Category: Books
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AI and the Novel
I’ve been thinking a bit about Generative AI and the particular form of writing that is the novel. And the more I think about it, I’m becoming convinced that the novel – which is an exceptionally distilled form of creativity, one that takes perhaps the longest time of any art form, and is ultimately created…
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Happy George Saunders Day
It is the 10th of December. If you’re not a celebrant, get this book now. It’ll change your year, I promise. If you’re a writer, or interested in the craft, I highly recommend his book of his course on the Russian masters. It’s wonderful.
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God-Like in Frome
Brilliant time down in Somerset on Friday presenting on the book to a packed church in Whatley, just outside Frome. The event was the first in a series using the space to consider challenging contemporary questions. The regular congregation is quite small I was told, but village life is thriving, and they are using the…
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Future of (a Climate) Denial
Last Thursday I was honoured to be asked to join a panel celebrating the publication of my great friend Professor Tad Delay’s book on psychoanalysis and the climate emergency, Future of Denial: This was part of the Historical Materialism conference at SOAS, and it was great to speak alongside Richard Seymour, whose own response to…
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Take to the streets! (with chocolate)
It’s hard to know how to process the final run up to the US election. It seems so absurd and unreal – everything drawn in hyper-caricature, no sense allowed to be made, single apostrophes being asked to carry the weight of a whole democracy, and a stunt in a garbage truck more powerful a signifier…
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From Sapiens to God-Like…
Not surprising, given the arc of his recent books, that Harari’s next focuses on AI. There’s a review in The Economist: Many may wonder why, for a book about information that promises new perspectives on AI, he spends so much time on religious history, and in particular the history of the Bible. The reason is…