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Nostalgia: A History of a Dangerous Emotion by Agnes Arnold-Forster review – no place like home

"Quoting Michel Barnier, the EU chief negotiator, she sees the vote to leave Europe as a direct expression of Britain’s “nostalgia for the past”, alerting us to the way that Barnier’s tautologous phrasing suggests a doubling down – Britons really, really want to live in a once-upon-a-time land when foreigners knew their place."

theguardian.com/books/2024/apr

@histodon @histodons @psychology @bookstodon

attribution: TeroVesalainen, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

The silent record

"The historian’s avowed mission is to reduce the layers and broker the optimal relationship with the distant recorded past. But ultimately, history becomes an asymptote, a line approaching but never quite touching the past."

biblonia.com/2024/04/10/the-si

@histodon @histodons

attribution: Ch. Maderthoner, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

To understand the risks posed by AI, follow the money

"Focusing on the economic risks from AI is not simply about preventing “monopoly,” “self-preferencing,” or “Big Tech dominance”. It’s about ensuring that the economic environment facilitating innovation is not incentivising hard-to-predict technological risks as companies “move fast and break things” in a race for profit or market dominance."

theconversation.com/to-underst

attribution: Madhav-Malhotra-003, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"Through the burning of fossil fuels, animal agriculture and deforestation, the world’s CO2 levels are now more than 50% higher than they were before the era of mass industrialization. Methane, which comes from sources including oil and gas drilling and livestock, has surged even more dramatically in recent years, Noaa said, and now has atmospheric concentrations 160% larger than in pre-industrial times." theguardian.com/environment/20 @climatechange @science

attribution: Demokraatti, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"It’s no surprise that fertility is dropping in many countries, which demographers attribute to factors such as higher education levels among people who give birth, rising incomes, and expanded access to contraceptives. The United States is at 1.6 instead of the requisite 2.1, for example, and China and Taiwan are hovering at about 1.2 and one, respectively." doi.org/10.1126/science.ze0x33 @science

attribution: Christinelmiller, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"Modern imperialism is embodied by industrial capitalism, which prioritizes resource extraction and maximizing profit. This paradigm is deeply embedded in the fabric of global affairs, influencing international trade, political dynamics, and the economic frameworks of nations".

Charles Fletcher, William J Ripple, Thomas Newsome, Phoebe Barnard, Kamanamaikalani Beamer, Aishwarya Behl, Jay Bowen, Michael Cooney, Eileen Crist, Christopher Field, Krista Hiser, David M Karl, David A King, Michael E Mann, Davianna P McGregor, Camilo Mora, Naomi Oreskes, Michael Wilson, Earth at risk: An urgent call to end the age of destruction and forge a just and sustainable future, PNAS Nexus, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2024, pgae106, doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae @economics @climatechange @politicalscience

"We propose that early humans knew that elephants consistently walked along the same paths to waterholes and used this information to hunt/ambush elephants along these paths. In the course of hunting/ambushing elephants, humans repeatedly utilized specific quarry sites along the trails in preparation for butchering the large game."

Finkel, M., Barkai, R. Quarries as Places of Significance in the Lower Paleolithic Holy Triad of Elephants, Water, and Stone. Arch (2024). doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-094 @archaeodons

"To loosely paraphrase Virgil’s famous dictum, timeo Danaos et dona ferentes (I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts), let us beware of the familiar especially when it looks too familiar." biblonia.com/2024/04/01/trojan @bookstodon

Image attribution: National Gallery of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"Magellan’s behavior became increasingly rebellious and not in tune with the Portuguese authorities’ expectations. He took leave without permission, was accused of illegally trading in Morocco, and even quarreled with the Portuguese King Manuel I."

Perpuli, Francisco. "Ferdinand Magellan & The First Voyage Around the World" TheCollector.com, thecollector.com/ferdinand-mag (accessed March 27, 2024). @histodon @histodons @earlymodern

attribution: The Mariner's Museum Collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"For some people, their status was elevated still further by the widely publicized discovery in 2007 that some Neanderthals carried genes suggesting they had red hair and light skin. These ancient inhabitants of Europe and Asia became coded as white, and on social media some people began to claim Neanderthal ancestry as a mark of racial superiority." doi.org/10.1126/science.z6n7io @science @anthropology

attribution: Gary Todd, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"Archaeology supports the conclusion that Brittany was not founded in the mid-fifth century. A foundation in the late fourth century is most compatible with the archaeological evidence, limited though it is."

Howells, Caleb. "Was Brittany Founded by Magnus Maximus?" TheCollector.com, thecollector.com/magnus-maximu (accessed March 28, 2024). @histodon @histodons

attribution: Giovanni Battista de'Cavalieri, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

"In this paper, I examine if and how Aristotle’s philosophy of geometry can account for the geometers’ practices and way of talking."

Chiara Martini, Geometrical Changes: Change and Motion in Aristotle’s Philosophy of Geometry, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 123, Issue 3, October 2023, Pages 385–394, doi.org/10.1093/arisoc/aoad018 @philosophy

attribution: Enea Vico, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Page URL: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil

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