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Res Obscura

Res Obscura
Simulating History with ChatGPT The Case for LLMs as Hallucination Engines
a year ago
Res Obscura
LLM-based educational games will be a big deal For the first time, digital games can make qualitative assessments of learning. Here's what that...
a year ago
Res Obscura
Centuries of Childhood The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories...
a year ago
88
a year ago
The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories about it?
Res Obscura
The leading AI models are now very good historians Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
5 months ago
Res Obscura
Why did clothing become boring? An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like...
7 months ago
85
7 months ago
An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like when they didn't
Res Obscura
Before psychedelic therapy for wartime trauma, there was narcosynthesis Notes on using AI to analyze three World War II-era films about drugs and PTSD
a year ago
Res Obscura
Why I love etymologies Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words...
a year ago
83
a year ago
Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words matters
Res Obscura
Simulating History with Multimodal AI: an Update Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history....
a year ago
75
a year ago
Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history. But how to use it?
Res Obscura
How well can AI imitate a 17th century doctor? Arcadio Huang is ill in 1710s Paris. Can GPT-4 and Gemini find a cure?
a year ago
Res Obscura
When technology follows art From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the...
a year ago
73
a year ago
From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the history of technology
Res Obscura
Historical maps probably helped cause World War I On cartography as historical argument
a year ago
Res Obscura
Why Early Modern Books Are So Beautiful Three theories
a year ago
Res Obscura
How well can GPT-4 simulate an acid trip in 1963? An experiment with historical simulation
a year ago
Res Obscura
A very deep history of Halloween Or, how far back can historical analysis take us?
8 months ago
Res Obscura
Post-postal What did we lose when we stopped writing letters?
8 months ago
Res Obscura
The (history of) spice must flow Why the spice trade is even more important for world history than you might have thought
a year ago
Res Obscura
On 17th century "cocaine" A new analysis of mummified brains pushes back the timeline for the globalization of coca
9 months ago
Res Obscura
"He spoke of computers with some awe" Margaret Mead, John von Neumann, and the prehistory of AI
a year ago
Res Obscura
The open-stack library: a futuristic technology from the 18th century What we lost when we shifted knowledge organization to an algorithmic feed
a year ago
Res Obscura
When the Sackler Brothers studied LSD One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us...
5 months ago
47
5 months ago
One of the stranger episodes from the 1950s golden age of psychedelic therapy, and what it tells us about the history of technology
Res Obscura
2,000-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past Why artifacts like the Carmona Wine Urn, the Pazyryk Rug, and the Sword of Goujian are so important
6 months ago
Res Obscura
The familiar loneliness of the Kinetoscope One other way that the 2020s resemble the 1890s
5 months ago
Res Obscura
Margaret Mead, Technocracy, and the origins of AI's ideological divide The anthropologist helped popularize both techno-optimism and the concept of existential risk
a year ago
Res Obscura
Translating Latin demonology manuals with GPT-4 and Claude At long last, a real-world use case for AI!
a year ago
Res Obscura
Happy Lupercalia A special discount on subscriptions in honor of the Roman wolf holiday
5 months ago
Res Obscura
When Jorge Luis Borges met one of the founders of AI One reason I became a historian is the joy of encountering moments in the past that are foreign, yet...
3 months ago
42
3 months ago
One reason I became a historian is the joy of encountering moments in the past that are foreign, yet also oddly familiar.
Res Obscura
Kikkuli! Why do some people from the distant past become memes?
a year ago
Res Obscura
I talked to Terry Gross! A brief update about the publication of "Tripping on Utopia" before we return to regularly scheduled...
a year ago
39
a year ago
A brief update about the publication of "Tripping on Utopia" before we return to regularly scheduled posting
Res Obscura
Onfim's world Child artists in history
3 months ago
Res Obscura
AI legibility, physical archives, and the future of research A followup to "The leading AI models are now good historians"
4 months ago
Res Obscura
Why drug history? Drugs and spices play an outsized role in world history — but it's often a hidden one
a year ago
Res Obscura
How to use generative AI for historical research Four real-world case studies, and some thoughts on what not to do
a year ago
Res Obscura
Role-playing with AI will be a powerful tool for writers and educators Or, how well can GPT-4 simulate an acid trip in 1963?
a year ago
Res Obscura
Do painters subconsciously paint themselves into their work? The Renaissance history of automimesis, and a proposal for research
over a year ago
Res Obscura
AI makes the humanities more important, but also a lot weirder Historians are finally having their AI debate
2 months ago
Res Obscura
Res Obscura is now on Substack Three years late, but historians are always late
over a year ago
Res Obscura
Why were Belle Époque cities beautiful? It's not because they were "traditional" or "classical" — in fact it's just the opposite
a month ago
Res Obscura
There should be more cash prizes for solving historical mysteries On the Herculaneum scroll and the underrated value of historical knowledge
a year ago
Res Obscura
The most interesting things I read in 2023 Most of them are not from 2023
a year ago
Res Obscura
Why did it take psychedelics so long to become popular? Some lessons from history and archaeology
a year ago
Res Obscura
Res Obscura Newsletter: December, 2019 Note: this was exported from Mailchimp. That's a 1909 painting called "Altar." It's by someone I...
over a year ago
19
over a year ago
Note: this was exported from Mailchimp. That's a 1909 painting called "Altar." It's by someone I learned about just this month: the Lithuanian composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875-1911). His paintings and music evoke a mysterious feeling that has stuck with...
Res Obscura
Wilfrid Voynich: Bookseller, Revolutionary, Amateur Cryptologist... Suspected Spy? The first in a series on the extraordinary lives of the Voyniches
over a year ago
Res Obscura
Experiencing scientific revolutions: the 1660s and the 2020s Lessons from Boyle's scientific desiderata and the Midgley Effect
a year ago