“If only they were robotic! Instead, chatbots have developed a distinctive—and grating—voice.”
Writing
Posted inEditor's Pick
‘I Awoke at ½ Past 7’
“Our cursed age of self-monitoring and optimisation didn’t start with big tech: as so often, the Victorians are to blame.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Publishing Industry Has a Gambling Problem
“Companies keep betting on the next bestseller. Literature is poorer for it.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Autocrat of English Usage
“Henry W. Fowler believed he knew how sentences should read—and his judgments have shaped The New Yorker’s style for a century.”
Posted inFeature
The Eloquent Vindicator in the Electric Room
No one remembers the assassination of Congressman James M. Hinds. What do we risk by making it just another part of American history?
Posted inEditor's Pick
Arundhati Roy on How to Survive in a “Culture of Fear”
“Those of us who’ve been very unsafe as children, we seek out the unsafe. We seek out the lack of security, and if you have security, you blow it up.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is Mary Oliver Embarrassing?
“Shame seemed like an obstacle to appreciating the poet. Instead, it became the key to understanding her work.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
What Happened When I Tried to Replace Myself with ChatGPT in My English Classroom
“We would look at the evidence, and at the end of the semester, they would decide by vote whether A.I. could replace me.”
Posted inFeature
Thank You for Finding Me
As a teenager, I met a stranger who changed the course of my life. Twenty years later, I went looking for him.