Solo l’intelligenza artificiale ci potrà difendere da attacchi hacker e malware - il mio articolo per la Stampa
Money quote: "«Quella della sicurezza è una guerra che possiamo vincere solo se lasciamo che a combatterla al posto nostro siano le macchine» dice Gil Shwed, il fondatore dell’israeliana Check Point"
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/01/31/tecnologia/idee/solo-lintelligenza-artificiale-ci-potr-difendere-da-attacchi-hacker-e-malware-qpTQjUkLEEIPPyVVIMUxHN/pagina.html
Money quote: "«Quella della sicurezza è una guerra che possiamo vincere solo se lasciamo che a combatterla al posto nostro siano le macchine» dice Gil Shwed, il fondatore dell’israeliana Check Point"
http://www.lastampa.it/2018/01/31/tecnologia/idee/solo-lintelligenza-artificiale-ci-potr-difendere-da-attacchi-hacker-e-malware-qpTQjUkLEEIPPyVVIMUxHN/pagina.html
LaStampa.it
Solo l’intelligenza artificiale ci potrà difendere da attacchi hacker e malware
«Quella della sicurezza è una guerra che possiamo vincere solo se lasciamo che a combatterla al posto nostro siano le macchine» dice Gil Shwed, il fondatore dell’israeliana Check Point
Perché le cinture di sicurezza degli aeroplani per i passeggeri sono fatte come sono fatte? Risposta breve: perché costano molto poco. Però la risposta lunga è più interessante...
Money quote: "Seat belts became common in airplanes by the 1930s and 1940s, though even in 1947 there was pushback from the airline industry. (They often insisted that a tight belt could cause internal damage upon a crash. This is very rarely true and also pales in comparison to the number of injuries, internal and external, that are caused when a passenger doesn’t wear a seatbelt.) The Federal Aviation Act of 1958, spurred by several airplane crashes, began the move towards better safety requirements; these were codified in 1972 and have been occasionally updated ever since."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-are-airplane-seatbelts-so-weird
Money quote: "Seat belts became common in airplanes by the 1930s and 1940s, though even in 1947 there was pushback from the airline industry. (They often insisted that a tight belt could cause internal damage upon a crash. This is very rarely true and also pales in comparison to the number of injuries, internal and external, that are caused when a passenger doesn’t wear a seatbelt.) The Federal Aviation Act of 1958, spurred by several airplane crashes, began the move towards better safety requirements; these were codified in 1972 and have been occasionally updated ever since."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-are-airplane-seatbelts-so-weird
Atlas Obscura
Decoding the Design of In-Flight Seat Belts
Why we buckle up differently in cars and planes.
Fuji vuole comprare Xerox, nascerà un colosso da 18 miliardi di dollari - il mio articolo per Macity
https://www.macitynet.it/fuji-vuole-comprare-xerox-nascera-un-colosso-18-miliardi/
https://www.macitynet.it/fuji-vuole-comprare-xerox-nascera-un-colosso-18-miliardi/
Macitynet.it
Fuji vuole comprare Xerox, nascerà un colosso da 18 miliardi di dollari - Macitynet.it
La presa di controllo dell’azienda americana chiuderà una storia sinonimo di fotocopiatrici, e vedrà scomparire 10mila posti di lavoro negli Usa e nel mondo). L'unione di Fuji e Xerox può rafforzare i due marchi in diversi mercati nel mondo
Ok, se provate il desiderio di sperimentare, potete fare molte cose: una di queste è usare Atom come se fosse VIm. Insomma, più o meno
Money quote: "My work is greatly owing to former achievements of the original vim-mode developers and many of its contributors.
As you can see in the commit history, this project was originally started by forking official vim-mode.
The great design to achieve Vim operation by composing operator with target (motion, text-object) on top of operationStack still lives in vim-mode-plus now.
I don't think I can find this idea by myself from nothing.
Sincerely, I feel I couldn't do anything without the original vim-mode."
https://github.com/t9md/atom-vim-mode-plus
Money quote: "My work is greatly owing to former achievements of the original vim-mode developers and many of its contributors.
As you can see in the commit history, this project was originally started by forking official vim-mode.
