Brandon Marcus

It’s not just that “writing is thinking” (an oft-repeated phrase these days).

It’s that writing is a special, irreplaceable form of thinking forged from solitary perception and labor — an enormous amount of it — but tested against a reading public. That fusion of aloneness and interiority versus togetherness and exteriority is what makes it... See more

The claim that robot teachers will surely happen someday is one thing, and I can’t disagree with it. But culture and regulations change far more slowly than technologies. Those in the technology sector who are predicting time horizons of a few years for these changes are, I think, confusing the pace of technical change with the pace of social... See more

Rotting may have a particular posture, but I think what separates it from other activities that involve horizontal entertainment is its catalyst: avoidance—the avoidance of responsibility, pressure, uncertainty, anxiety, thoughts. Rotting shares this quality with idling, but offers a more comprehensive escape, thus taking on a more sinister edge.

I use the word idling to suggest the stubborn heft of a car pulled over—not driving, not switched off, just sitting there, humming in place, going nowhere while imperceptibly poisoning the air. The pleasure of this depraved human state lies, I think, in the contradiction: Resting in the literal physical sense, persisting in the toxic spiritual one.... See more