RELATED TERMS: History; Large Language Models; Hallucination and Confabulation “The Arcades Project, Benjamin’s great study of 19th-century Paris, is in Jameson’s phrase an unfinished ‘collection of clippings’.” “Benjamin thought of writing a book consisting entirely of quotations; Wittgenstein contemplated writing one consisting entirely of jokes.” (Terry Eagleton, 2021) Walter Benjamin and Brian Eno, in differentContinue reading “The Paradox of the Anonymous: When We Wake [Snippets 9]”
Author Archives: aparsons474
Snippet Methodology [Snippets 8]
RELATED TERMS: Collage, Montage, Assemblage and Bricolage; Large Language Models Roger Berkowitz (2024) sets out a warning of the limitations of snippets if taken as a sole, self-contained method without a framing methodology. He says in an interview, “if I wanna cite a quote about freedom I can just say “Google, find me a quoteContinue reading “Snippet Methodology [Snippets 8]”
Design, Axiology and Value – Part 1
RELATED TERMS: The Commodity; Design History; Libidinal Economy – Part 1 “Valuing is a form of ranking” (Kelleher, 2015) Preamble The question for design practices running through the following text is whether they partake in keeping us focused on, in the words of Issberner and Lena (2023), “a naive faith in progress, consumerist ideology andContinue reading “Design, Axiology and Value – Part 1”
The Twentieth Century, America, Americanisation [Snippets 7]
RELATED TERMS: In 1932, Gertrude Stein wrote that America is, “the oldest country in the world because by the methods of the civil war and the commercial conceptions that followed it America created the twentieth century, and since all the other countries are now either living or commencing to be living a twentieth century life,Continue reading “The Twentieth Century, America, Americanisation [Snippets 7] “
Large Language Models
RELATED TERMS: Promptography; Hallucination and Confabulation In recent years, Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, have become synonymous with the idea of artificial intelligence (AI). In order to train these chatbots, as Jack Apollo George (2024) notes, technology companies are employing human annotators or ‘data quality specialists’. The companies and the LLMs need examplesContinue reading “Large Language Models”
Arendt, Phenomenology and the Design of Narrative Environments [Essays]
RELATED TERMS: Design of Narrative Environments; Narrative Environments; Narrative Environments – Environmental Psychology in Architecture 1 Arendt’s phenomenological method Hannah Arendt seldom referred to herself as a phenomenologist and she is not usually included in textbook treatments of the subject (Moran, 2000: 287). She had no particular interest in the phenomenological method and did not explicitlyContinue reading “Arendt, Phenomenology and the Design of Narrative Environments [Essays]”
Sloterdijk and the Design of Narrative Environments [Essays]
RELATED TERMS: Design of Narrative Environments; Narrative Environments; Narrative Environments – Environmental Psychology in Architecture 1. Envelopes Bruno Latour points out that when it is said that ‘Dasein is thrown into the world’ [1], as does Heidegger, the significance of the preposition ‘into’ is often overlooked. Peter Sloterdijk, however, Latour notes, does not overlook it and indeedContinue reading “Sloterdijk and the Design of Narrative Environments [Essays]”
Iconic Designs, Critical Designs
RELATED TERMS: Iconic Designs and Iconic Designers; Imaginary The Iconic As acknowledged in Iconic Designs and Iconic Designers, the iconic approach to design is not wholly without merit. For example, it recognises that designs have cultural meanings and other-than-utilitarian uses, such as in the construction, maintenance and performance of self-hood and social standing. In otherContinue reading “Iconic Designs, Critical Designs”
Designing, Theorising, Modelling [Snippets 6]
RELATED TERMS: Narrative Environments – Environmental Psychology in Architecture George Saunders (2022) writes that, “Neuroscientists now suggest that the mind is always doing a form of fiction writing: proposing a broad scale model for the moment that is occurring, then improving that model by way of sensory input. Strangely, this revision process apparently occurs fromContinue reading “Designing, Theorising, Modelling [Snippets 6]”
Designing, Psycho-Semiosis, Bio-Semiosis [Snippets 5]
RELATED TERMS: Hephzibah Anderson (2022) reviews Rachel Aviv’s first book, Strangers to Ourselves: Stories of Unsettled Minds. The book, according to Anderson, is a subtle and penetrating investigation into how ‘mental illness’ is diagnosed. It brings to attention the ways in which the diagnostic language used is far from neutral. Rather, Aviv suggests, such language,Continue reading “Designing, Psycho-Semiosis, Bio-Semiosis [Snippets 5]”
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