Arts and Minds

Artless and Mindless

What is this website and weblog Arts and Minds all about? in this blog I examine connections among art, mind, thought, technology and behavior.

When we think of ancient civilizations or primordial peoples and their cultures we think, first, of their arts. We search for a historical record of their sculpture, painting, their dance, their technology and their way of life. We have archive and study treasured examples of their poetry and other writing.

Arctic Tar-Black Ice?

The Arctic ice performed an essential function before we caused global warming. White ice reflected much of the solar radiation back into space during the arctic summer days and kept the top of the world cold, as it should be. In scientific terms, the color and reflectivity of the ice helped to keep the albedo of the planet Earth stable. This had been the case for millennia .

Now the Russians have placed a tiny flag on the North Pole seafloor under ice that has broken because it has already been basking under an overheated atmosphere, and bathed in warming water. They used an unmanned submersible to do the deed. No human was down there burbling “one small-minded step…”