The great design to achieve Vim operation by composing operator with target (motion, text-object) on top of operationStack still lives in vim-mode-plus now.
I don't think I can find this idea by myself from nothing.
Sincerely, I feel I couldn't do anything without the original vim-mode."
https://github.com/t9md/atom-vim-mode-plus
GitHub
GitHub - t9md/atom-vim-mode-plus: vim-mode improved
vim-mode improved. Contribute to t9md/atom-vim-mode-plus development by creating an account on GitHub.
La storia dei mulini a vento statunitensi: uno degli elementi paesaggistici più famosi di quel Paese, che in realtà sono anche uno degli strumenti più importanti per la conquista e l'industrializzazione della Frontiera americana. C'è anche un museo a loro dedicato, nello stato dell'Indiana.
Money quote: "You have probably seen windmills like these before, if not in person, then in pictures or on television. Sometimes known as “windpumps” or “wind engines,” they power a mechanical apparatus that draws water out of the ground. They share a general silhouette—reinforced tower, slatted fan wheel, rudder-like tail—and most are around forty feet high. They have names like Butler Oilmatic; Dempster 12A; Baker Direct Stroke; Southern Cross; The Whizz; Fairbury No. 33; Aermotor 602. In 2018, these windmills have a quaint, decorative sort of feel, like something you would find at an antique mall. But they are in fact technically profound pieces of equipment with a history of powering American expansion."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/windmills-water-pumping-museum-indiana
Money quote: "You have probably seen windmills like these before, if not in person, then in pictures or on television. Sometimes known as “windpumps” or “wind engines,” they power a mechanical apparatus that draws water out of the ground. They share a general silhouette—reinforced tower, slatted fan wheel, rudder-like tail—and most are around forty feet high. They have names like Butler Oilmatic; Dempster 12A; Baker Direct Stroke; Southern Cross; The Whizz; Fairbury No. 33; Aermotor 602. In 2018, these windmills have a quaint, decorative sort of feel, like something you would find at an antique mall. But they are in fact technically profound pieces of equipment with a history of powering American expansion."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/windmills-water-pumping-museum-indiana
Atlas Obscura
The Iconic Windmills That Made the American West
They may look quaint, but these "wind engines" were innovative and technically profound.
L'articolo purtroppo è a pagamento, ma solo l'incipit pubblico vale la pena: gli uccelli a quanto pare hanno scoperto il fuoco prima degli esseri umani. Ci sono predatori volanti che sono anche piromani: spargono il fuoco sulla foresta per stanare le loro prede. Almeno, in Australia.
Money quote: "Some birds of prey have learned to control fire, a skill previously thought to be unique to humans. The birds appear to deliberately spread wildfires in order to flush out prey. The finding suggests that birds may have beaten us to the use of fire."
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2157887-arsonist-falcons-suggest-birds-discovered-fire-before-humans-did/
Money quote: "Some birds of prey have learned to control fire, a skill previously thought to be unique to humans. The birds appear to deliberately spread wildfires in order to flush out prey. The finding suggests that birds may have beaten us to the use of fire."
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2157887-arsonist-falcons-suggest-birds-discovered-fire-before-humans-did/
New Scientist
Arsonist falcons suggest birds discovered fire before humans did
Multiple eyewitness accounts describe Australian birds of prey deliberately setting wildfires by carrying burning sticks, in order to flush out prey
Storia di Margit Wennmachers, la donna che ha creato l'immagine di uno dei più grandi venture capitalist della Silicon Valley e ridefinito l'idea che abbiamo dei genietti della tecnologia che abitano in California
Money quote: "The best communicators, by definition, go unnoticed. They’re the invisible third person in every interview. It was Wennmachers who coaxed a reticent Andreessen into participating in Friend’s story because she believed it would be good for the firm. It was Wennmachers who set up most of Friend’s interviews at Andreessen Horowitz and had a colleague staff them. When Friend felt he needed to see more of Andreessen, Wennmachers hit upon the idea of a TV-watching dinner date, correctly suspecting the scene would be just weird enough to guarantee inclusion and that Andreessen would come off exactly as she hoped: a relatable visionary who identifies with oddball hackers and who, when he is not predicting the future of computers, is watching TV shows about people who predict the future of computers."
