Hacker News with Generative AI: Culture

Are We Living in a Time of Cultural Collapse? (honest-broker.com)
Many articles have been written about me over the years. But I’ve never been hit with an opening sentence like the one published on Monday by The Atlantic.
Culture, Society, Media, Opinion
7 points by pseudolus 2 days ago | 0 comments
Believing in Spirits and Life After Death Is Common Around the World (pewresearch.org)
Belief in life after death is widespread around the globe, as is the belief that spirits can reside in animals and in parts of nature such as mountains, rivers or trees, according to a Pew Research Center survey of three dozen countries with a wide range of religious traditions.
Religion, Spirituality, Surveys, Culture, Global Trends
4 points by hn_acker 2 days ago | 0 comments
Some novelists are becoming video game writers – and vice-versa (theguardian.com)
While the novel remains a high-status cultural form, video game writing is still seen as a throwaway art – despite some of the biggest names in fiction being involved
Writing, Video Games, Literature, Culture
11 points by ilamont 2 days ago | 0 comments
Culture comes first in cybersecurity, putting it on the frontline in culture war (theregister.com)
It is a nation's first duty to protect its citizens from harm. A fine maxim, and one we can all agree on, even in these disagreeable times. Sadly, that's as far as it goes. What the harm is and how to protect against it is where light turns to heat.
Cybersecurity, Culture, Politics
12 points by rntn 3 days ago | 1 comments
Malaya's Timeless Design (linyangchen.com)
Lin Yangchen Coconut Action Party
Design, Art, Culture
4 points by cenazoic 3 days ago | 0 comments
Umarell (wikipedia.org)
Umarell (Italian spelling of the Bolognese Emilian word umarèl, Emilian pronunciation: [umaˈrɛːl]; plural umarî) are men of retirement age who spend their time watching construction sites, especially roadworks – stereotypically with hands clasped behind their back and offering unwanted advice to the workers.[1] Its literal meaning is "little man" (also umaréin).[2] The term is employed as lighthearted mockery or self-deprecation.
Culture, Italy, Social Commentary, Linguistics
10 points by veqq 3 days ago | 2 comments
Phoenician culture spread mainly through cultural exchange (mpg.de)
Study challenges long-held assumptions about the Mediterranean Phoenician-Punic civilization, one of the most influential maritime cultures in history
History, Archaeology, Culture, Mediterranean
67 points by gmays 3 days ago | 20 comments
Loving 21st century gaming like an 18th century furniture expert (kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com)
The amount of time that’s passed between the wood-effect veneered beginnings of gaming at home and today’s enormous consoles and computers is only about 40 years, yet in that short period the hobby’s managed to accumulate an entire epoch’s worth of backwards-looking worries.
Gaming, Technology, History, Culture
26 points by outrunner 4 days ago | 3 comments
Management Habits Burning Out Your Best Engineers (techleaderslaunchpad.com)
Burnout in engineering teams is rarely caused by a single event. Instead, it’s the result of persistent, often overlooked management habits that quietly erode motivation, well-being, and performance. Here are 9 habits, why they matter, what happens if you ignore them, and actionable tips to build a healthier, more sustainable engineering culture.
Management, Burnout, Engineering, Software Development, Culture
18 points by mooreds 4 days ago | 19 comments
People are losing loved ones to AI-fueled spiritual fantasies (rollingstone.com)
Less than a year after marrying a man she had met at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kat felt tension mounting between them.
Artificial Intelligence, Relationships, Culture
179 points by wzm 4 days ago | 160 comments
On Not Carrying a Camera – Cultivating memories instead of snapshots (hedgehogreview.com)
Last summer, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at a retrospective exhibition of my work, a photographer introduced himself and asked a question no one had ever asked me.
Photography, Memories, Art, Life, Culture
294 points by pseudolus 4 days ago | 316 comments
The New Control Society (thenewatlantis.com)
The gatekeepers are dying. Why is everything so mid?
Social Commentary, Culture, Technology
30 points by Michelangelo11 4 days ago | 23 comments
The Philosophy of Cyberpunk: High-Tech Rebels and Neon Dreams (newintrigue.com)
The future has never seemed closer, yet we’re still struggling to find our place in it. It’s no surprise, then, that many of us are turning back to the cyberpunk genre. Its’ a world of hackers, rebels, and misfits, in the form of new videogames, movies, and novels.
Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Technology, Culture
6 points by rntn 5 days ago | 0 comments
Welcome to the Future: The 2020s, the cyberpunk vision that arrived on schedule (noahpinion.blog)
The years of my youth must have been such a disappointment for sci-fi fans of my parents’ generation. They were raised on stories of spaceships soaring between the stars, and they grew up to see the space shuttle explode and humankind abandon the moon. They grew up expecting flying cars and robot servants, but as they reached middle age they were still trundling along the ground and doing their own laundry.
