Sunday, June 21, 2015
What is Coding? A little bit of science, a little bit of soul
Great overview in Bloomberg Business Week by writer Paul Ford with interactive demonstration exercises on coding - the bones of contemporary technology and culture. A must read.
Friday, June 19, 2015
Anticipating Dark Futures and What Can Be Done
Nick Bostrum's Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies is an original and unsettling book that explores the possibile scenarios leading to the development of Artificial Intelligence, the risks for society and humanity, and the steps that could conceivably be taken to contain it as a service rather than a threat to our existence.
As an example, Bostrum discusses Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, generally conceived as both the first and last word on AI, and describes how these laws written in 1942 fall woefully short of the precautions and logical and philosophical structures that are required to avoid an AI apocalypse once the genie is out of the bottle. A complex, challenging but engrossing read.
More on the book here http://www.nickbostrom.com/views/superintelligence.pdf
--Anthony Napoli
Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn
Saturday, June 13, 2015
Her Toys are Broken Boys: Ryuichi Sakamoto - YMO and Beyond
Ryuichi Sakamoto as part of Yellow Magic Orchestra performing "Nice Age"
And his later solo work the trance opera classic Harry to Hospital from Wild Palms a 1993 ABC mini series directed by Oliver Stone and written by Bruce Wagner
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Rooftop Films: 'The Wolfpack' - Living Inside and Outside of a Cinema Reality
Director Crystal Moselle and the Angulo Brothers, stars of the documentary,The Wolfpack
Opening later this week, The Wolfpack had its NYC premier at Rooftop Films at Industry City in Brooklyn's Sunset Park. The film follows the emergence of the Angulo Brothers from a cloistered family life in their parents' Loisaida NYCHA apartment into what will certainly be even wider celebrity status following the film's opening. Through director Moselle's footage and extensive family home movies we watch the guys stage Batman, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and other films as their homeschooled homebound childhood/adolescence served as the stage setting for a UCLA- USC- or NYU-worthy cinema education.
Although they were prevented from venturing out into the Mean Streets by their parents they had extensive access to films and videos. But it wasn't clear if they had exposure to mass media as the boys did not have access to computers or presumably the web and only recently learned of Google as a verb.
The limitations of their early lives seemed so extreme that their skillful use of language and art and their film knowledges had me momentarily wondering if this would prove to be some kind of hoax. But then although they appeared fairly comfortable and adept at handling the post-screening Q & A with their director, what seems like a fairy tale with a happy ending is clearly a more complex and human story as it appears they are continuing to take major and difficult steps toward independence and socialization in the larger world though now with the support of their proud and warm mom.
The Wolfpack opens in NYC on June 12. The Rooftop Films 2015 season, off to a bang up start,continues. http://rooftopfilms.com/
The evening opened with a cool and dreamlike performance by Nicholas Nicholas. The band's understated melodic explorations were a great counterpoint as Night fell over NYC and the planet Venus appeared in the late spring sky.
--Anthony Napoli
Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn