#technology article

[chongoblog]

WAIT

I JUST REMEMBERED HEARING AN ELON MUSK QUOTE WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE BELIEVES CHESS IS "TOO SIMPLE" OR WHATEVER AND HE SAID HIS FAVORITE GAME WAS A GAME CALLED "POLYTOPIA"

I JUST REMEMBERED THAT IVE PLAYED POLYTOPIA

It being Elon's favorite game (or at least one so important to him that his biographer dedicates a lot of time to it) is.....really really funny.

Basically, imagine Civilization, but as a mobile game. So like if Civilization Revolution was even more dumbed down (that's a Civilization insult. That's devastating. It's devastated right now). For what it's worth, it's not a bad game. On the contrary, from what I could tell in the little bit of time I played it, it's a perfectly competent game with good design. But it's not a deep game by any means. I played through it once, won easily on my first go, then saw that the other playable characters had barely any differences between them.

Like, not to imply you can judge a book by its cover, but here's what it looks like

I came across an article by Dave Karpf discussing this exact thing, and I think it describes it wonderfully

[reasonsforhope]

Here's the top 2 stories from each of Fix The News's six categories:

1. A game-changing HIV drug was the biggest story of 2024

In what Science called the 'breakthrough of the year', researchers revealed in June that a twice-yearly drug called lenacapavir reduced HIV infections in a trial in Africa to zero—an astonishing 100% efficacy, and the closest thing to a vaccine in four decades of research. Things moved quick; by October, the maker of the drug, Gilead, had agreed to produce an affordable version for 120 resource-limited countries, and by December trials were underway for a version that could prevent infection with just a single shot per year. 'I got cold shivers. After all our years of sadness, particularly over vaccines, this truly is surreal.'

2. Another incredible year for disease elimination

Jordan became the first country to eliminate leprosy, Chad eliminated sleeping sickness, Guinea eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus, Belize, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, India achieved the WHO target for eliminating black fever, India, Viet Nam and Pakistan eliminated trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, and Brazil and Timor Leste eliminated elephantiasis.

15. The EU passed a landmark nature restoration law

When countries pass environmental legislation, it’s big news; when an entire continent mandates the protection of nature, it signals a profound shift. Under the new law, which passed on a knife-edge vote in June 2024, all 27 member states are legally required to restore at least 20% of land and sea by 2030, and degraded ecosystems by 2050. This is one of the world’s most ambitious pieces of legislation and it didn’t come easy; but the payoff will be huge - from tackling biodiversity loss and climate change to enhancing food security.

16. Deforestation in the Amazon halved in two years

Brazil’s space agency, INPE, confirmed a second consecutive year of declining deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. That means deforestation rates have roughly halved under Lula, and are now approaching all time lows. In Colombia, deforestation dropped by 36%, hitting a 23-year low. Bolivia created four new protected areas, a huge new new state park was created in Pará to protect some of the oldest and tallest tree species in the tropical Americas and a new study revealed that more of the Amazon is protected than we originally thought, with 62.4% of the rainforest now under some form of conservation management.

39. Millions more children got an education

Staggering statistics incoming: between 2000 and 2023, the number of children and adolescents not attending school fell by nearly 40%, and Eastern and Southern Africa, achieved gender parity in primary education, with 25 million more girls are enrolled in primary school today than in the early 2000s. Since 2015, an additional 110 million children have entered school worldwide, and 40 million more young people are completing secondary school.

40. We fed around a quarter of the world's kids at school

Around 480 million students are now getting fed at school, up from 319 million before the pandemic, and 104 countries have joined a global coalition to promote school meals, School feeding policies are now in place in 48 countries in Africa, and this year Nigeria announced plans to expand school meals to 20 million children by 2025, Kenya committed to expanding its program from two million to ten million children by the end of the decade, and Indonesia pledged to provide lunches to all 78 million of its students, in what will be the world's largest free school meals program.

