The philosopher Ernst Bloch argued that hope is woven into the fabric of reality. Here’s a brief look at his big ideas, plus prompts to get you thinking and writing (hopefully).
Tag: wisdom
I Used to Be ChatGPT
In the early 2000s, my job was to find and share answers to hard questions fast. Here’s what that experience taught me about how humans know, why we need to keep thinking together, and when we’re better than any artificial intelligence.
Why ChatGPT Cheats at Chess—And Why that May Be Super Important for the Future of AI
ChatGPT can discuss chess brilliantly but routinely makes illegal moves during actual gameplay. AI researcher Gary Marcus argues this isn’t a quirk—it reveals that large language models lack “world models,” the internal representations of reality that humans use to understand how things work. This limitation may be fundamental to current AI architectures, with significant implications for how we should think about and use these powerful but imperfect tools.
What I Learned When Dad Was Dying
Paying attention to what matters most is harder than ever—and just as important as it always has been.
Sometimes the Deep Magic Prevails
Reflections from a wedding on a Blue Ridge mountainside.
Ode to a Woman and a Civil Servant
My mother taught me that to be a decent human you have to despise cruelty. And she was right.
Check Your Lenses
Different tools enable different types of seeing and thinking.
You Can Stand on Your Head that Long
We’re all feeling cooped up and anxious and, yes, already a little bored. So what would my mother say?
Love and Wisdom
Love is wiser than wisdom. Wisdom knows more than knowledge. Knowledge counts more than data.
Keep Bending Toward Justice and Truth
Some simple things you can do to make the world better.
