-
On Skynet, and why I’m still gung-ho about AI research despite having watched two out of four Terminator movies.
Maybe we just need an all-out war against a machine of our own creation.
-
On octopus literature, a reprise: what would books be like if we didn’t love gossip?
Of all intelligent species I know of, only the octopus evolved its mind for purposes other than keeping track of gossip.
-
On Simon Critchley’s ‘Memory Theater’ and other people’s lost time.
Long-lost artifacts trigger powerful memories … but without an explanation, they seem meaningless to others.
-
On my own attempt to understand what motivates people to join the terrorist organization Daesh.
Kent Russell’s essay on juggalos helped me think about Middle Eastern terrorism.
-
On proving that elections will make you miserable.
Somehow I’d deluded myself into thinking that typing this essay would make me happy. I see now that I was wrong.
-
On the question of whom to blame for the paucity of women in science.
We castigate scientists for the number of women in STEM fields, but the behavior of non-scientists might be equally to blame.
-
On crashing waves of violence and Paul Kingsnorth’s ‘The Wake.’
People are raving about the new film “Racing Extinction.” What might impending extinction feel like for those last few survivors?
ancient humans, Beowulf, CK Scott Moncrieff, distribution of wealth, economics, extinction, Homo sapiens, human evolution, inequality, land holdings, land rights, Marcel Proust, mass extinction, Neanderthals, Norman Invasion, Old English, Paul Kingsnorth, Sapiens, Seamus Heaney, Stonehenge, The Wake, Translation, wealth, Yuval Noah Harari
-
On the historical interpretations deathmatch: Sid Meier’s ‘Civilization 2’ versus Yuval Noah Harari’s ‘Sapiens.’
How do you pick the all-time list of video games? And what does the list tell us about humanity?
-
On humor (and bad medical advice).
In which I write a bodybuilding-mag-style paean to eating cat feces.
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Frank Brown Cloud 