This past year was mostly filled with professional work, but I made some progress on personal projects as well. Axon, Inc.’s revisions are coming along slowly but surely. I took November to make progress on Return to Sagaia, which now is well over 40K words, and I’m super excited about it. I’m also continuing to… Continue reading 2022 in Books: Worst to Best
Tag: philosophy
What Is Canon For?
If it's a bad story that breaks canon, adherence to canon won't fix it. If it's a good story that breaks canon in a minor way, it's irrelevant; it's just nitpicking. If it's a good story that breaks canon in a major way, it's probably a good story *because* it breaks canon.
Subordinate Clauses in Gnin El and Sasrâl
Talk about an exciting topic! But how a language encodes the connections between clauses can have far-reaching ramifications. As I explain here, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English have very different assortments of complementizers. How scribes translated them gave rise to a huge variety of interpretations of the New Testament. But I'm sorry to say that I… Continue reading Subordinate Clauses in Gnin El and Sasrâl
Man vs. Machine: John Henry, Science Fiction, and the March of Progress
There are only two kinds of plots in true science fiction: Science is a Hero, and Science is a Villain. In Science is a Hero, there is some problem or other -- an asteroid is going to hit the Earth, the Galactic Empire is falling, there's a Plague IN SPACE!! -- and the heroic characters… Continue reading Man vs. Machine: John Henry, Science Fiction, and the March of Progress
The Mind of a Rock: Animism and AI
For thousands of years, Western civilization has been living with a striking paradox. On the one hand, we are clearly physical beings living in a physical universe. And yet, we have these thoughts, feelings, dreams, and perceptions... They seem related to the physical universe, yet fundamentally different in character. We have an ‘inner’ life, which… Continue reading The Mind of a Rock: Animism and AI