https://www.wired.com/story/margit-wennmachers-is-andreessen-horowitzs-secret-weapon/
Money quote: "The best communicators, by definition, go unnoticed. They’re the invisible third person in every interview. It was Wennmachers who coaxed a reticent Andreessen into participating in Friend’s story because she believed it would be good for the firm. It was Wennmachers who set up most of Friend’s interviews at Andreessen Horowitz and had a colleague staff them. When Friend felt he needed to see more of Andreessen, Wennmachers hit upon the idea of a TV-watching dinner date, correctly suspecting the scene would be just weird enough to guarantee inclusion and that Andreessen would come off exactly as she hoped: a relatable visionary who identifies with oddball hackers and who, when he is not predicting the future of computers, is watching TV shows about people who predict the future of computers."
https://www.wired.com/story/margit-wennmachers-is-andreessen-horowitzs-secret-weapon/
WIRED
The Spin Master Behind Facebook, Airbnb, and Silicon Valley As You Know It
For two and a half decades Margit Wennmachers has quietly shaped the public image of the world's hottest startups. Now she must reckon with the new era of big tech.
La Cina comincia a non poterne più dei Bitcoin
Money quote: ““Currently, there are some so-called ‘mining’ enterprises that produce ‘virtual currencies.’ They have consumed huge amounts of resources and stoked speculation of ‘virtual currencies,’” according to the document dated Jan. 2.”
https://qz.com/1174091/china-wants-an-orderly-exit-from-bitcoin-mining/
Money quote: ““Currently, there are some so-called ‘mining’ enterprises that produce ‘virtual currencies.’ They have consumed huge amounts of resources and stoked speculation of ‘virtual currencies,’” according to the document dated Jan. 2.”
https://qz.com/1174091/china-wants-an-orderly-exit-from-bitcoin-mining/
Quartz
China wants an “orderly exit” from bitcoin mining
China accounts for more than two-thirds of the world’s processing power devoted to bitcoin mining.
La famiglia Rockefellers è diventata leggendariamente ricca grazie al petrolio di una azienda che si chiama Exxon. Oggi la Exxon cerca di difendersi dai Rockefeller perché si sente attaccata dalla famiglia diventata con il tempo sempre più ricca ma anche sempre più ambientalista. Interessante.
Money quote: “All of which is how ExxonMobil found itself in federal court this past November arguing that the Rockefellers were funding a conspiracy against it. Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York was hearing the latest arguments in a legal battle that had begun more than two years prior, when members of the Rockefeller clan, in their latest attempt to pressure the erstwhile family business to deal with climate change, funded journalists who uncovered documents showing Exxon had known about the dangers of burning fossil fuels for decades while publicly denying it was much of a problem at all. The Rockefeller-backed reports had inspired multiple state attorneys general to investigate whether Exxon might be liable like tobacco companies that lied about the cancer risks of smoking had been”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/the-rockefellers-vs-exxon.html
Money quote: “All of which is how ExxonMobil found itself in federal court this past November arguing that the Rockefellers were funding a conspiracy against it. Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York was hearing the latest arguments in a legal battle that had begun more than two years prior, when members of the Rockefeller clan, in their latest attempt to pressure the erstwhile family business to deal with climate change, funded journalists who uncovered documents showing Exxon had known about the dangers of burning fossil fuels for decades while publicly denying it was much of a problem at all. The Rockefeller-backed reports had inspired multiple state attorneys general to investigate whether Exxon might be liable like tobacco companies that lied about the cancer risks of smoking had been”
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/the-rockefellers-vs-exxon.html
New York
The Rockefellers vs. the Company That Made Them Rockefellers
The family that pioneered the oil industry in America wants to expose what Exxon hid from the public about climate change.
In memoria di Fred Bass, il proprietario della libreria Strand a Manhattan.
Money quote: “In between a formal request for Senator Wyden to replace Chuck Schumer and a plea for Paul Krugman to explain Bitcoin, Fran lauded Fred, whom she had known since she was twenty. “Young people say to me, Fran, where’d you get those vintage glasses?” she said. “And I say, They’re not vintage; I just still have them. I felt the same way about Fred. Fred’s such an old-school guy, they’d say. Well, Fred’s not an old-school guy, I’d say. We just still have him.””
