Molly Snowden

“The freedom to fly was central to Elsa’s fascination with birds. At her death, Elsa had 35 birds, including canaries and goldfinches, living in large cages, filling her days with song. Outside her house, she planted berry-filled shrubs and placed water containers to attract birds of all species. In Rome, a crow grew fond of her, visiting her... See more

“There’s this great essay by Hannah Baer in the latest issue of Artforum, where she unpacks why we are so afraid of AI becoming more intelligent than humans. If you look at this historically, humans have positioned themselves as the most intelligent species, even though that’s not true. As the “most intelligent species,” we’ve used this power as an

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Attention is what creates value. Artworks are made as well by how people interact with them — and therefore by what quality of interaction they can inspire. So how do we assess an artist who we suspect is dreadful but who manages to inspire the right storm of attention, and whose audience seems to swoon in the appropriate way? We say, ‘Well done.’

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Invoke the brat as your muse, it seems, and she’ll dilute the politics of your book down to a mix of provocativeness and uncertainty. Something like “The system is gross, but the people who want to resist or improve it are cringe. And some aspects of the system, like online shopping and racism and fatphobia, might actually be OK? Just kidding!... See more

I’m drawn to the idea of an art of living much more so than to the compulsive search for life hacks, regimens of self-improvement, or self-optimization schemes. These too often feel like a doubling down on the insistence that we can always do more if only we apply the right technique. They also suggest that the path to happiness involves the... See more