Andrew McCluskey

Life, put simply, is all about status. I recently read W. David Marx’s book Status and Culture —thanks Bryce Ferguson for the rec—and that fact was my clear takeaway. The book subtly changed how I look at the world; when you start to pay attention, status dictates nearly everything in our lives.

In the book, Marx argues that:

1. There is no human

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it’s like the growing pains of a child, necessary for the survival of all the other aches to come.

Young writers will not be obliged to draw attention to themselves by sensational pot-boilers, with a view to acquiring the economic independence needed for monumental works, for which, when the time at last comes, they will have lost the taste and the capacity.

A recent Senate policy brief warned that AI models could cut musicians’ incomes by as much as 25 percent within four years, as training sets devour the fruits of their labor without any licensing payments or bargaining leverage.