Welcome to the weekend,
Here are five things I thought worth sharing this week.
Did this Kafka story actually exist?
Somehow I missed Benjamin Labatut’s excellent July essay in Harper’s on the origins of computer logic and A.I.
Based on how difficult it now is to find a niche, high-quality blog (besides this one, of course) I am tempted to agree; Blogs will be the Last Bastion of the Good Internet. While I wrestle with the paid vs free model myself, I do strongly believe that what makes the Internet an interesting and worthwhile place is the abundance of quality information and writing one can find in the fringes.
William Deresiewicz on the loss of art and serious culture.
One persistent myth of our times is that people are able to “multitask’, or even claiming to be good at multitasking. The reality is, if you are human, your brain does not multitask – it merely switches from one task to another, with both tasks suffering for the effort. This sobering piece adapted from a new book looks at how the brain actually works, and gives us an idea of what is really going on when we switch between multiple screens.
Currently reading: The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis
Have a great weekend.
Image: Night Fireworks no. 77. Hirayama, Jinta. 1883.