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/01/raising-glass-fred-bass-strands-iconic-owner/
Money quote: “In between a formal request for Senator Wyden to replace Chuck Schumer and a plea for Paul Krugman to explain Bitcoin, Fran lauded Fred, whom she had known since she was twenty. “Young people say to me, Fran, where’d you get those vintage glasses?” she said. “And I say, They’re not vintage; I just still have them. I felt the same way about Fred. Fred’s such an old-school guy, they’d say. Well, Fred’s not an old-school guy, I’d say. We just still have him.””
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/02/01/raising-glass-fred-bass-strands-iconic-owner/
The Paris Review
Raising a Glass to Fred Bass, the Strand’s Iconic Owner
Celebrating the man who spent nearly seventy-five years alongside eighteen miles of books.
Kodak: la nostra criptovaluta serve al lavoro dei fotografi - il mio articolo per Macity
https://www.macitynet.it/kodak-la-nostra-criptovaluta-serve-al-lavoro-dei-fotografi/
https://www.macitynet.it/kodak-la-nostra-criptovaluta-serve-al-lavoro-dei-fotografi/
Macitynet.it
Kodak: la nostra criptovaluta serve al lavoro dei fotografi - Macitynet.it
«Volevamo proteggere le immagini col la blockchain, e non soltanto speculare con i KodakCoin» spiega l’azienda
Nel medioevo si potevano solo dipingere soggetti sacri: è la base per un proliferare di sexy-madonne e scente alquanto cruente o vivaci, piuttosto lontane filologicamente dai tempi che gli artisti cercavano di evocare (anche per farle meglio capire alle folle illetterate, per carità).
All'epoca dell'Unione sovietica è invece diventata obbligatoria un tipo di arte chiamata "realismo sovietico" o socialista. A Mosca ci sono un po' di musei dove poter vedere la migliore produzione.
Money quote: "Socialist realism was the dominant style of art in the Soviet Union; a regulated, rigid form of creativity. As its name suggests, it relied on realistic images that highlighted communist values. It was approved and promoted by the government, hence its reputation as a form of propaganda."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/institute-of-russian-realist-art
All'epoca dell'Unione sovietica è invece diventata obbligatoria un tipo di arte chiamata "realismo sovietico" o socialista. A Mosca ci sono un po' di musei dove poter vedere la migliore produzione.
Money quote: "Socialist realism was the dominant style of art in the Soviet Union; a regulated, rigid form of creativity. As its name suggests, it relied on realistic images that highlighted communist values. It was approved and promoted by the government, hence its reputation as a form of propaganda."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/institute-of-russian-realist-art
Atlas Obscura
Institute of Russian Realist Art in Moscow
A Moscow museum shows the surprising depth of the Soviet Union's official art.
Se vi sentite "useless" e "joyless", probabilmente è colpa di Facebook. È un viaggio verso la depressione che può terminare con il suicidio.
Money quote: "Two followed people over time, with both studies finding that spending more time on social media led to unhappiness, while unhappiness did not lead to more social media use. A third randomly assigned participants to give up Facebook for a week versus continuing their usual use. Those who avoided Facebook reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week."
https://theconversation.com/with-teen-mental-health-deteriorating-over-five-years-theres-a-likely-culprit-86996
Money quote: "Two followed people over time, with both studies finding that spending more time on social media led to unhappiness, while unhappiness did not lead to more social media use. A third randomly assigned participants to give up Facebook for a week versus continuing their usual use. Those who avoided Facebook reported feeling less depressed at the end of the week."
https://theconversation.com/with-teen-mental-health-deteriorating-over-five-years-theres-a-likely-culprit-86996
The Conversation
With teen mental health deteriorating over five years, there’s a likely culprit
According to a new analysis, the number of US teens who felt "useless" and "joyless" grew 33 percent between 2010 and 2015, and there was a 23 percent increase in suicide attempts.
Diciotto anni fa c'era una cosa che si chiamava Open Letter, ed era un Internet magazine bellissimo. Mi manca parecchio
Money quote: "Open Letters is a new magazine of first-person writing in the form of personal correspondence.
