Our visions of the future are nothing new; we have longed for fusion power, enhanced space travel, and global internet connectivity since the late 1800s and early 1900s. John Michael Greer postulates that we’re so unimaginative about what we hope for in the future because, during the 1980s, corporations choked our radical imagination. Supposedly, this happened because those in power became increasingly unsettled by the new ideas of the time. Thus, by dismantling movements that aimed to disrupt the status quo, the associated visionary futures went down the drain. Read full article here
Research
Researcher uses AI to make texts that are thousands of years old readable
The Gilgamesh Epic, the oldest work of world literature, has been brought back to life by LMU researchers in the Electronic Babylonian Literature project. Using their new Fragmentarium tool, they have discovered hundreds of manuscripts, including the most recent tablet of the Gilgamesh Epic which dates from 130 BC – thousands of years after the earliest known version. This shows how highly valued the Epic was, even at a late period. With the public release of the Fragmentarium, anyone can now explore the thousands of cuneiform fragments and explore the ancient Babylonian literature. Read full article here
Merv
March 12, 2023
