May 4, 2026

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS QUALITY:

May 4, 2026

Consumers Prefer AI Music Until They’re Told It’s AI (Jana Friedrichsen, Julia Schwarz and Michel Clement, May 4, 2026, ProMarket)

In our final study from 2024, we conducted a similar experiment to study how listeners compared human-made songs to AI-generated ones. Our study varied whether songs were human-made or AI-generated (song origin) and whether the listener received this information or not for pop and electronic dance songs. In addition to listeners’ stated preferences, we also measured how much they were willing to pay to listen to the song as a second measure of preference. We found that listeners actually perceive AI-generated songs to be superior. However, if the music is disclosed to be AI-generated, their desire to relisten to the song and their willingness to pay decreases. This effect is mainly driven by pop listeners.

Anglospherics

NO UNIVERSALISM, NO CIVILIZATION:

May 4, 2026

Civilizational States Against Universalism (Pranay Kumar Shome, April 29, 2026, Providence)

In his book The Rise of the Civilizational State, Christopher Coker, the late British political scientist at the London School of Economics, defines a civilizational state as a country that traces its identity to a distinct socio-cultural core dating back to time immemorial. In civilizational states, Coker argues, culture becomes the primary anchor of national identity not in a sense of shared citizenship within a common territory or through a constitutionally bound social contract; rather, it lies in the perception of commonalities derived from belonging to a common culture. The votaries of civilizational states consider the idea of a nation-state as a “Western import” that is ill-suited to the collective consciousness of non-Western societies with deep historical roots.

In this context, countries like Iran, China, Türkiye etc., invoke the “civilizational state” tag to justify their policies in opposition to Western influence around democracy, human rights, and anything else that would cause authoritarians consternation.

they’re mere cultures.

Technology

LUDDISM NEVER WORKS:

May 4, 2026

Did School Cellphone Bans Work? New Study Finds Mixed Results. (Dana Goldstein, May 4, 2026, NY Times)

Schools that adopted strict bans — requiring students to keep their devices in locked pouches throughout the school day — saw a meaningful decline in student cellphone use. But test scores have not increased in those places on average. And at first, banning phones led to higher suspension rates.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS QUALITY:

NO UNIVERSALISM, NO CIVILIZATION:

LUDDISM NEVER WORKS:

You Missed

DONALD WHO?:

ALL SCIENCE LEADS BACK TO FAITH:

THE WAGES OF iDENTITARIANISM:

ALWAYS BET ON THE dEEP sTATE: