Why AI won’t make copy editors obsolete

Why AI won’t make copy editors obsolete

I do developmental editing. That means I edit text for everything from meaning and connotation to rhetorical consistency to subject-verb agreement. Obviously (he wrote arrogantly) that requires judgment, and cannot be replaced by a machine. But what about copy editors (or as they are known in the UK, subeditors)? Copy editors check text for spelling…

Goodbye, Tom Lehrer

Goodbye, Tom Lehrer

At some point in the 1950s, the mathematician began to sing. Tom Lehrer, who died this week at the age of 97, started by beavering away on a conventional career as a mathematics professor with a side hobby composing satirical songs and performing them on the piano. He turned the songs into an album and…

The dream job

The dream job

I had a dream last night. I was presenting to a group of people at Forrester, the company where I worked for 20 years — and then left to go freelance for the last ten years. The presentation went really well. I couldn’t tell you now what I was presenting on — dreams are like…