- Kyla Scanlon: The Great Entertainment. Scanlon doesn’t mention the author or the book, but it is hard not to read her latest essay and not picture David Foster Wallace looking at the news stream of the past year, shaking his head. Because the world he conjured in Infinite Jest is, in fact, becoming real. So maybe his other essay wasn’t as outdated as I had thought.
- Aidan Walker: Clavicular and contentmaxxing. I don’t know about DFW but I was shaking my head throughout… this. One of the many benefits of middle-age is that I don’t know have to know about everything that the kids are up to. Price increases soon!
- Kei Kreutler: Artificial Memory and Orienting Infinity. So, I noted recently as an aside that people were worried about the detrimental effects of writing on people’s ability to memorize. Well apparently this particular spinoff of the golden age fallacy predates even writing, as people were worried that particular memorization techniques like the memory palace would spoil the people’s “true” capability to remember. So maybe this is also a type of an appeal to nature? (↬Writing Slowly)
- Andrew Sharp: Five Questions About Victor Wembanyama. Oh my, Wemby does seem insufferable, and this is from someone who makes a point to read at least a page or two every day. At least he is not a flopper.