But it’s something else, too: it’s an ongoing, evolving experiment in content delivery via the Internet."
http://openletters.net/the-delivery/
Money quote: "Open Letters is a new magazine of first-person writing in the form of personal correspondence.
But it’s something else, too: it’s an ongoing, evolving experiment in content delivery via the Internet."
http://openletters.net/the-delivery/
La Paris Review, che come avrete capito è una delle mie riviste preferite, ha pubblicato un florilegio di recensioni di Parigi prese da TripAdvisor. Insomma, Paris reviewed. Tutte a una stella: stroncature dire. Genio.
Money quote: "LES DEUX MAGOTS -
Hemingway ate here all the time. Hemingway also shot himself. Draw your own conclusions."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/01/31/paris-reviewed/
Money quote: "LES DEUX MAGOTS -
Hemingway ate here all the time. Hemingway also shot himself. Draw your own conclusions."
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/01/31/paris-reviewed/
The Paris Review
Paris, Reviewed by Rosa Rankin-Gee
January 31, 2018 – Real life reviews from the City of Light, compiled from TripAdvisor.com MUSÉE D’ORSAY Not worth unless you are into art Only go if you are interested in
Probabilmente tutti abbiamo incontrato a un certo punto l’idea delle “mappe mentali”, quei diagrammi dove si mettono tutte le cose cercando di organizzare il pensiero a suon di tondi e di freccine. Bello, ma come funziona? Quando di usa? Salta fuori che c’è più di un modo, anzi ce ne sono tre, secondo questa interpretazione, e che sono fra loro interconnessi.
Money quote. “Here are three types of maps that can help your get started when trying to get your arms around what a topic or system boundary should be. The mind map, the cluster map and the concept map are three great starter maps and each informs the next to help you understand a topic or system. By making these diagrams we can determine what is in or out, what elements or actors we need to pay attention to and we can start to see relationships between the concepts of a topic or system. These diagrams won’t explain causes and effects or WHERE you need to pay attention in order to make transformation (that’s another series of models) but they will give you a sense of the actors, elements, components, and the scope to then move to the next level of understanding”
https://medium.com/tangible-ux/using-mapping-to-scope-a-system-b467564a80e2
Money quote. “Here are three types of maps that can help your get started when trying to get your arms around what a topic or system boundary should be. The mind map, the cluster map and the concept map are three great starter maps and each informs the next to help you understand a topic or system. By making these diagrams we can determine what is in or out, what elements or actors we need to pay attention to and we can start to see relationships between the concepts of a topic or system. These diagrams won’t explain causes and effects or WHERE you need to pay attention in order to make transformation (that’s another series of models) but they will give you a sense of the actors, elements, components, and the scope to then move to the next level of understanding”
https://medium.com/tangible-ux/using-mapping-to-scope-a-system-b467564a80e2
Medium
Using Mapping to Scope a System
The Power of Mapping
Immergiamoci nella fan-fiction slash, henprende peronsaggi pubblici, reali o fittizi, e li mette in situazioni erotiche. Esiste da decenni già su carta, però...
Money quote: “This passage might seem like a typical selection of steamy erotica (and trust me, it gets steamier) except for one thing: Jonathan and AJ are real people. This story is about an encounter between Jonathan Scott, co-host of HGTV’s real estate show Property Brothers, and AJ Styles, the WWE wrestler. The author is Chloe, a 19-year-old from Houston, and her piece is just one of hundreds on the site that puts Jonathan Scott — or his brother Drew, or sometimes both of them, together — in sexual, bizarre, or very clearly unrealistic situations.”
https://medium.com/s/darkish-web/the-dubious-ethics-of-real-person-fiction-5cd6bd498c16
Money quote: “This passage might seem like a typical selection of steamy erotica (and trust me, it gets steamier) except for one thing: Jonathan and AJ are real people. This story is about an encounter between Jonathan Scott, co-host of HGTV’s real estate show Property Brothers, and AJ Styles, the WWE wrestler. The author is Chloe, a 19-year-old from Houston, and her piece is just one of hundreds on the site that puts Jonathan Scott — or his brother Drew, or sometimes both of them, together — in sexual, bizarre, or very clearly unrealistic situations.”
https://medium.com/s/darkish-web/the-dubious-ethics-of-real-person-fiction-5cd6bd498c16
Medium
The Dubious Ethics of “Real-Person Fiction”
When fanfic writers start putting real celebrities in steamy situations, what’s the law to do?
