the art of writing

During Q&A at a conference I spoke at a few years back, someone asked me “What’s your take on the true value of a university education?” I shared my general opinion (summary: great socially, but not realistic enough academically) and ended with a description of a course I’d like to see taught in college. In fact, I’d like to teach it.

It would be a... See more

To be clear, concluding in brief: there is enough for all. So there should be no more people living in poverty. And there should be no more billionaires.

Enough should be a human right, a floor below which no one can fall; also a ceiling above which no one can rise. Enough is a good as a feast— or better.

Arranging this situation is left as an... See more

I think this is the way we’ll use AI to write in the future. We’ll interact with AI in a continuous, back-and-forth way. We’ll write a few sentences, and then we’ll ask it for suggestions. We’ll write a few more sentences, and then we’ll ask it again. We’ll keep going back and forth like this, and over time the AI will get better as it learns more... See more

It reminds me of writing and how I wake up week after week and get stuck on the blank page again and again. How I always despair that I have no more good ideas and, even if I did, not enough eloquence to convey said ideas. But I love it still. I love how writing brings everything to the surface, how it generates and absorbs my attention. How it

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Chekhov: “The task of a writer is not to solve the problem but to state the problem correctly.”