I have undergone the humiliation of canceling a service, strained through phone
I have undergone the humiliation of canceling a service, strained through phone holds and obstreperous retention scripts and devolving, by what feels like necessity, into wrath to produce the desired end. A parting gift: Now I can replay, involuntarily, the shame of the process weeks or years later.
The level of unconcern, and active hostility, in just about every ordinary comme
The level of unconcern, and active hostility, in just about every ordinary commercial exchange feels like it has reached fever pitch. This cannot be diagnosed with two-sided-market "enshittification" nor "everything is terrible" shruggies. It's systemic in a specific way that I can't quite describe.
If "writing is thinking" is just a headline and not a philosophical position, th
If "writing is thinking" is just a headline and not a philosophical position, that would be one thing.
If not, then it feels like we're talking about rhetoric—or else, that the thinking going into "writing is thinking" is ironically insufficient.
Inscription has a particular meaning in Derridaland, which is not to say that it
Inscription has a particular meaning in Derridaland, which is not to say that it's right or ideal but that it is the tradition of thought I am playing with here.
Which is kind of like, "Writing is writing." Which it is!
Ultimately, the gripe
Which is kind of like, "Writing is writing." Which it is!
Ultimately, the gripe about AI writing is a complaint about separating the experience of writing from it's output. I agree that this is a concern. But that part has less to do with your brain than it seems.
Here's a "generous" interpretation of what I think people really mean to mean wh
Here's a "generous" interpretation of what I think people really mean to mean when they say "Writing is thinking":
""As a writer, the process of writing is necessary for me to determine how I want to render concepts in written form.""
I am saying writing is not a kind of thinking. It is a kind of inscription. It c
I am saying writing is not a kind of thinking. It is a kind of inscription. It can participate in a set of processes, but calling it thinking is erroneous.
Writing isn't thinking, but rather writing. It's a type of representation that r
Writing isn't thinking, but rather writing. It's a type of representation that renders ideas into inscription.
As a supposed writer, I am HORRIFIED at the idea that I would need to write to think. I don't write with my brain; I do it with my fingertips.
I continue to be startled by the "writing is thinking" thing ("popular" among th
I continue to be startled by the "writing is thinking" thing ("popular" among the anti-AI set).
Is it, perhaps, a weird perversion of all the Derrida people read for decades? The pure-presence error of phonocentrism ironically became a pure-presence error of logocentrism?
Not sure where you are at, but many faculty are not barred from outside activiti
Not sure where you are at, but many faculty are not barred from outside activities. Professors have more flexibility in this regard than many professions. Depends on the activity.
It's weird, but the idea—I am not defending this—is that you work all year (with
It's weird, but the idea—I am not defending this—is that you work all year (with some accommodation) but get paid on a 9-month contract. But nobody ever talks explicitly about how this is supposed to work, mechanically.
Depends on what fields we are talking about, and which institutions. I'm not wil
Depends on what fields we are talking about, and which institutions. I'm not willing to make a "majority" statement here. Some faculty do research all year round. Others treat the summer as their own time. Others pursue teaching (which pays in varied ways). Varies!
Everyone everywhere has to submit conflict-of-interest reports for outside work.
Everyone everywhere has to submit conflict-of-interest reports for outside work. How that works and what oversight it bears varies. Broadly, university faculty have much broader flexibility than workers in other sectors to do consulting, etc.
Here's a fun thing: When I was at Georgia Tech, the 9-month salary also front-lo
Here's a fun thing: When I was at Georgia Tech, the 9-month salary also front-loaded employee benefits payments for the 3 months of summer into the Jan-May paychecks. USG wouldn't allow 12-month spreads for state-tax-law reasons. So your paycheck would be different for the start of the year. Fun!
Usual story: they’re running a script to elevate themselves, for their own benef
Usual story: they’re running a script to elevate themselves, for their own benefit, not to introduce diners to their vision for (in this case) modern Korean food, nor to facilitate any of the mutual communion of eating.
I’m definitely not proud of this, but I wrote a 1,200 word email to the Atomix G
I’m definitely not proud of this, but I wrote a 1,200 word email to the Atomix GM after my one and only trip there a number of years ago. I tried to explain why I was so disappointed. Obviously they don’t need me, but the reply I got was so deeply incurious, it made me give up Michelin-star chasing.