Lavoro remoto, telelavoro, lavoro da casa, lavoro da dove vi pare ma senza più andare in ufficio: la tecnologia permette sempre più di operare un cambiamento importante e radicale nella forma e nel posto del lavoro. E di solito si pensa che sia una cosa positiva. Ma ci sono delle criticità. Qui si parla di gente che programma, ma la cosa con un po' di elasticità si può estendere a molti altri lavori di concetto.
Money quote: "There is a lot of good to say about remote working, and I see a lot of rabid defence of the practice. I agree with most of it. That said, I have been working remotely for a little more than 5 years now, and I now must acknowledge that it does not come without stress. This might come as a surprise for some, but in the end, I think that remote working has taken some toll on me over the last two years, especially when I went almost fully remote for a year, from June 2016 to June 2017."
https://hackernoon.com/the-stress-of-remote-working-38be5bdcf4da
Money quote: "There is a lot of good to say about remote working, and I see a lot of rabid defence of the practice. I agree with most of it. That said, I have been working remotely for a little more than 5 years now, and I now must acknowledge that it does not come without stress. This might come as a surprise for some, but in the end, I think that remote working has taken some toll on me over the last two years, especially when I went almost fully remote for a year, from June 2016 to June 2017."
https://hackernoon.com/the-stress-of-remote-working-38be5bdcf4da
Hackernoon
The Stress of Remote Working | HackerNoon
In software engineering, remote working makes a lot of sense since, most of the time, you only need a computer and an internet connection to perform your duties. So there are fewer reasons to force people to sit in a predefined office everyday. Consequently…
Il data journalism è quella cosa di cui in molti si riempiono la bocca ma non è mica tanto chiaro però quale sia il modo e lo scopo.
Ad esempio, i numeri nel giornalismo sono una cosa complessa e usare una loro rappresentazione grafica aggiunge un livello di complessità e potenziale distorsione notevole. Le semplificazioni possono distorcere. Anche un semplice zoom per "inquadrare meglio" può distorcere.
Prendete ad esempio questo grafico sull'andamento delle vendite dei dischi di vinile. A metterlo in prospettiva diventa tutta un'altra cosa, no?
Ad esempio, i numeri nel giornalismo sono una cosa complessa e usare una loro rappresentazione grafica aggiunge un livello di complessità e potenziale distorsione notevole. Le semplificazioni possono distorcere. Anche un semplice zoom per "inquadrare meglio" può distorcere.
Prendete ad esempio questo grafico sull'andamento delle vendite dei dischi di vinile. A metterlo in prospettiva diventa tutta un'altra cosa, no?
La fisica contemporanea ha le idee abbastanza chiare a proposito dell’universo multidimensionale. In passato, però, la chiave interpretativa era metafisica e legata all’occulto.
Money quote: “A more immediate antecedent to Zöllner’s hypothesis is found in The Unseen Universe, a popular book published anonymously in 1875, and later revealed to have been co-authored by the Scottish mathematical physicists Balfour Stewart and Peter Guthrie Tait (a lifelong friend of Maxwell). The treatise speculates about links between scientific concepts such as conservation of energy and spiritual questions such as the persistence of life after death. In one brief passage, it connects the fourth dimension with an unseen realm”
https://aeon.co/essays/the-occult-roots-of-higher-dimensional-research-in-physics
Money quote: “A more immediate antecedent to Zöllner’s hypothesis is found in The Unseen Universe, a popular book published anonymously in 1875, and later revealed to have been co-authored by the Scottish mathematical physicists Balfour Stewart and Peter Guthrie Tait (a lifelong friend of Maxwell). The treatise speculates about links between scientific concepts such as conservation of energy and spiritual questions such as the persistence of life after death. In one brief passage, it connects the fourth dimension with an unseen realm”
https://aeon.co/essays/the-occult-roots-of-higher-dimensional-research-in-physics
Aeon
Spiritual hyperplane
How spiritualists of the 19th century forged a lasting association between higher dimensions and the occult world