50. Solar installations shattered all records

Global solar installations look set to reach an unprecedented 660GW in 2024, up 50% from 2023's previous record. The pace of deployment has become almost unfathomable - in 2010, it took a month to install a gigawatt, by 2016, a week, and in 2024, just 12 hours. Solar has become not just the cheapest form of new electricity in history, but the fastest-growing energy technology ever deployed, and the International Energy Agency said that the pace of deployment is now ahead of the trajectory required for net zero by 2050.  

51. Battery storage transformed the economics of renewables

Global battery storage capacity surged 76% in 2024, making investments in solar and wind energy much more attractive, and vice-versa. As with solar, the pace of change stunned even the most cynical observers. Price wars between the big Chinese manufacturers pushed battery costs to record lows, and global battery manufacturing capacity increased by 42%, setting the stage for future growth in both grid storage and electric vehicles - crucial for the clean flexibility required by a renewables-dominated electricity system. The world's first large-scale grid battery installation only went online seven years ago; by next year, global battery storage capacity will exceed that of pumped hydro.

65. Democracy proved remarkably resilient in a record year of elections

More than two billion people went to the polls this year, and democracy fared far better than most people expected, with solid voter turnout, limited election manipulation, and evidence of incumbent governments being tamed. It wasn't all good news, but Indonesia saw the world's biggest one day election, Indian voters rejected authoritarianism, South Korea's democratic institutions did the same, Bangladesh promised free and fair elections following a 'people's victory', Senegal, Sri Lanka and Botswana saw peaceful transfers of power to new leaders after decades of single party rule, and Syria saw the end of one of the world's most horrific authoritarian regimes.

66. Global leaders committed to ending violence against children

In early November, while the eyes of the world were on the US election, an event took place that may prove to be a far more consequential for humanity. Five countries pledged to end corporal punishment in all settings, two more pledged to end it in schools, and another 12, including Bangladesh and Nigeria, accepted recommendations earlier in the year to end corporal punishment of children in all settings. In total, in 2024 more than 100 countries made some kind of commitment to ending violence against children. Together, these countries are home to hundreds of millions of children, with the WHO calling the move a 'fundamental shift.'

73. Space exploration hit new milestones

NASA’s Europa Clipper began a 2.9 billion kilometre voyage to Jupiter to investigate a moon that may have conditions for life; astronomers identified an ice world with a possible atmosphere in the habitable zone; and the James Webb Telescope found the farthest known galaxy. Closer to Earth, China landed on the far side of the moon, the Polaris Dawn crew made a historic trip to orbit, and Starship moved closer to operational use – and maybe one day, to travel to Mars. 

74. Next-generation materials advanced

A mind-boggling year for material science. Artificial intelligence helped identify a solid-state electrolyte that could slash lithium use in batteries by 70%, and an Apple supplier announced a battery material that can deliver around 100 times better energy density. Researchers created an insulating synthetic sapphire material 1.25 nanometers thick, plus the world’s thinnest lens, just three atoms across. The world’s first functioning graphene-based semiconductor was unveiled (the long-awaited ‘wonder material’ may finally be coming of age!) and a team at Berkeley invented a fluffy yellow powder that could be a game changer for removing carbon from the atmosphere.

-via Fix The News, December 19, 2024

[thoughtportal]

from 2017

MP3 is supported by everything, everywhere, and is now patent-free. There has never been another audio format as widely supported as MP3, it’s good enough for almost anything, and now, over twenty years since it took the world by storm, it’s finally free.

[phastels]

STEM resources🔬🪐🦠

Resources for STEM subjects ▪︎ A-levels ▪︎ IB ▪︎ University entrance exam prep ▪︎ STEM book reviews ▪︎CV help

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Articles to read

Sideroblastic anaemia

Rabies

Arctic Springtail

Topology

Story of the atom

Allergies

Genetic diagnosis with AI

[erbiumspectrum]

Picked a presentation topic that I actually find interesting.

Pros: working on said presentation is pretty enjoyable and I'm learning new things which is great and makes me happy.

Cons: I'm gonna need a course mate to stand next to me with a stick and bonk me with it every time I start going off topic trying to say absolutely everything.

