Lately, more than a few people have been asking if I'm anti technology or a luddite. I'm not. I'm definitely not against technology, but I am very critical of so-called Big Tech and the technocrats who run large technology corporations. I don't like their outsize influence on our lives, on the economy, and on our leaders. Big Tech and its leaders haven't earned the right to any of that.

With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:

High Density Living, 2000 Years Ago: Inside the Roman Apartment Building — The problem of affordable housing isn't anything new: the Romans faced it thousands of years ago. But they came up with a solution, one which increased density while enabling some to make a few sestertius.

From the article:

[T[he insulae of Ostia remain a compelling model of dense, walkable living, with a vibrant street culture. Ancient cities like Ostia, constrained by pedestrian and animal-based transport and housing shortages, built compact, multifunctional cores. Even as their ruins stand in quiet repose, these buildings challenge our assumptions as we confront the issues of urban sprawl.

Typing for Love or Money: The Hidden Women’s Labor behind Modern Literary Masterpieces — Without a typist (usually a woman) many a great book might not have seen the light of a printing press. And to think that the skills of a proficient typist were at one time denigrated.

From the article:

Bosanquet and her machine were essential to the process. James nicknamed her his “Remington priestess” and when the priestess’ machine broke down and was temporarily replaced with a newer, silent model, James found it nearly impossible to continue working.

After The AI Revolution — A look at how the approaches to AI in the US and China both differ and mirror each other, a look that's mixed with speculation about how the (overly hyped) technology could change both societies.

From the article:

This is how AI will make the invisible Chinese visible — not by eliminating poverty through a single breakthrough, but by integrating the rural underclass into the same informational infrastructure that already shapes urban life. These are the projects of the Chinese state, which doesn’t seek to profit from equity valuations or returns on investment, but rather sees the Chinese population as its most basic form of capital.

How TV learned to sell itself — How did television become popular (and profitable) in its early years? By tying up with the sports world which, in turn, led not only to more televisions being sold but more varied programming being produced.

From the article:

With their one-on-one action and limited ring size, boxing and wrestling were well suited to the small screen. New wrestling fans, particularly women, were a common trope in newspaper reports. ‘A lot of frail women are enjoying the sight of Danny MacShane cracking a man’s head into a steel post and having his head cracked in turn’, observed a sports columnist. Wrestling might or might not be a sport, but it was definitely entertainment.