Why I have been writing a niche history blog for 15 years

A special appeal to support Res Obscura on its Crystal Anniversary

Dec 4, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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November 2025

How well can Gemini 3 make a Henry James simulator?

Finally, a benchmark for LLMs with real-world value

Nov 19, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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Can automation help make the humanities more human?

Finding the negative space around machine capabilities is not a new challenge — but it is more important today than ever before in history

Nov 6, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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October 2025

The Age of Books and the Age of Brainrot

A semi-optimistic take on the future of reading and thinking

Oct 2, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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August 2025

All Souls exam questions and the limits of machine reasoning

The world's most eccentric exam is newly relevant in the age of AI

Aug 13, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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July 2025

OpenAI's "Study Mode" and the risks of flattery

Serious learning requires friction, frustration... and other humans

Jul 31, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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May 2025

Why were Belle Époque cities beautiful?

It's not because they were "traditional" or "classical" — in fact it's just the opposite

May 21, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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AI makes the humanities more important, but also a lot weirder

Historians are finally having their AI debate

May 7, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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April 2025

Onfim's world

Child artists in history

Apr 16, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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When Jorge Luis Borges met one of the founders of AI

One reason I became a historian is the joy of encountering moments in the past that are foreign, yet also oddly familiar.

Apr 2, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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March 2025

AI legibility, physical archives, and the future of research

A followup to "The leading AI models are now good historians"

Mar 5, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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February 2025

Happy Lupercalia

A special discount on subscriptions in honor of the Roman wolf holiday

Feb 13, 2025 • Benjamin Breen

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