Res Obscura

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When technology follows art
From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the history of technology
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Benjamin Breen
9
Margaret Mead, Technocracy, and the origins of AI's ideological divide
The anthropologist helped popularize both techno-optimism and the concept of existential risk
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Benjamin Breen
3
How to use generative AI for historical research
Four real-world case studies, and some thoughts on what not to do
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Benjamin Breen
4
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Why Early Modern Books Are So Beautiful
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14
Simulating History with ChatGPT
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20
Historical maps probably helped cause World War I
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2
Translating Latin demonology manuals with GPT-4 and Claude
 • Benjamin Breen
8
Kikkuli!
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4
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The open-stack library: a futuristic technology from the 18th century
What we lost when we shifted knowledge organization to an algorithmic feed
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Benjamin Breen
5
There should be more cash prizes for solving historical mysteries
On the Herculaneum scroll and the underrated value of historical knowledge
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Benjamin Breen
5
Simulating History with Multimodal AI: an Update
Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history. But how to use it?
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Benjamin Breen
6
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
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Benjamin Breen
6
Translating Latin demonology manuals with GPT-4 and Claude
At long last, a real-world use case for AI!
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Benjamin Breen
8
Kikkuli!
Why do some people from the distant past become memes?
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Benjamin Breen
4
Historical maps probably helped cause World War I
On cartography as historical argument
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Benjamin Breen
2
Simulating History with ChatGPT
The Case for LLMs as Hallucination Engines
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Benjamin Breen
20
Experiencing scientific revolutions: the 1660s and the 2020s
Lessons from Boyle's scientific desiderata and the Midgley Effect
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Benjamin Breen
17
Res Obscura
Res Obscura
Notes on the history of technology, medicine, science, art, drugs, and empire from UC Santa Cruz history professor Benjamin Breen. Also: using AI in research and teaching.
Recommendations
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Noted
Noted
Jillian Hess
History on Drugs
History on Drugs
Isaac Campos
The Honest Broker
The Honest Broker
Ted Gioia
Age of Invention, by Anton Howes
Age of Invention, by Anton Howes
Anton Howes
French Reflections
French Reflections
David A. Bell
Books
Pre-order "Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science"
Coming January, 2024, from Grand Central. I'd be very grateful if you considered pre-ordering it!
Order "The Age of Intoxication"
My first book, on the early modern global drug trade (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
Articles
Open-access PDFs of my academic publications
© 2023 Benjamin Breen
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