[bioethicists]

it's quite offputting to me when ppl can't disentangle their hatred for capitalism from a hatred for... new technological innovation? the ways in which capitalism has shaped the development of certain technologies has been deeply negative, not to mention that imperialism ensures that new technology is usually produced via extractive relationships with both the planet + ppl in the global south.

but this weird tying of capitalist impact on innovation (+the idea of what is/is not innovation) to hatred of innovation itself (or even more disturbing valorization of "the good old days"/implications that technology is causing social degeneracy) is baffling to me. perhaps it is impossible to achieve specific technologies without unconscionable resource extraction practices, in which case they should not be pursued. but so many ppl act like there is something inherently morally suspect in pursuit of tech such as autonomous vehicles or AI or automation, independent of the material conditions that produced them/that they may produce.

tesla is evil because they exploit ppl for profit + participate in an economy built on the exploitation of the global south + use 'innovation' as a marketing tool to mask serious safety concerns. they're not evil bcuz they want to make vehicles that move on their own. there are actually a great deal of fantastic applications for vehicles which move on their own? equating technology with moral decay is not a radical position; you need a material analysis of why technological innovation has become characterized by harmful practices.

[deepspaceboytoy]

Imperial Warship Classifications

To fulfill the incredibly broad needs and requirements of the Imperial Navy, the Imperium maintains a massive number of disparate ship classes, each one capable of fulfilling a niche role inside the Imperial combat machine. Ship classes are first determined by size, and then further narrowed by role.

Supercapitals

The height of Imperial shipbuilding achievement, these gargantuan vessels are capable of laying waste to entire star systems on their own. Each of these incredibly rare vessels contains the combat power of a small fleet, easily outclassing almost any opponent in the galaxy. All Imperial supercapital ships are based on the same basic hull pattern, made recognizable by the tapered, dagger-like prow where the flag bridge sits. Each ship measures exactly 14452 meters in length, 2112 meters in height at midships, and requires a crew numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Notable classes at this size are the Aëtius-class Superdreadnaughts and the Plebeian-class Supercarriers. These ships are typically found as Fleet command vessels, though sometimes, when the Imperium’s ire has been particularly stoked, they may be seen on long range deployments. Each vessel is unique, with service records dating back hundreds of years for the oldest of these void-borne titans. Alongside shockingly potent naval combat capabilities, they also hold huge numbers of Imperial Legionaries for planetary operations, with enough troops and matériels onboard to maintain a ground operation in perpetuity.

Because of the unique resource needs of these behemoths, supercapitals maintain their own onboard macrofacturing facilities, able to construct things as large and complex as new hull systems or even entire escort vessels down to small arms and armored vehicles.

Notable Examples: IHNV Two For Flinching (SSDN-11, Aëtius-class Superdreadnaught), IHNV Sunrise Over Terra (SSCV-04, Plebeian-class Supercarrier), IHNV Lamb of God (SSDN-24)

Capitals

More diverse than the supercapitals, capital-class vessels are typically found leading independent units operating away from the Fleet, or leading frontline combat units in wartime. The most common vessels of this class are the Triarii-class Battleship, Awesome-class Battlecarrier, and the Tyrant’s Bane-class Battlecruiser. Typically measuring between 6000 to 8000 meters in length, these the main heavy combat elements of any Fleet, capable of destroying or disabling dozens of lesser ships on their own or, with proper support, brawling with any other military’s heaviest capital ships. Crew requirements for these tough ships are significantly lower than the supercapitals, usually around 25-50,000 personnel, not including Legion forces.