I recently, finally went to The Grill, the reboot of the Four Seasons. It was od
I recently, finally went to The Grill, the reboot of the Four Seasons. It was oddly moving. Oh yes, this is what fine dining used to be like. Like the 20th century. It’s expensive but nothing like Atomix, and you can get in almost every night. And you have to wear a jacket, and probably a tie.
These days, I’m into places you can actually get into that care about serving yo
These days, I’m into places you can actually get into that care about serving you food you can eat with other people instead of just with some overwrought executive chef’s ego.
These images are just engagement bait, but:
Atomix did change my life in that i
These images are just engagement bait, but:
Atomix did change my life in that it radicalized me against chef’s table, 2+ star restaurants, especially in NY. Most overrated restaurant in the world maybe. Alinea was inspiring 10 years ago but nothing like moto (RIP), which really did change my life.
Imagine if the lesson we learned from the "everything wrong with kids is because
Imagine if the lesson we learned from the "everything wrong with kids is because of screens" blowback is not that some other, singular and tidy explanation is the cause, instead, but that the whole industry of singular, tidy, behavioral-scientific explanations for complex problems is, well, stupid.
Right, fair. I am…a little allergic to the shorthand, and that's probably what I
Right, fair. I am…a little allergic to the shorthand, and that's probably what I'm reacting to. Folks, esp in academia, seem to like "austerity" or "neoliberalism" as complete explanations, not explanations from convenience. So I always sort of 'erk' when I see it?
Thanks for persisting earnestly.
Maybe? This doesn't seem like an earnest line of questioning, though. It seems l
Maybe? This doesn't seem like an earnest line of questioning, though. It seems like you just want me to be proven wrong and punished. I'm not playing that game. Rebecca and I are conversing just fine without your "help."
Right, scholarly publishing has become more cutthroat for sure. The catalogs wer
Right, scholarly publishing has become more cutthroat for sure. The catalogs were always big; there was never sufficient (if any time) for developmental, structural, line editing. Now it is worse. I'm not entirely sure that's "austerity" exactly, however, although certainly it can't have helped.
I have tons of experience working as a magazine and academic writer and editor,
I have tons of experience working as a magazine and academic writer and editor, running book series at scholarly presses, and running a university publishing office. This response is unwarranted.
What you do personally I cannot speak to. But I feel comfortable saying that sch
What you do personally I cannot speak to. But I feel comfortable saying that scholarly-press editors do almost zero editorial. I have published a lot of scholarly books and run an office that helps scholars publish. There are reasons for it, as I said, but also, let‘s be honest!
This is really demented. And Google's response is incredible, amounting to somet
This is really demented. And Google's response is incredible, amounting to something like, Every extremely misleading image that didn't need to exist in the first place made by our dearest Gooberboo can be verified to be fake by means of a mechanism nobody will ever use. We're sure you'll love it!
The 'slop' discourse reminds me of that George Carlin sketch about how other peo
The 'slop' discourse reminds me of that George Carlin sketch about how other people's stuff is shit. "Move your shit so I can put my stuff down."
I am sorry to report that we're all posting shit. Some just comes out faster.
(This is not an endorsement of so-called AI slop, you Bluesky monsters.)
All LinkedIn posts are slop. The AI-slop ones are, at least, more earnest in the
All LinkedIn posts are slop. The AI-slop ones are, at least, more earnest in their sloppishness, because intention and outcome are aligned (if in a hidden way). Threads is like this too. (Bluesky as well, but on this platform ppl believe they exist above slop, which is slop's native form here.)
This Emily Wilson situation is a nightmare. All she had to do was nothing—this f
This Emily Wilson situation is a nightmare. All she had to do was nothing—this film is a cherry on top of a career-sundae already adorned with a gilded cherry. And instead this. It’s almost Greek-tragic in its hubris. Ir makes me even more ashamed of academia than I already am.
Remember Six Sigma? For a long time it seemed very important in business to redu
Remember Six Sigma? For a long time it seemed very important in business to reduce defects and errors, so much that there was a whole quasi-cult, quasi-science to it. Now maybe nobody cares? Defects and errors are widespread.
I interviewed two ASMR creators for The Small Stuff (which has an ASMR chapter):
I interviewed two ASMR creators for The Small Stuff (which has an ASMR chapter): a YouTube-famous one named Gibi ASMR and an up-and-coming Canadian creator called Tera ASMR.
Tera made an ASMR video with my book, which is just, well, gratifying.
youtu.be/6ZDUQW-kTck?...
