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monochrom is an art-technology-philosophy group having its seat in Vienna and Zeta Draconis. monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science, context hacking and political activism. Our mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom has existed in this (and almost every other) form since 1993.
‘Quantum Computer’ a stage closer with Silicon breakthrough
The remarkable ability of an electron to exist in two places at once has been controlled in the most common electronic material — silicon — for the first time. The research findings — published in Nature by a UK-Dutch team from the University of Surrey, UCL (University College) London, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and the … Read more
We are the only animals that like Tabasco sauce
Can Science Capture the Complexity of Human Pleasures? I’m a practicing psychiatrist, not a research psychologist, but as someone who follows the literature on happiness, I’m convinced that How Pleasure Works is a comprehensive and authoritative summary of, to quote the subtitle, “The New Science of Why We Like What We Like.” It’s also a … Read more
The Second ‘Second Sex’: It’s about translation!
Simone de Beauvoir’s translators and the many critics have turned their disputes into a play where each acts the role assigned by theatrical cliché… As translation contretemps go, the one surrounding French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86) and her foundational work of modern feminism, Le Deuxième Sexe, first published in two volumes in French in … Read more
Oldest known images of Apostles uncovered in Roman catacombs
Late fourth-century frescoes of Sts. Peter, Andrew, John and Paul have been uncovered in the Catacombs of St. Tecla, underneath a nondescript office building in Rome. Arachaeologists used lasers to remove centuries’ worth of calcium carbonate deposits which had accumulated over the paintings. Link
Red Dawn was a bad movie
As someone who was a child during the end of the Soviet Era, the following news items cause minor cognitive dissonance: 1) The Russian guided missile warship Varyag is docking in San Francisco this week on a friendly tour coinciding with a visit from the Russian President. At the same time there are three Japanese … Read more
The Enlightened Economy: An Economic History of Britain, 1700-1850
The Industrial Revolution is the inflection point of economic history. During all the millennia before that revolution, incomes were static and humans were poor—often hungry, inadequately clothed, ill-housed. But somehow, in the two-and-a-half centuries since humanity learned to mass produce, a large number of ordinary people have acquired more material comfort than even the wealthiest … Read more