We Failed Each Other Long Before AI
Introduced to a chatbot, people soon pour out doubts and questions they would not dare reveal to another human being. Why not?
Society & Culture
The Uneasy Award of Divine Solace
I am not losing my faith. I am wondering where that religion truly is. Is this really the place where God Himself enters into physical form in our midst?
Keep the Award or Take It Away
Recognition is complex, often mixed with merit, institutional needs, and fair randomness. If I produce something of value and receive no “gold medal,” I am no longer discouraged by not getting any recognition. I know the work I have done. I know the growth I have experienced.
What Do We Owe Our Dead?
In Elizabeth Finch, Julian Barnes’s character falls platonically in love with one of his teachers, a woman whose clarity and intelligence become his lodestar. After her death, he vows to overcome his habitual procrastination and research a historical figure he suspects she wanted him to write about. “To please the…
Why We Need Friction
A meeting on Zoom sounds like a relief until I remember I hate it. Texting keeps me in touch with friends so swiftly and constantly, I forget how much I miss them.
America’s Culinary Icon Is Not Done With Us Yet
Like war in the Middle East, military-grade weaponry, partisan enmity in politics, and utility trucks and RVs, the hamburger endures because it delivers recombinant flavors in huge doses of fat and salt that land in the stomach like a firm, reliable handshake.
And if AI Writes a Good Parable?
Last week, I read a delightful story on a friend’s Facebook page, full of specific details about a farmer who realized that someone was taking eggs and potatoes from his farm stand without plunking any money into the honor jar. She was hungry and broke—times were increasingly hard—and too proud…
Jungle Warfare in the Western Hemisphere and Big Stick Foreign Policy
Back when I attended the original Jungle Operations Training Center, in the spring of 1984, it was run entirely by US Army cadre, and the Russians were the bad guys. We were told a Russian trawler offshore was monitoring and trying to disrupt our radio communications on field exercises, and the outlined figures on paper targets at army rifle ranges wore Warsaw Pact helmets. “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose,” as the first industrial-colonial power in Panama says. But the rigors of the Panamanian landscape and its climate have proved difficult for all foreign comers for 525 years.
“Six-seven!” and the Nonsensical Gestures of Pop’s Rapid Onset Obsolescence
How did a complete lack of meaning, paired with simple gestures, become a grand celebratory act for this generation?
The Price of the Athlete and the Roar of the Crowd
Sport, like the university, like any institution, is a human construction. It reflects the fears and desires of those who manage it. To demand that it remain apolitical is to demand that it remain unexamined. What would it mean to refuse that demand consistently?