Escaping Screens: A Tech-Free Travel Quest, Part II

A stranded American tourist shares the story of a six-month screen-free quest through India and Nepal just as the coronavirus explodes. Part II.

By Tom Grotewohl | August 12, 2020 | Cognition, Culture, Media, Philosophy, Society, Well-Being | Acceptance, Addiction, Art, Awareness, Boredom, Boundaries, Concentration, Conscientious Tech Use, Consciousness, Convenience, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Creativity, Distraction, Dystopia, Electronic Devices, Experience, Food, Ganges, India, Jungle, Localism, Lockdown, Meditation, music, Nature, Nepal, News, Obsession, Pandemic, Peace, Photography, Presence, Renunciation, Ritual, Sacred, Screen Sabbath, Serendipity, Smartphone, Social Media, Spirituality, Superficiality, Tech-Free, Time, Tranquility, travel, Wisdom, Writing

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Escaping Screens: A Tech-Free Travel Quest, Part I

An American tourist stranded in India shares his story: six months traveling without a screen, only to pick one up again just in time for the global meltdown.

By Tom Grotewohl | July 30, 2020 | Cognition, Culture, Media, Philosophy, Society, Well-Being | Acceptance, Addiction, Art, Awareness, Boredom, Boundaries, Concentration, Conscientious Tech Use, Consciousness, Convenience, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Creativity, Distraction, Dystopia, Electronic Devices, Experience, Food, Ganges, India, Jungle, Localism, Lockdown, Meditation, music, Nature, Nepal, News, Obsession, Pandemic, Peace, Photography, Presence, Renunciation, Ritual, Sacred, Screen Sabbath, Serendipity, Smartphone, Social Media, Spirituality, Superficiality, Tech-Free, Time, Tranquility, travel, Wisdom, Writing

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Podcast #27: Robert Lustig on Biochemistry and Health

Author and endocrinologist Robert Lustig explains the neurochemical difference between happiness and pleasure and how it’s been exploited to make so many of us fat, addicted, and depressed. Then, he reminds us how to reclaim our health.

By Mo Lotman | February 27, 2019 | Cognition, Environment, Family, Food, Health, Medicine, Neurology, Podcasts, Well-Being | Academia, Addiction, Adolescence, Alcohol, Amino Acids, Aristotle, ATP, Availability, Behavior, Biochemistry, Caffiene, Calories, Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, Cavities, Cell Death, Child Development, Chronic Metabolic Disease, Chronic Renal Disease, Clinicians, Cocaine, Computers, Connection, Connectivity, Contentment, Contribute, Coping, Cortisol, Dementia, Dentistry, Depression, Diabetes, Diet, Dieticians, Doctors, Dopamine, Drugs, Dyslipidemia, Endocrinology, Enjoyment, Environment, Exercise, Exposure, Facebook, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Flow, Food, Food System, Fructose, Giving, Glucose, Happiness, Health Care, Heroin, Hypertension, Hypothalamus, Information, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, Marketing, Metabolic Syndrome, Metabolism, Mindfulness, Mirror Neurons, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Money, Multitasking, music, Myelin, Neurons, Neurotransmitters, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Obesity, OCD, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Opioids, Peer Pressure, Personal Responsibility, Philanthropy, Pleasure, Polycystic Ovarian Disease, Prefrontal Cortex, Processed Food, Profit, Propaganda, Quantification, Refining, Regulation, Religion, Reward, Sales, Seizures, Seratonin, Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, Social Security, Stimulation, Substance Abuse, Substances, Sugar, Suicide, Taking, Taylorism, Technology, Tolerance, Tryptophane, Utilitarianism

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Spotify Automates; Humans Get Played

When Spotify’s music algorithms lead one writer to a band he can’t stand that he loves, he wonders about who’s programming who.

By Reis Thebault | February 7, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Culture, Philosophy, Relationships | AI, Algorithms, Automation, CDs, Creativity, Discovery, Engagement, Geography, Houndmouth, Human Interaction, Identity, Midwest, Mix Tapes, Monoculture, music, Music Appreciation, Playlists, Sharing, Spotify, streaming

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Art Appreciation Under Pressure: The Evolution of Evaluation

With endless feeds and ubiquitous ratings, connecting with a work of art online in an autonomous, meaningful way has become difficult.

By Adam Balivet | October 18, 2017 | Culture, Economics, Media, Philosophy | Action, Aldous Huxley, Art, Art Appreciation, Contemplation, Culture, Dislike, Drives, Evaluation, Facebook, Film, Friedrich Nietzsche, Instagram, Interpretation, Judgment, Language, Like, Literature, Malcolm Lowry, Meaning, music, Photography, Playlists, Pressure, Social Media, Songs, Spotify, Understanding

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2016, The Year in Review

A look back at the biggest technology-related stories of 2016.

By Mo Lotman | January 4, 2017 | Advertising, Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Cognition, Culture, Economics, Environment, Ethics, Health, Human Rights, Journalism, Media, Policing, Politics, Privacy, Society, Transportation | AI, Amazon, Analog, Antibacterial Soap, Apple, Augmented Reality, Autonomous Vehicles, Black Lives Matter, Brain Training, Cancer, Comet Ping Pong, Cryogenics, Data Breach, DDOS, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC, Drone Delivery, Drones, Dyn, Encryption, Facebook Live, Fake News, FBI, FDA, Gawker, Genetic Engineering, Go, Google, Hacking, Hillary Clinton, Hulk Hogan, Internet of Things, iPhone, Lee Sedol, Live-Streaming, Lumosity, Mitocondrial Donation, music, Orwell, Peter Thiel, Philando Castile, Pokemon Go, Police Shootings, Politics, Records, Robots, Russia, San Bernardino, self-driving cars, Sex Tape, Spotify, surveillance, Terrorism, Tesla, Triclosan, Twitter, vinyl, Yahoo

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Borrowed Time: Musical Debt in the Sampling Era

Recently, a British DJ named Martyn Webster concluded a crowdfunding campaign that saw him hand over £24,000 ($36,500) to Richard [...]

By James Hendicott | May 18, 2016 | Culture, Ethics, Law | Ableton, Amen Break, Copyright, DJing, Eric Osterberg, Garage Band, Hip-Hop, Infringement, Jungle, Kanye West, Liam Howlett, Logic Pro, music, Originality, Sampling, The Prodigy, The Weeknd, The Winstons

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For the Record, Spotify isn’t so Groovy

When Taylor Swift—arguably the world’s biggest pop star—went on a personal crusade against Spotify recently, you could have been forgiven [...]

By James Hendicott | February 17, 2016 | Culture, Economics, Posts | Apple Music, botnets, CDs, Delorentos, downloads, Gene Simmons, iTunes, Jape, Jay-Z, John Cage, mp3s, music, Peter Fillmore, Rick Astley, Sleepify, Spotify, streaming, Taylor Swift, The Gloaming, Tidal, vinyl, William Bedell, YouTube

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