Judgement Party

AI And Aesthetic Judgement

Jessica Hulman et al | Northwestern | 17th August 2023

Three respected scholars argue that AI resembles art more than technology in its capacity to disturb our sensibilities. Current calls to curb AI recall Plato's ancient call for a ban on poetry, lest poets' fictitious accounts of the world might "morally corrupt those who took them to heart, as if art could influence lives like alcohol or industrial technology or political propaganda or weapons of war" (13,000 words)

Bride Of Bay Area House Party

Scott Alexander | Astral Codex Ten | 17th August 2023

Fads and fashions in the Bay Area aggregated and satirised, including some that Scott just made up (I think). In this latest mix: Land-acknowledgement Alexas, reverse-engineered reality shows, eating like Nero, anti-subscriptions, Golden-Bough gurus, inclusivity monitors, repugnant houses, Lindyness testing. "Taleb was too antifragile to die. Killing him just makes him stronger" (2,900 words)