Notable Examples: IHNV At Midnight’s Passing (BBS-114, Triarii-class Battleship), IHNV Fortune’s Favored (BC-117, Tyrant’s Bane-class Battlecruiser) IHNV Scipio Africanus (BCC-12, Awesome-class Battlecarrier)

Ships of the Line

The workhorse vessels of the Imperial navy, ships of this size typically measure from 2000 to 4500 meters in length. Perhaps the most well known of these ships is the Tyrrhenian-class Heavy Cruiser, of which there are hundreds spread across the Twelve Fleets. Other ships include the Palimpsest-class Warfrigate, Spatha-class Hunter/Killer, and Princeps-class Carrier. Making up the bulk of Imperial warships, these vessels are rarely seen on their own. Instead, they fill out most of the tonnage in Imperial task forces and flotillas. Typically the first step for any captain seeking higher command, these ships are found in the thickest of the fighting, relying on super Imperial armor designs to survive where their cousins from other militaries would quickly perish. With significantly reduced crew sizes even compared to the capital classes, the Imperium can field hundreds of these ships per fleet. Combat roles typically involve screening larger vessels, absorbing incoming fire as Imperial capital ships seek to find gaps in the three dimensional formations of naval warfare, and acting as harassers, leaving Fleet shield envelopes to loose off devastating close range barrages at distances of sometimes only one or two hundred thousand kilometers. The smallest vessels in this class, such as the Vainglorious-class Heavy Destroyer, are the largest Imperial vessels capable of operating inside planetary atmospheres without significant environmental harm- to both the planet and the ship.

Notable Examples: IHNV Age Before Beauty (HHD-1411, Vainglorious-class Heavy Destroyer) IHNV Red Sunrise (HPB-97, Onager-class Planetary Bombardier) IHNV Perpetual Victory (HCV-314, Princeps-class Carrier) IHNV Gone Too Soon (HSC-22, Pilum-class Strike Cruiser) IHNV Morning Glory (HAX-03, Assertor-class Advanced Fleet Auxiliary)

Light Combatants

A much looser grouping, ships of this class are not intended for heavy fighting, instead fulfilling many of the auxiliary and support roles that keep the frontline warships fighting. From electronic warfare specialists like the Tempest-class Techship to the Fabricatus-class Constructor to the completely unique Salamander-class Void/Terrestrial Warship that can serve as an actual seafaring ship for use in supporting ground forces on ocean worlds, the ships of this class fulfill incredibly diverse and niche roles. Because of the sheer number of service roles ships of this class are used for, there is no standard size range, and instead the Imperial War College includes ships based on installed weaponry. These ships are universally lightly armed, with many only carrying point defense systems. Many Imperial fleet officers start their careers aboard these ships, familiarizing themselves with both the realities of command and the myriad support units necessary to sustain Imperial combat operations.

Notable Examples: IHNV Jenin (HFA-11, Mediterranean-class Fleet Auxiliary) IHNV New Dawn (CCA-1120, Manzikert-class Civilian Conveyor) IHNV Kingfisher (VTW-1, Salamander-class Void/Terrestrial Warship)

Escort Vessels

The miscellany of the Imperial Navy, escort vessels make up far and away the greatest number of sheer hulls of any class, with thousands spread across the fleets, though it remains the smallest by tonnage. These ships are very small, with most measuring barely more than a hundred or so meters, with crew sizes almost never exceeding more than 20. In fact, so small are these ships that they usually don’t even have a captain, instead answering to squadron commanders stationed on the larger vessels they’ve been assigned to protect. Escort vessels have exactly one purpose: protecting the warships of the Fleet from enemy munitions, strike craft like fighters and bombers, boarding craft, and any other dangers point defense systems can counter. Loaded to the rafters with rotary railguns, plasma incinerators, and high powered lasers, these ships are lethal in large numbers, of which they are exclusively deployed in. Something like a heavy frigate may have up to 10 escorts, while the supercapitals are surrounded by flocks of them numbering in the hundreds. Escort ships are actually incapable of interstellar travel, exclusively relying on external docking cradles on their assigned ships to carry them between worlds and systems. While each ship may carry different weapons systems or specialize in neutralizing different threats, they are built on the same basic hull, the Pugio-class Escort Vessel (Multirole). Because of their size, individual escort vessels are not named, instead receiving a new numerical identifier whenever they are assigned to a ship.

