism.

    2. a perverse use of those signs which we make use of to convey truth to one another.

      Plato: "You can't give long answers or talk funny. Just give it to me straight, without all the obfuscation."

    3. one task of philosophy is to improve language

      HU clap MA clap NI clap SM clap

      "this shit sucks. There is certainly some ideal way it ought to work, so lets make it better and better because we can and we know how things work and how they ought to and we're smart and in control!!!"

      What's the posthuman approach to language, in short? Maybe we can substitute words to come up with a different way of seeing it, like "one task of rhetoric is to invigorate language."

  24. Dec 2018
    1. Blockstream announced through a press release that they have added a fifth satellite to their network. Their broadcast can now reach most of the world. Their previous satellite formation allowed them to share their blockchain broadcasts to most of North and South America, Europe and Africa. Company’s fifth satellite allows them to reach the Asia-Pacific region, including China, India, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and Australia.

      <big>评:</big><br/><br/>战争,灾害,外来星体撞击——人类对未知的恐惧迫使科技在人文主义的荫蔽下谨小慎微地拓展边界,如履薄冰。假设最糟糕的情况下,地球上所有节点同时离线,所有无线沟通渠道中断,届时比特币网络会荡然无存吗?<br/><br/>发射卫星来同步比特币网络的做法在许多人看来是不可理喻的,甚至有点病入膏肓的可笑,但这艘「诺亚方舟」所承载的纯朴愿景,足以破封我们现世所面临的诸多困境。没有什么是永垂不朽的,如果有,那将是太阳系最后一个比特币区块,以射线的形态在浩瀚银河里砥砺前行。

  25. Oct 2018
    1. by our own expectations, we can impact other people's behavior

      This is such a powerful and remarkable statement. As much as we believe in the humanistic aspect and that "we have control over our own thoughts and destinies," perhaps this is not the case. Maybe, as humans we learn to control others and by controlling others this helps regulate our own beliefs and values. ---WOW! Reverse psychology much?!?

  26. Aug 2018
    1. Marcus Vitruvius, the classical Roman architect, defined architecture in proportion to the human body—an ideal building, as he saw it, had to reflect the ideal dimensions of a man. Today such anthropocentric design, indeed male-body centered design, seems irrelevant, perhaps even irresponsible, as the magnitude of our self-inflicted environmental disasters poses fundamental challenges to architects and designers. If the human body was the correct proportion for architecture for Vitruvius, what should the scale of design be that addresses today’s environmental challenges? Climatic change, species depletion, and oceanic pollution are worldwide problems. What is left of Vitruvius’s ideal of human reach has stretched to new global scales and millennial time frames. How can architecture conceptualize a planet on which humans have become involved in vast geological forces?

      Framing a post-humanist question for architecture. What would this mean in service design?

  27. Jan 2017
    1. Howeverfrequenttheireuphoricflightsabouttheunlim-itedpowersandmalleabilityofman,theyknewthatrhetoricaleducation,inpractice,sawmanaslimited,notunlimited,livinginaworldofplay,notofidealforms.

      If I'm reading this correctly, this is saying that to live in a world of ideal forms would be the less limiting option here. However, I usually consider ideal forms to be quite limiting as I generally understand idealism to be so closely aligned with essentialism. For example, when students are introduced to an "ideal argument," their notions of argument become more and more restricted. While this can be good (because it provides models for those beginning), it limits the possibilities of all of the divergent notions of argument.

      In the next paragraph, when Lanham says "when rhetoric empowers literature, it is unredeemable. That is what rhetorical literature, I am tempted to say Western literature, is all about," I jump back up here, and then back down there, and then back up here. I wonder if Lanham is suggesting something here about the essentialist notions of humanity... In other words, as long as advocacy for rhetoric carries the baggage of essentialism (like literature as always being boiled down to saying something about the human condition), it will never get beyond the weak defense?