Domain: brainpickings.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to brainpickings.org.
Comments · 11
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Re:Because...
As the "design" of this doesn't really apply (you can't really apply for a design patent on the on the way the page is laid out, though you could if the book was shaped oddly - say you put a hole in the middle and some other things).
You must mean Peter Newell's The Hole Book , published in 1908 - with a 'bullet' hole that went straight through the center of each page. It was a favorite when I was growing up. (Unfortunately, reprints leave out the physical hole - as well as the watermelon.)
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Re:The Simple Reason...
even though actual scientists like Carl Sagan are rolling their eyes
considering the man died almost 20 years ago, that would be an interesting scientific phenomenon indeed.
oblig Baloney Detection Kit links:
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Re:The appeal of religion
The invisible friends part of religion is only a small portion. Religion doesn't bring tribalism, it's just one of the many uniforms that tribalism wears. Without religion people would, and do, find other ways to draw lines between groups of people.
You might want to read up on what Richard Feynman had to say about religion. It is all over the net. Here is one guy's take of part of it: Richard Feynman on Science vs. Religion and Why Uncertainty Is Central to Morality
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Re:funny.
And again, he did that design alone.
Wozniak would not have fit in a modern corporate team. That's not a place where he can use his strengths.
"So", you ask, "what does he think of that?" I'm glad you asked!
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Machine learning?
A small percentage of African slaves were brought to the USA.
From fewer than 400,000 slaves came over 37 Million.
The USA's reward for being a minor player in the trade and allowing its slaves to greatly increase in number is everlasting pay-back.
Are these crazy comments a product of naive machine learning algorithms?
Or code used for illicit communications?
Any ideas?
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So few slaves came to what is now the USA
A small percentage of African slaves were brought to the USA.
From fewer than 400,000 slaves came over 37 Million.
The USA's reward for being a minor player in the trade and allowing its slaves to greatly increase in number is everlasting pay-back.
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Re:The Facts Don't Matter Because "Narrative"
...his vids that expose...
It is often extremely difficult to find a perfect example of something when trying to explain it, so many of the materials people use when trying to make a larger point have flaws and can be nitpicked pretty easily. Any sufficiently complicated argument suffers from this when you attempt to compress it into a smaller time-scale, making it easy to overlook the 'bigger picture' and be offended by the examples presented. How do you distil the years of experiences and biases which have lead you to a particular argument in an objective manner in a short presentation without exposing yourself to seriously flawed examples, regardless of the topic? Try convincing a religious person why they should abandon their religion in 20 minutes without presenting examples that can be nitpicked; it's pretty difficult, because the topic is quite complex when you drill down into it (even though it seems pretty simple, it really requires analysing why they believe first).
I read somewhere that the best way to respond to an argument is to re-state your opponent's argument, as you understand it and in the best possible light, comment on and discuss the parts you agreed with or liked, and then present the pieces you disagree with. *some searching later* turns out it was Daniel Dennett, here: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapoport-rules-criticism/.
How to compose a successful critical commentary:
- You should attempt to re-express your target’s position so clearly, vividly, and fairly that your target says, “Thanks, I wish I’d thought of putting it that way.
- You should list any points of agreement (especially if they are not matters of general or widespread agreement).
- You should mention anything you have learned from your target.
- Only then are you permitted to say so much as a word of rebuttal or criticism.
Turns out I forgot the learned bit. The reason I'm replying is because I don't think the video creator you mentioned prescribes to a method of arguing which is useful for much beyond entertainment for those who already agree, whatever the subject under discussion. Which is partly the fault of the format – it's much faster and easier to make a dissection-style video that is short and matches your preconceived viewpoint than it is to do the above – but that's not really an excuse for intellectual laziness in the end.
Note that I'm not saying his opponents are correct – some use the same approach as he does and fail for the same reasons. I'm pointing out that his videos don't prescribe to any form of argument which could be used to convince a person to change their mind. He does not expose anyone, because the people who watch them already agree. The best that most short youtube arguments aspire to is entertainment.
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Sacrifice the kids (was Re:Geek Savior)
Yes, but I'm also saddened for a generation of kids who grow up interacting w/ computers to only consume media, not to create.
Steve Jobs put forth that computers were ``bicycles for the mind'' [1] --- but this switch to tablets is taking general purpose computers out of the hands of our kids and replacing it w/ an interactive TV. While there have been some web mentionings of it [2] I can't find a copy of the ad, or a full set of the quotes. [3]
Where are the brilliant creativity and programming tools for Tablets? (and I say this as a person who uses Autodesk Sketchbook, Creaturehouse Expression, Futurewave SmartSketch, Macromedia FreeHand, Runtime Revolution and Lotus Improv on his Tablet PC)
I'd love to have a list of great creativity tools for tablets (though I wonder how much good it'll do --- I've been unsuccessful in getting my son to d/l and install Petit Computer [4] )
1 - http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Bicycle.txt
2 - http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/21/steve-jobs-bicycle-for-the-mind-1990/
3 - http://creativityandinnovation.blogspot.com/2011/10/steve-jobs-amazing-quotes.html
4 - http://www.petitcomputer.com/ -
Re:The fake times are upon us
It's no longer really possible for "normal" people to tell apart real images from photoshopped or even completely CGI rendered ones.
To be honest, it never has been. Photographers, long before Photoshop or computers, have been editing photos to the point that normal people can't tell the difference. It's always funny to read some photographer go off about the abuse of digital editing these days and give evidence of some well known photo as what photographers used to do 'in camera' only to have some other photographer show the original photo and show that most of that great photo was not done in camera.
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Re:Read the reviews yourself
Do you really think it need to be referer free? I can't imagine anyone reading this story, and then thinking: Hey I need to buy this game now
:}Amazon referrals are a lot more tricky than that. When you load an amazon page with a referral code it sets a cookie on your system that lasts for something like 24 hours. Any purchases you make while that referral cookie is active send cash to the original referrer (and amazon also gives them a report on what you bought, but not your identity, at least not directly) -- even if you never actually purchase the original item.
That's why some websites will do annoying things like make every image clickable as a referral link to amazon, making it much easier to accidentally click a link so that if 12 hours later you buy something unrelated at Amazon, the referrer still gets the cash.
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Cool, but old
Neat technology indeed. Although it's not at all new. The story broke in early October, and yet it's been surprisingly low-profile across the tech blogs. And less buzz means less VC capital for developing the technology further. Sad, since it's beyond promising.