29/6/2013: WLASze Part 2: Weekend Links on Arts, Sciences and Zero Economics

This is the second part of my usual Weekend Links on Arts, Sciences and zero economics (WLASze). The first part is linked here.


An insightful piece on what philosophers as a group believe in:
http://www.openculture.com/2013/06/what_do_most_philosophers_believe_.html
Very interesting and can be followed by the very brief (and as such not very deep, but still interesting)
http://www.openculture.com/2010/11/do_physicists_believe_in_god_.html
and by brilliantly extensive http://www.sixtysymbols.com/ .
The latter literally is a sort of a merger of art (of symbol or word or meaning) and sciences.
And while on the above topics, here's John Lennox of Oxford on science and belief… http://johnlennox.org/


Back to art-meets-science, a major mapping/visualization geek alert:
http://www.wired.com/design/2013/06/infographic-this-detailed-map-shows-every-river-in-the-united-states/?cid=co9216134#slideid-152839
Love the images:

Laborious, but beautiful mapping, sadly in relatively low res only...


But blending cheeky with complex does not make it either art or science in the end, in my opinion, of course:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2013/jun/26/mathematics
"And when you slice a scone in the shape of a cone, you get a sconic section – the latest craze in edible mathematics, a vibrant new culinary field" Err… not really.


http://www.prokopchik.com/ @pavelprokopchik great photo by Pavel Prokopchik for NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/world/europe/a-sea-of-bikes-swamps-amsterdam-a-city-fond-of-pedaling.html?_r=0

Sadly, only in low res quality, again...


Good review via @farnamstreet of a very interesting book on occasionally mindless fascination we hold for scientific explaining away of reality (or is this fascination itself an behavioural bias?):
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130607125052-5506908-what-if-capitalism-could-be-artistic?trk=mp-details-rr-rmpost
Which makes me wonder, are biases endogenous to biases? Liam, your suggestions?!. And to MrsG a gentle suggestion: my birthday is coming up...


Bad news:

"Art Southampton Presented by Art Miami for Art Collectors NYC and In-Crowd East Coast with Cars Italia and Galleries Kitsch USA" for the crowd of those who think a horse bronze with polished detail is worth a silver metal couch and all that shines…

You can almost see the parallel to the previous screenshot: animate duo 'racing' to the cocktails counter with an enlightened look about them of a floodlight set to highlight the Maserati... being vs object - all denoting the same fake-ness of the art world that fits a dressed-up-white hangar… in dressed-up Hamptons… Watch the preview slideshow… http://www.art-southampton.com/ it is frightening (and as such so anti-artistic as to become almost artful).