Milan Kundera’s novel, Life is Elsewhere, contains both a celebration and a critique of poetry (aren’t the best critiques rooted in love?). The main characteristic of poetry, which is the target of his critique, is the force of poetic imagination toward finality. The poet, like a god, doesn’t simply consider a possibility; she creates and…
Ezzat Goushegir (on Writing)
“My heart never feels as connected to life as when I am writing. In writing, I find my freedom, a freedom that is absolute, a freedom I have never found in any other activity. In writing, I find myself and begin to know others. It is in writing that I think of causes and effects,…
The Burnout Society (Byung-Chul Han)
I think it was sometime during the summer of 2018 that my friend Peter Limberg gave me a copy of the Agony of Eros. That was my introduction to Byung-Chul Han. Han is an aphoristic philosopher, carrying the influence of Nietzsche quite visibly. He engages with cultural and social topics in a way that is…
Review of ‘the Tyranny of Metrics’ by Jerry Z. Muller
Among the books I have recently borrowed from the library, Jerry Muller’s (2018) book, the Tyranny of Metrics, has been the one I’d like to purchase a copy of and keep at hand for future reference. Muller is a historian who has written books on Adam Smith, various aspects of capitalism, and the history of…
On ‘Weapons of Math Destruction’ (by Cathy O’Neil) Book Review
O’Neil’s book offers a wide-ranging and alarming critique of Big Data technology, profit- and efficiency-driven algorithms. The title and the central concept in the book, Weapons of Math Destruction (WMDs), refers to prediction models that inform decisions at large scale and damage the well-being of many people subjected to them. They include models that categorize,…