Alex Dobrenko

A third-order story recognises the greater, more valuable, more actual truth: that every seemingly minor thing you do on every day absolutely definitely has such consequences. As a logical consequence of this, every single moment in history is of precisely equal significance.

All of this, though, is non-intuitive, and confuses the issue. It's

... See more

I’m so happy to hear that these friends’ stories made you feel that way. A colleague of mine says he strives to report on people who are “extraordinary but anonymous,” and I feel that’s a perfect description of the people in my book. Which makes it hard to just share one partnership, but I’ll do it.

like 'creativity' was for the 1980s onwards, will authenticity be the thing people strive for? The thing that is human and can't be replaced? Either that or 'taste'

Look at how the writers you love are doing things, and then copy them. I’m such a believer in copying. When I was teaching writing, I used to say: “Leave off this paragraph of an Elizabeth Bowen story; write the next paragraph.” And they all thought that they were copying Elizabeth Bowen. It didn’t sound like her at all. It sounded like them, but... See more

But SaaS can’t stop, won’t stop, ever being just enough.

As goods circulated independently in the world, no longer attached to producers or shopkeepers, packaging helped stockists and patrons evaluate the offerings. Labels promised standard quality and purity and predictability; they ascribed character to otherwise nondescript contents; they were a “tool for simplifying and speeding decisions”; they... See more