Five Things (and The Bland Sameness of Modern Design)
1. The Unfiltered History Tour
This is a beautiful idea. Although it takes an activist stance against the British Museum, it’s still valuable. The activism is understandable given the contentions around the colonial origins of some of the exhibited works and at a period where anti-white and anti-colonial sentiments are rife.
I’ve followed some of the conversations, and planning to read Dan Hick’s book, The Brutish Museum. It’s a serious topic with multiple layers and dynamics. While this rages on, I haven’t yet seen much case about ensuring access to the works without inciting political and cultural tensions. The possible consequence of this would be that artistic works would be filtered through political lenses. Their purity, cultural and even spiritual relevance may become marginal, which, in my estimation, is a bigger problem. How do we sustain their relevance and essence without controversies? How are they going to be handed over to the next generation?
This is why I like how this technology is facilitating access through education and engagement. The Unfiltered History Tour uses AI to tell the stories of the works through the voices of the people from the countries they were removed from. This video explains it:
2. Winner of the Fields Awards
I don’t remember when I grew interest in the Fields Awards. It may not be unconnected from when I found myself in a rabbit role from reading (and watching the movie), A Beautiful Mind, about the American mathematician, John Nash. I read the book probably in 2008 and watched the movie later. I was so fascinated by the story and the man that I read everything about everything around mathematics, game theory (I still don’t fully understand it, lol) etc. He didn’t win the Fields Medal although he was speculated to win.
June Huh wins this year’s award. And I went reading about him and his journey. Of course, I didn’t fully understand the work he’s cited to have proven. But I’m glad to know him as a fine mind.
3. The Bland Sameness of Modern Design
The writer, David Perell, shared a Twitter thread that has since gone viral. He examines the effect of software on aesthetics. It reinforces a topic that have occupied my mind longer than I can remember. As the modern world continues to be dominated and subservient to the whims of algorithms, everything becomes mechanised, leaving out our human intimations with ethereal and emotional elements, which are non-computable (yet). They’re usually the domains where magic, genius and the unbridled human creativity take flight. With software – and the engineering notions that birth them, it’s as though concepts incompatible with metrics are to be discarded. This is not to suggest that engineering doesn’t make room for creativity. After all, most of the engineering wonders are feats of creativity. But when considered from a humanist point of view, one senses a dissonance. It’s the reason we have cities with sophisticated and glassy architectures but lacking in soul. It’s why modern advertising play safe with insipid art directions and texts because it is beholden to the tyranny of metric dashboards.
Check out the brilliant thread.
4. Ralston College, A Humanist School After My Heart.
The academia is in crisis. Given how enmeshed they’re in culture wars, one wonders if they’re able to return to their former glories as citadels of intellectual inquiries, truth, and human flourishing. For reasons that are curious as they’re distressing, universities, especially the influential ones, mostly Western (for now), have become cesspools of cancel culture. The fear of sharing contrarian views, which used to be an intellectual tradition, and the mere exercise freedom of expression, afflict universities. It points to the coddling on the minds where people’s feelings and emotions take premium above facts and rigour.
It's the reason Ralston College is a welcome antidote and a necessary challenger brand to the current system. I love the school since it opened. It is positioned as a humanist institution that upholds the tenets of seeking truth with courage. I must add – with devotion to Beauty.
I follow its president, Stephen Blackwood, through his moderations of intellectual discussions. My favourite is his moderation of a conversation between Sir Roger Scruton and Jordan Peterson – “Apprehending the Transcendent” (An absolutely insightful conversation).
5. Cartoon
This cracked me up. It’s funny but profound, in the manner of a good comedy. It points to how we’re oriented to perform optimally in the face of threat and how we’re nothing without responsibilities. It also suggests how we owe part of our relevance and survival to competition. Like defining who we are by what’s against us.