Other Classes and Craft

Even further below the escort vessel are the rest of the Imperium’s spacecraft. Including shuttles, cutters, boarding launches, strike craft like interceptors and bombers, and personal yachts, these craft are exclusively ship-borne, carried in vast hangars aboard the Imperium’s various carrier classes. First and foremost are the strike craft, such as the VF-19 Gothic heavy bomber or the VF-11 Gladius interceptor, which make up the Navy’s strike wings. Able to punch far above their weight, a wing of bombers can disable an entire battlecruiser or heavy carrier if they’re overlooked or manage to pass through the point defense field. There are also Legionary boarding launches, one-way rockets meant to rapidly deliver Marine boarding units to the poor unsuspecting bastards whose ships they’ve been sent to take, and personal yachts used by the various officers to travel between ships, planets, and other Imperial outposts, and the ubiquitous heavy troop conveyors capable of transporting hundreds of legionaries down to a planet’s surface under enemy fire. Across the Twelve Fleets, there are hundreds of thousands of these tiny craft.

[nostalgiahime]

Internet Tech Article from Point of View Magazine (November 1999)

[degenezijde]

In recent years, a consensus has formed that the internet, as a place to live, work, shop and communicate, has fundamentally got worse. You might have felt it too. Between intrusive adtech, slow websites, balky apps, crypto scams and the seeming abandonment of user-friendly design, managing one’s digital affairs has become rife with frustration, wrong turns and unreliable information. It’s become nigh impossible to complete a simple task or find a single kernel of factual information without first fighting through a thicket of distractions, sales pitches, coercive algorithms and authentication schemes to prove you are the human you claim to be. It’s exhausting and more than a little maddening.

[random-remzy]

Its so funny how we have a term for iPad kids today and noone does anything about it??

when i was younger, after the 30 minute mark of My little pony, my Mother would start reading out news articles and scientififc studies on how any more than 1 hour of screentime caused permanent brain damage.

since i now use tumblr, you can clearly see how little affect they had on me.

[dontforgetukraine]

US-Ukraine startup Esper Bionics makes robotic prostheses that are currently being used by over 30 Ukrainian soldiers serving in Russia's war and 80 veterans in Ukraine.

While the bionic arms and hands are not for military use and are not durable enough for combat, the wartime setting has yielded live feedback for the company from soldiers and veterans. One such example of Esper Bionics striving to meet the needs of their clients was making the fingers in the hand out of metal so that it could withstand more stress.

The company never planned to provide bionic prosthetic hands that would help soldiers return to combat back in 2019 when it was founded, but Russia's full scale invasion changed the startup's course. Now, research and development, assembly, and production all take place in Ukraine.

Through its donor-funded program Esper for Ukraine, the company is able to donate all the hands it produces to Ukrainians in need of prostheses.

In an example of artificial intelligence being used for good, Esper Bionics wants to incorporate AI into their bionic hands so the prostheses are more "context-aware" and "better able to predict its user's movements" and what the user wants to do in any particular situation.

The idea behind Esper Bionics' AI-powered future hand will be to create “an entire ecosystem” that can pass information from a series of sensors attached to its user to cloud-based software that constantly analyzes data to learn its users' habits.

The robotic look isn't just for functionality either, but a company goal to avoid the "uncanny valley" look. With attractive branding and designs, Chief of Marketing Dmytro Ganush says Esper Bionics seeks to promote the idea that people with limb differences don’t have a medical issue but “a really interesting lifestyle” or, if anything, “a gadget just like any other."

---

Ukraine is highly likely to become the country with the most prostheses used among its population. The effort to normalize and de-stigmatize disability must start now, and I'm glad Esper Bionics seems to have this in mind with their designs. The enthusiasm users have in the design of the bionic hands is promising, and I hope everyone involved has a bright future.

