1
Quality non-fiction books are the antithesis of AI slop
...so I vibe-coded a tool for finding more of them
Res Obscura
Notes on the history of technology, medicine, science, art, drugs, and empire. Also: AI in research and teaching. Click to read Res Obscura, by Benjamin Breen, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
- Popular posts
- 24
- Total points
- 4,471
- HN comments
- 2,527
- Rank
- #268 personal
Visit resobscura.substack.com → RSS feedOn Hacker News Jul 2023 – Oct 2026
History & Retro Computing 19AI & Machine Learning 13Life, Learning & Writing 7Society, Policy & Culture 2Tech Industry & Business 1
2
I have been writing a niche history blog for 15 years
A special appeal to support Res Obscura on its Crystal Anniversary
3
2k-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past
Why artifacts like the Carmona Wine Urn, the Pazyryk Rug, and the Sword of Goujian are so important
4
Role-playing with AI will be a powerful tool for writers and educators
Or, how well can GPT-4 simulate an acid trip in 1963?
5
What is happening to writing? Cognitive debt, Claude Code, the space around AI
"Cognitive debt," Claude Code, and the negative space around AI
6
Why etymologies matter: How tracing words can illuminate history (2024)
How tracing words can illuminate history
7
Do painters subconsciously paint themselves into their work?
The Renaissance history of automimesis, and a proposal for research