When it comes to vacuous quotes after a loss, Joe Mazzulla is no Bill Belichick

When it comes to vacuous quotes after a loss, Joe Mazzulla is no Bill Belichick

Basketball’s Boston Celtics — picked by many as the most talented team in the NBA playoffs — stunk up the joint last night with a weak, low-effort home game against the Philadelphia 76ers and Joel Embiid, the most valuable player in the whole league. First-year coach Joe Mazzulla was on the hot seat to explain…

The future of news: AI-driven feed wars

The future of news: AI-driven feed wars

We’re about to see a wholesale restructuring of how people get the feeds of information that matters to them, especially news. Right now there are three types of players. News organizations create news content and surround it with advertising. Consumers consume news and ads, sometimes paying for subscriptions. And between the two are intermediaries. The…

“Turn of Phrase” at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art: Doing violence to text as an art form

“Turn of Phrase” at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art: Doing violence to text as an art form

I think of words as a medium I can use for the clearest possible communication. So it was very strange to see artists using words as art materials — and often, for the purposes of obscuring communication rather than clarifying it. Some thoughts on “Turn of Phrase” at Bowdoin College Bowdoin is in the charming…

Monty Python’s argument clinic: how “funny” demands unexpected shifts in perspective that machines will never master

Monty Python’s argument clinic: how “funny” demands unexpected shifts in perspective that machines will never master

I admit it: I’m obsessed with why ChatGPT and other AI services can’t be funny. I’m convinced the answer is that true humor demands an unexpected shift in perspective, and AI machines, trained to mimic patterns in what they’ve read, have problems with both “unexpected” and “shift in perspective.” Monty Python is the master of…