Collaborate Disseminate
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Book banning is not new — in the U.S. alone the practice goes back to Puritan times, when Thomas Morton’s book New English Caanan and others opposing this way of life were tossed from Massachusetts. But th… Continue reading Efforts To Ban Books Jumped an ‘Unprecedented’ Four-Fold In 2021
Justin E. H. Smith is a professor of the history and philosophy of science. Princeton University Press has just published his new book — titled The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is. (Definite internet as “the part that we are glued to for mos… Continue reading A Professor Warns the Internet ‘is Not What You Think It Is’
A new essay from The Baffler suggests burnout is “a personal malady that indexes a broken labor system,” rather than a trendy term that “resonates with affluent professionals who fetishize overwork.”
And then the essay turns to Jonathan Malesic’s new… Continue reading Is Burnout Just a Sign of a Broken Labor System?
Gus Simmons is an early pioneer in cryptography and computer security. I know him best for his work on authentication and covert channels, specifically as related to nuclear treaty verification. His work is cited extensively in Applied Cryptography.
He… Continue reading Gus Simmons’s Memoir
Chris Freeland, a librarian and Director of the Internet Archive’s Open Libraries program, writes: The disturbing trend of school boards and lawmakers banning books from libraries and public schools is accelerating across the country. In response, Jaso… Continue reading Digital Books Are Not Fireproof
Amy Zegart has a new book: Spies, Lies, and Algorithms: The History and Future of American Intelligence. Wired has an excerpt:
In short, data volume and accessibility are revolutionizing sensemaking. The intelligence playing field is leveling — and not in a good way. Intelligence collectors are everywhere, and government spy agencies are drowning in data. This is a radical new world and intelligence agencies are struggling to adapt to it. While secrets once conferred a huge advantage, today open source information increasingly does. Intelligence used to be a race for insight where great powers were the only ones with the capabilities to access secrets. Now everyone is racing for insight and the internet gives them tools to do it. Secrets still matter, but whoever can harness all this data better and faster will win…
“Proponents of AI audiobook narration tout its much lower production costs (compared to a traditional recording of a human narrator) as a way to improve profitability of audiobooks,” reports Publisher’s Weekly, “as well as allowing publishers to publis… Continue reading Should Audiobooks Be Narrated by AI?
XKCD creator Randall Munroe has announced his latest science book: What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which will delve into new out-of-the-box questions that Munroe attempts to answer with hard scientifi… Continue reading XCKD’s Randall Munroe Announces What If? 2
Last night we asked what books you’d enjoyed reading this year.
Here’s how Bill Gates had answered the same question on his personal blog Gates Notes:
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with science fiction. Paul Allen and I would spend countless hour… Continue reading The Books Bill Gates Enjoyed Reading in 2021
What are some books that you read this year that you enjoyed reading? Doesn’t have to be those that released this year — though if possible, mention any recently published books.
Further reading: Ask Slashdot: What’s a 2021 Movie or TV Show That You… Continue reading Slashdot Asks: What Are Some Books You Liked Reading This Year?