#JustFinished Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant
This has been an absolutely fascinating book to read and is perhaps the most important book I'll read all year. Merchant is spot on with his commentary about the parallels between the first Industrial Revolution and now. We have not learned a thing about protecting our populations and economies from mass unemployment during technological upheaval.
@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I am personally one of those expensive North Americans, who got capitalism-ed out of his corporate job. (Along with most of my former NA coworkers)
@DejahEntendu@bookstodon I’m looking for a new job at the moment. I’m wondering if it’s harmful to have a resume with lots of experience nowadays. Traditionally, experience was valuable, but perhaps nowadays, it just makes you seem expensive. They could pay younger, dumber people less.
Serious #Downfall vibes in the series finale of #Rome. I’m not an educated classicist and I know they had to change things for the show and its collapsing budget by this point, but I’m a bit skeptical that the real story was like this.
No wonder people see this show as a precursor to Game of Thrones - I may get round to watching that. I’ll have to rewatch season 1 later.
I also just bought Ten Caesars and will read it soon.
@GrittyLipids@bookstodon The first few seasons of GOT are better than the later seasons. So if you already think it’s meh, then it might not be worth it.
I watched it all, but largely for “sunk cost fallacy” reasons, and wanted to know how it would end lol
@GrittyLipids@bookstodon Same. I also prefer historical or educational content. I used to watch a lot of fictional / scripted stuff, but I barely what it anymore. It could be that my tastes have changed over time, or it could be the quality of fictional stuff just isn’t what it used to be.
@amyfou Wait until you learn that the Ptolemaic Dynasty lasted for a few hundred years and that Cleopatra VII was actually a relatively minor figure, overall.
Tutankhamen was also a very minor Pharaoh in Egyptian history. That’s likely why his tomb was undisturbed.
@gratefulwolf It depends what you’re talking about and the way the rest of the sentence is structured. The back is good for clarification, unless you imply that you are referring to the past elsewhere in the sentence.
#February was the month of purification, for ancient #Romans.
One of the old rituals is #Lupercalia: young men (luperci) were initiated, and they hit the ground with goat-skin stripes in order to chase away evil spirits.
Also, they "hit" women because the festivity was linked with #Juno, goddess of childbirth.
@godsipclub@folklore@mythology The origin of Valentine’s Day is not that deep. It was created by marketing executives to sell cards, chocolates, flowers etc. February was chosen, because it didn’t have a major holiday already.
"Colonial statues in post-colonial Africa: a multidimentional heritage" by Sophia Labadi (2023).
"Is history being destroyed when colonial statues are removed from public space? This paper has explained that history is often being made when they are removed. Indeed, the hidden motivations for the construction and/or upkeep of these statues can then be revealed, along with their entangled colonial or racist legacies. Besides, their removals can aid in rectifying history, exposing in some cases the Eurocentrism of public spaces, and European epistemic domination. Such removal makes space for the erection of memorials for local heroes, who might have played more significant roles than colonial or racist figures".
To Begin the World Over Again: How the American Revolution Devastated the Globe
The first exploration of the profound and often catastrophic impact the American Revolution had on the rest of the world
While the American Revolution led to domestic peace and liberty, it ultimately had a catastrophic global impact—it strengthened the British Empire and led to widespread persecution and duress.
A bit ironic given this is disseminated over the Internet...
The Internet would be far better if giant corporations didn't control platforms & endlessly surveille & profile & do so very unequally--to me that largely is a capitalism, governance & regulatory failure--power & control of infrastructure.
@JustCodeCulture@histodons@sociology@anthropology Blame corporations all you want, but it’s shitty people that make the internet such a terrible place. Doesn’t matter how open or closed things are, if people are going to be terrible either way.
Maybe if the internet was MORE regulated, such as, everyone was forced to use their real verified identities and real pictures, they wouldn’t be able to hide behind anonymous accounts, trolling everyone.
@Oozenet@nazgul@peterbrown@JustCodeCulture@histodons@sociology@anthropology That’s a good point. You’re less likely to start shit in person, for fear of being punched in the face. Perhaps all internet connected devices should be equipped with some sort of deterrent, like your phone will shock you when you say something dumb.
“Some scholars have suggested that the Shakyas, the clan of the historical Gautama Buddha, were originally Scythians from Central Asia, and that the Indian ethnonym Śākya has the same origin as “Scythian,” called Sakas in India.”
@paninid@histodons Herodotus seemed to believe they might be tangentially related. Multiple separate groups or tribes across Asia, that shared some sort of umbrella culture.
A rich, discovery-filled history that tells how a forgotten empire transformed the ancient world
In the late 8th and early 7th centuries BCE, Scythian warriors conquered and unified most of the vast Eurasian continent, creating an innovative empire that would give birth to the age of philosophy and the Classical age across the ancient world—in the West, the Near East, India, and China.
What's the most difficult language to learn? Many linguists say it's Navajo, which has unique grammar, syntax and tonal pronunciation, and is so indecipherable to outsiders that it was used as a form of military code in WWII. Big Think's Tim Brinkhof looks at its complexities, why it's fallen into decline, and the efforts to revive the language.
@conansysadmin Just taking the train from the airport into the center of Athens feels like you’re crossing half the country. They built the airport so far out!
We tend to think of the Acropolis as an unchanged relic of classical Athens, but it turns out that a lot of stuff has happened there since the time of Pericles:
Political disintegration is a persistent feature of world history. The Collapse of Complex Societies, though written by an archaeologist, will therefore strike a chord throughout the social sciences. Any explanation of societal collapse carries lessons not just for the study of ancient societies, but for the members of all such societies in both the present and future.
@BackFromTheDud@mutinyc@Grizzlysgrowls@appassionato@bookstodon Have you ever heard of Lee Kuan Yew? He was responsible for dragging Singapore from a poor fishing village into one of the richest and most modern places in the world. Liberalism and democracy is only possible in society that is already civilized and peaceful. It takes harsher means to lay the initial groundwork first.