Source: Ukrainian startup Esper Bionics makes cyborgs a reality

[multibodied]

"Did no one watch Terminator? Did no one watch I Robot?" EVERYONE DID! Did YOU watch or read anything other than Hollywood blockbusters to form your entire opinion and expectations of future reality around? For fuck's sake shut the fuck up

[mappingthemoon]

A friend posted this on FB recently and it was the kick in the pants I needed to finally remove the apps from my phone. I appreciate that this article touches on the realities of how difficult it can be to extricate yourself from this system, while giving suggestions for specific harm-reducing strategies you can take to improve security online and reduce dependency on shit-ass corporations like Meta.

I’ve been working on reducing screen time and social media use for years, with moderate success using timers (e.g. LeechBlock), culling following lists, etc. Sometimes it helps to just pause before unlocking the phone and ask myself, what would I be doing rn if I didn’t have a smartphone? (The answer is usually silent reading: I think more than anything else, social media has usurped gobs of time I would have otherwise spent simply reading a book, which, pre-smartphone, is how I filled practically any moment of downtime, waiting time, or “boredom.”)

I will say (and I’ve told this to a couple close friends already so I feel like less of a weirdo about it but it still sounds kind of bonkers) that after deleting the apps, it was like my phone felt physically lighter in my hand while using it! (Emotional baggage leaving the device???) And after a week I'm surprised & relieved to report that I don't miss them at all. Hell yes more brain space for my own damn thoughts!

[thoughtportal]

The etymology of the word translation—“to carry across”—conjures an image of physical labor. It is deeply relational, requiring at least two bodies, those of an author and of the person who carries the author’s words to a previously unvisited place. Let’s say we removed the laborer and replaced that person with a car. Or a train. Suddenly there is a feeling of weight lifted, certainly ease, and perhaps a little relief. But the intimacy of the earlier image no longer holds. Whether this matters has been the subject of recent debate as some publishers consider using machines to replace human translators and what that decision might mean for an ancient art.

In November, Dutch publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning (VBK), a subsidiary of Simon & Schuster, announced that it would trial the use of artificial intelligence (AI) “to assist the translation of a limited number of books.” Reactions rose in a flurry: Writers, publishers, and translators contended that AI would produce “bland” work. They lamented the possibility of lost jobs. The European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations resisted the standardization of an idiosyncratic process, stating that the imagination, understanding, and creativity that translation demands are “intrinsically human.”

VBK’s decision to incorporate AI into the editorial process may shock some but is not unprecedented. With a broad range of AI tools now available on the market, an increasing number of writers and publishers have turned to large language models (LLMs) to assist in, or contribute to, the production of creative work. As of February 2023, there were more than two hundred e-books in Amazon’s Kindle store that listed ChatGPT as an author or coauthor, according to Reuters. Maverick publishers like Spines, although small players in the global book market, plan to publish thousands of AI-generated books next year.

AI isn’t new to translation either. Literary translators sometimes input segments of their source text into AI-based technologies like Google Translate and DeepL to generate ideas for particularly thorny passages. But these tools have to be used “very carefully,” warns Seattle-based Finnish-to-English translator Lola Rogers, “because the translations it produces are error-ridden and devoid of flow or beauty.” Edward Tian, a cofounder of AI-detecting start-up GPTZero, adds that current LLMs not only do “a mediocre job at translations,” but also reflect the “majority white, English-dominated” nature of their source texts. Reiterating such worldviews and their biases runs contrary to the aim of much literary translation: to expose audiences to new perspectives. And Rogers, who was recently commissioned to use a translation tool to expedite a months-long translation process to five or six weeks, says that from her brief experiments, the time saved with machine assistance was “minimal.” French-to-English translator Louise Rogers Lalaurie shared a similarly underwhelmed account of editing poor machine-led translations.

So what’s the threat?

One area where translators are feeling the pinch is in creating samples, book excerpts translated to give general impressions of a text to potential publishers. Some publishers have been considering using AI to do this work instead. Though she is unsure whether this is because samples are being automated, Rogers says, “The number of samples I’m asked to translate has fallen precipitously in the past couple of years, making it much harder to earn a living.” A 2024 survey of Society of Authors members found that over a third of translators have lost work due to generative AI. Close to half of translators surveyed said that income from their work has decreased.

