News
The Typo Vibe Shift
1+ hour, 33+ min ago (329+ words) To some, they're no longer a sign of laziness but proof of human touch. Toward the beginning of the 2002 film Secretary, a domineering lawyer (played by James Spader) barges into the office of his assistant (Maggie Gyllenhaal) with evidence of…...
A New Kind of Internet Novel
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (80+ words) In Ben Lerner's new novel, technology divides us further from one another, and ourselves. From the October 2019 issue: Ben Lerner, portraitist of talkative men Read: The unhappy literary families of the internet age From the April 2016 issue: Nicholas Dames on…...
A Horrible Throwback to the Early 2000s
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (167+ words) Members of Congress are using the kind of anti-Muslim rhetoric that was common then'this time with a president who has encouraged it. No one could accuse Representative Andy Ogles of using dog whistles. The Tennessee Republican prefers a bullhorn. "Muslims…...
The Internet's Nihilism Crisis
3+ mon, 1+ week ago (274+ words) This is what it looks like when nothing matters. More and more, it seems, I pull to refresh a feed or open up a new browser tab and encounter something that makes me feel as if I've sustained a head…...
Make Culture Weird Again
5+ mon, 3+ week ago (117+ words) Even failures and half steps will be more interesting than the boring stuff. Listen to more stories on the Noa app. The result was a world in which only money provided a universal sense of value. In turn, the erosion…...
Galaxy Brain: The Internet Is a Misery Machine
6+ mon, 6+ day ago (2002+ words) Hank Green on outrage, creativity, and what, exactly, went wrong with the internet. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | You Tube Charlie Warzel: Stay away. Warzel: I'm Charlie Warzel, and welcome to Galaxy Brain. Thank you for joining me here on…...
Whither the Dictionary?
8+ mon, 1+ week ago (216+ words) These are parlous times for lexicographers. Read: The philosophy behind the first American dictionary Dictionary. com couldn't match Merriam's history or reputation. Instead, the company was trying to position itself to "capture language at the pace of change," to be…...
Something Is Very Wrong Online
8+ mon, 1+ week ago (198+ words) Our political conversations take place in the very same spaces that incubate and perpetuate unthinkable violence. This is the algorithmic internet at work. It abhors an information vacuum and, in the absence of facts or credible information, gaps are quickly…...
You Don't Know Yourself As Well as You Think You Do
11+ mon, 2+ week ago (323+ words) Good advice, to a point. If you know absolutely nothing about yourself or your likes, wants, values, or personality, you either are a baby or have bigger problems than a dead philosopher can address. Read: What we lose when we're…...