Orwell's essay on "Politics and the English Language" is among my most oft-cited pieces on language and writing, and its lessons and criticisms are as valid today as they were in 1946.
Automatic Stories
Today’s post is not so much about the details of the technology, or pondering whether we will one day live in some kind of post-scarcity utopia in which our machine-slaves can solve all of our problems, generate optimal art, and fulfill our every whim in addition to freeing us from manual labor and rote tasks, as it is about reflecting on the nature of creativity and the process that we are really going through when we attempt to ‘create.’
Reflections on the Performative Nature of Language
When we consider the organic and evolving nature of language, it becomes clear that the medium in which we as writers work is at once both a static means of information storage, and a dynamic, independent artform allowing the author to engage in a unique interaction with each reader.
Linguistic Reference Frames
I came across a paper in Science Advances called "Different reference frames on different axes: Space and language in indigenous Amazonians."
Words We Don’t Have
The possibilities of leveraging this idea to render fictional characters and cultures more unique, more interesting, more textured, more genuine, more true, more alive, are veritably endless.
A Call to Stoicism
Stoicism is a personal philosophy, meant to guide you towards a satisfactory way of living.
Progress’s Contradiction
We think of progress as a monodirectional activity, always advancing. There is reason for this, and it is supported by much of our experience of the world, but it misses half of the progress puzzle, and it fails to account for progress's contradiction.
Fourteen Exciting Engineering Projects
Each of these projects receives $175,000.00 in grants for phase one work - you can read more about the program here, where you will also find links to detailed descriptions of each of the projects.
A News Story
Breaking news: we're discussing "the news" for today's post. A massive topic, with entire facets meritorious of their own posts, but for today I prefer to focus on the most fundamental questions when analyzing the news as a concept: what is the news, and is "news" valuable?
Dialogue Tags
Dialogue tags receive a lot of approbation, almost as much as adverbs, and for similar reasons. Employed with skill and discretion, however, I assert that dialogue tags are a powerful and under-utilized tool for characterization, narration, and storytelling.
IGC Publishing 