Bits

“In the same way that English language emotion concepts have colonized psychology, AI dominated by American-influenced image sources is producing a new visual monoculture of facial expressions.” #genai #ai #culture https://medium.com/@socialcreature/ai-and-the-american-smile-76d23a0fbfaf

“As data collection technology hollows out our inner worlds, all of us experience the working artist’s plight: our lot is to numericize and monetize the most private and personal parts of our experience.” https://thewalrus.ca/collapse-of-self-worth-in-the-digital-age/

“The reactor that will be reopened to power Microsoft’s data centers was not involved in the accident.” https://www.npr.org/2024/09/20/nx-s1-5120581/three-mile-island-nuclear-power-plant-microsoft-ai

Sound & Music

Manu Chao, “Viva Tu” https://daily.bandcamp.com/album-of-the-day/manu-chao-viva-tu-review

A film about The Sonics https://sonicsfilm.com

showcases the amazing beauty and (sometimes) weirdness found in the designs of the common audio tape cassette http://www.tapedeck.org/

Photos

Comics

Politics & Economics

“My beliefs are simple, and hardly radical: #libraries are critical infrastructure. Access to information is a human right. When you buy a book you should truly own it. When a library buys a book, they should be able to lend it. Readers should be able to read without any third parties spying over their shoulders, or preventing them from accessing the materials they have legally obtained.” #copyright #copyleft #internetarchive https://www.citationneeded.news/hachette-v-internet-archive/

This decision also renders the #fairuse doctrine—legally crucial in everything from parody to #education to news reporting—almost unusable.” #libraries #cdl https://archive.is/kuKT5

“The suburban family’s other choice was the full-size van—a big, boxy transport or utility vehicle. The gas for these was also pricey, and their aesthetic felt unsuited to domesticity. By cultural consensus, vans were made for plumbers, kidnappers, or ex-Special-Forces domestic mercenaries.” https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/09/minivan-suv-family-car/679919/?gift=YhIlBfX2ziuhQFM_AR5y-OR2mRqWW9bj0CS-UGmmI2Y