To illustrate how AI might ease the time and cost pressures inherent to translation from a publisher’s perspective, Ilan Stavans, the publisher and cofounder of Restless Books, an independent press in Amherst, Massachusetts, gives the example of a recently acquired eight-hundred-page book. To translate it, “substantial investment” would be necessary: Not only are “first-rate translators” for the source language scarce, he says, but the project would also require at least two years of dedicated work. By the time the book is translated and published, the demand the publisher once saw for the title might easily have changed. Meanwhile, the publisher would have incurred a cost much greater than if it had used LLMs, the most expensive of which—such as the premium version of ChatGPT, which costs $200 a month—is a tenth of the average cost of publishing a translation.

“It would be fast and easy,” Stavans admits, “but it would not be the right move.” Though Stavans is enthusiastic about AI’s potential and sees the value of using AI to translate samples, he emphasizes that he would never condone translating an entire book using a machine. The key to the heart of translation is “that intimate, subjective relationship between a text and the translator,” he says—the nebulous yet nonetheless living connection that translator Kate Briggs describes as the “uniquely relational, lived-out practice” of “this little art.”

Will Evans, founder of independent publisher Deep Vellum in Dallas, does not see a future in which machine-led translations supersede the human. “I do not believe AI-led translation will be competitive for works of the literary caliber we are interested in any time before the AI bubble bursts,” he says, “though I have no doubts the corporate publishers who are interested in serving the same books to the same readers over and over again will have no such qualms.”

In the realm of literature, there is still a sanctity around “the human and the humane,” as Stavans puts it. “Machines can’t read a book or experience any of the personal connections to language that give a book life,” adds Rogers, who became a translator after translating Finnish song lyrics for friends. “Machines don’t find themselves unexpectedly chuckling at a phrase, or repeating a string of words because its sounds are satisfying, or remembering being in a place like the place described in a book.” Though a cliché, it nevertheless rings true: The destination might pale in comparison to the joy of the journey, something a machine might never know.

Jimin Kang is a Seoul-born, Hong Kong–raised, and England-based journalist and writer. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Nation, the Kenyon Review and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications.

[garland-on-thy-brow]

Before this topic is examined directly, a brief mythological digression will be presented possibly pointing out certain parallels between Daedalus and Medea. Having never ended up in one mythological narrative, it is notable that certain points of contact can be found for Medea and Daedalus, despite them being distinguished from ordinary mortals through special abilities, with the first being magic and the second being craftsmanship: 1. It is true that having a discussion about a precise chronology in a myth is impossible, but Medea and Daedalus are “contemporary” characters – Theseus, the one who defeats the Minotaur imprisoned in the labyrinth built by Daedalus, is Medea's step-child. 2. Daedalus is also connected to a solar cult like Medea (Medea, as the grandaughter of Helios; Daedalus as a servant of Pasiphae, Medea's aunt and Helios' daughter, a craftsman having flown towards the sun and lost his only son due to the sun's power); 3. Medea and Daedalus have committed the murder of a close relative in their homeland; 4. Like Medea, Daedalus also runs away from his homeland and then leaves his new homeland, where he loses his child (children). Both of them run to safety by flying away. 5. Medea defeats Talos, Daedalus' creation, with her sorcery. 6. And finally, an episode of great interest to us – the murder of Pelias carried out by Medea through someone else, Pelias' daughters, with the body of the king Iolcos being boiled in a bubbling cauldron(In general, a person's rejuvenation or them being brought to life by being boiled in a cauldron is not foreign to other epochs and cultures 71). This manifests a certain likeness to Daedalus' adventure, although being of a later character, is greatly interesting – having escaped from Minos, Daedalus seeks refuge in Sicilia with Cocalus, the king of Kamikos. When Minos comes looking for Daedalus, Cocalus makes him agree to bathe in the bathhouse. Here he is killed by Cocalus' daughters, or according to a second version, Daedalus throws him into the boiling water himself and kills him.

[Ekaterine Kobakhidze, Medea in Etruscan Art]