If you read one piece on early computer scientist Alan Turing that’s come out in celebration of his 100th birthday last Saturday (if you were wondering about Friday’s Google Doodle) you might do very well to make it this one in the Atlantic on how his reading of Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution influenced his work and continues to shape the way we work with computers. It’s also about the limits of artificial intelligence.
Competence without comprehension
Kool As the Other Side of the Pillow
“If you lack a competent distributor down here, then consider me at your service. Nothing would make me happier than to drive Salems off the market for good and ever. It’s without a doubt the foulest cigarette in the history of tobacco-addicted man—a tasteless mish-mash of paper and dry weeds.” Boy, Hunter S. Thompson really hated Salems.
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E-Reading: Up. E-Readers: Down.
Young Money author Kevin Roose provides a glimpse at “What the Future of Reading Looks Like.” His prediction does not bode well for the makers of e-readers, though, and it’s not because e-books are on the wane. On the contrary, it’s because “when people read e-books, they’re doing it on their existing tablets and smartphones, not on devices built expressly for reading,” he writes. (Related: this may have a positive effect when it comes to rising carbon emissions.)
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Smart Money
Colson Whitehead will be playing in next month’s World Series of Poker. He’s writing about it for Grantland, Bill Simmons‘ new ESPN affiliate. He’s also accepting sponsorships.
Fictitious Abstractions
Recommended Reading: On educating teenagers’ emotions through literature.
Write Through It
Julia Heaberlin, whose novel Playing Dead published this week, discusses the not-so-pretty truths of writing, rejection, and perseverance.
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Submission Alert!
Heads up, writerly types! Dzanc Books is looking for submissions for their newly-announced 2016 Prize for Fiction. Judges Carmiel Banasky, Kim Church, and Andrew F. Sullivan will determine the winner, who is slated to receive publication and a not-so-insignificant $10,000 prize. Go get published.
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Great to Not Great
At HTML Giant, Jimmy Chen plots famous writers on two axes: Genius to Mediocrity and Arrogance to Modesty. It may offend you (or leave you feeling satisfied) to know that Tom Wolfe is the plot’s most arrogant author.
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