Science Fiction, Technology, History, Culture
13 points by goranmoomin 6 days ago | 4 comments
The Impossible Contradictions of Mark Twain (newyorker.com)
Populist and patrician, hustler and moralist, salesman and satirist, he embodied the tensions within his America, and ours.
Literature, History, America, Culture, Satire
49 points by mitchbob 7 days ago | 26 comments
The Danish language, even the Danes don't understand it [video] (youtube.com)
Danish Language, Linguistics, Culture, Humor, Video
16 points by dp-hackernews 7 days ago | 7 comments
The Totalitarian Buddhist Who Beat SIM City (2010) (vice.com)
I’m English, but when I was twelve I lived in North Carolina and went to an inner-city school a bit like that one in The Wire. I only have two memories of that time.
Culture, Society, Biography, Childhood
99 points by Tomte 7 days ago | 25 comments
When Americana doesn't mean American (deeprootsmag.org)
In the late 1980s, U.S. audiences met an odd musical group from Finland: the Leningrad Cowboys, stars of a deadpan-comic, not-quite-documentary, road-trip film called Leningrad Cowboys Go America.
Music, Culture, Finland, United States
65 points by tomrod 7 days ago | 79 comments
What New Orleans Taught Me (commonedge.org)
It’s hard to leave New Orleans when the jasmine is in bloom — especially when you’ve spent a decade learning its rhythm.
New Orleans, Travel, Culture, Personal Essays
79 points by tintinnabula 7 days ago | 56 comments
Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery (phys.org)
An interest in understanding the role that the Milky Way played in Egyptian culture and religion has led University of Portsmouth Associate Professor of Astrophysics, Dr. Or Graur to uncover what he thinks may be the ancient Egyptian visual depiction of the Milky Way.
Astronomy, History, Ancient Egypt, Culture
98 points by wglb 8 days ago | 42 comments
The ancient psychedelics myth: Tourists told stories 'they find interesting' (theguardian.com)
The narrative of ancient tribes around the world regularly using ayahuasca and magic mushrooms in healing practices is a popular one. Is it true?
Psychedelics, History, Culture, Travel
15 points by robaato 8 days ago | 1 comments
Tolkien Against the Grain (dissentmagazine.org)
With over 150 million copies sold, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling prose narratives of the twentieth century and remains beloved by fans across the globe.
Fantasy Literature, Literature, Culture, J.R.R. Tolkien
7 points by lermontov 8 days ago | 8 comments
Shoes on at home or shoes off? If you care about your health, it's a no-brainer (theguardian.com)
It is a truth almost universally unacknowledged in the UK that wearing shoes in the home is gross.
Health, Hygiene, Home, Culture
16 points by n1b0m 9 days ago | 27 comments
The last masters of Afro-Colombian machete fencing (globalvoices.org)
"Grima is an art of freedom and resistance," Colombian machete fencers say.
Culture, Colombia, Martial Arts, History
57 points by PaulHoule 10 days ago | 20 comments
Why translating Chinese food names into English is 'an impossible task' (cnn.com)
Food, Linguistics, Culture, China, Translation
6 points by asplake 10 days ago | 1 comments
Forensic Fandom (exiledfan.substack.com)
A while back, a fellow fandom writer tweeted about how music fans are missing out on the joy of absorbing songs into their own lives, applying them to their own experiences by instead focusing on the what and who the songs are about, and how they map onto the existing narrative of the performer’s life.
Music, Fandom, Culture, Analysis
15 points by jger15 10 days ago | 3 comments
Many cultures borrow. Japan transforms (nytimes.com)
Throughout its history, the country has taken imports and changed them into something else entirely.
Culture, Japan, History, Transformation
15 points by pseudolus 11 days ago | 2 comments
BART's Anime Mascots (bart.gov)
Inspired by BART frontline employees and BART-contracted animals (goats, hawks) who have gone on to reach national fame, the anime mascots highlight the tight-knit connections between BART and the Bay Area.
Transportation, Culture, Community, California
150 points by archagon 13 days ago | 71 comments
Why the Cassette Revival Is Thriving in Argentina's Music Scene (greenbook.org)
Cassettes are making a nostalgic comeback in Argentina’s indie and punk scenes—offering artists and fans a tangible, emotional connection to music.
Music, Argentina, Nostalgia, Culture, Indie Music
13 points by geox 13 days ago | 4 comments
Old Nerds, New Nerds (retconnedone.substack.com)
Paul Graham writes a lot about nerds. In “Why Nerds are Unpopular,” he ranks the lunch tables. There were the popular kids, the nerds, and everyone else in between. He writes about the persecution of nerds, of junior high bullying, and a time when the category of “nerd“ was meaningful. I thought nerds were a movie trope. Who acts like this anymore?
Social Commentary, Technology, Culture, Nerds
21 points by ark296 13 days ago | 1 comments