Banana Art Politics, Old Earth Vibes, and AI Art Turing Tests

Simon's weekly newsletter covers a range of topics, including a Sotheby's sale in which Maurizio Cattelan's duct-taped banana artwork, "Comedian," sold to Justin Sun for $6.2 million, and the wall banana itself was a Dole banana bought earlier that day from a Manhattan fruit stand for 35 cents. Sun said he planned to eat the banana. The newsletter also discusses Dean Kissick's view that centering identity politics has "ruined" art, and reports that Scott Alexander's test found people guessing AI art versus human art at a median above 60% accuracy. Other sections cover Factorio, Arcane S2, Pachinko S2, and a concert where many attendees wore earplugs.