PinnedThe Gentle MindTowards a more tender critical thinking — The essay is the ultimate act of critique. It is the powerful stroke that replaces the guitar solo — a dance of solitary thinking, reserved for intellectuals who have mastered their art of thinking. It is also a perfect vehicle for narcissistic egotism, an exercise in power and control, in…Philosophy5 min readPhilosophy5 min read
Nov 10, 2022J. S. Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier” as a screenplayAn experiment in creative listening — “Storm! People are rushing outside to take in the clothes! Chaos of flowers!” (Zhu Xiao-Mei in Prelude №2 in C minor, BWV 847) “Maybe a fruit market. The cool boss walking through the stalls and picking up a grape here, an apple there, pulling jokes.” …Bach10 min readBach10 min read
Oct 17, 2022The dangers of readingAnd knowing when to stop — Schopenhauer wrote that when we read too much, we gradually lose our capacity of thinking (“just as the man who always rides, at least forgets how to walk.”): we “merely repeat the writer’s mental process” and in reading “the mind is the playground of another one’s thoughts”. …Reading4 min readReading4 min read
Oct 14, 2022Against ironyTake a stand and be earnest — Irony and superiority A few years ago, I wrote a song called “I don’t understand (irony)” It goes like this: “I don’t understand irony, ’cause I never know when to laugh or when to smile in consent. I don’t understand irony, ’cause I never know when to nod or when to look away…Humor4 min readHumor4 min read
Published in data-driven fiction·Oct 4, 2022Five good reasons to “teach” our kids how to write with AIThere’s been a lot of panic lately. As GPT-3 is slowly dripping (or leaking) into the mainstream, teachers are freaking out. They are worried that kids will be less likely to work on their writing skills — after all, they’ll have super-intelligent algorithms to do it for them. They’ll forget…Education4 min readEducation4 min read
Aug 24, 2022Alien Envoy from Betelgeuze (Oil on wood, 1550–55)And other artworks that could (not) have existed — Earlier this afternoon, I finally got access to an AI-generation tool (DreamStudio), and in my enthusiasm, started writing this article. I generated (to say ‘created’ would be too much honor) 15 works of AI-art that mimic the work of existing artists, period or media. …Dream Studio7 min readDream Studio7 min read
Aug 3, 2022Face/OffWhy secular Christians can’t embrace atheism — When I still was a child, my grandmother would tuck me into bed and rub a little cross on my forehead with her soft thumb. She called it a “zenuwari” — a contraction of the Flemish/Dutch phrase “(God) zegene en beware u” (May God bless and safeguard you). She never…Christianity5 min readChristianity5 min read
May 23, 2022Defying Transhumanism in the ArtsAn interview with poet Guillermo C. Gallardo UNHINGED The AI that ran in Minsky’s head Was not a kindly soul It could be devious and sly, And that was not a joke. It had the power to compute, And it could twist and twirl The wires of all the neurons in her brain. When Minsky was asleep, The…Poetry4 min readPoetry4 min read
May 19, 2022“I sometimes pretend / that I am a machine”The lure of AI-enriched poetry First things first: I don’t want to compare AI-generated poetry to human-generated poetry, or make any claims about the “literary merit” of the following poems. They are what they are: a mimicry of human language, semi-aleatoric, partly superficial / partly corny, and sometimes almost mystical. …Poetry5 min readPoetry5 min read
Apr 10, 2022Use hyperboles wiselyIt will make your writing more honest Ever felt triggered to click on an article just because of the bold, self-confident title (such as: “I will reject your resume if I see these four things”, or: “4 things that will vanish in 20 years”), because of their drama and pathos…Writing Advice3 min readWriting Advice3 min read
