“In a letter to Menoeceus, Epicurus noted that an old man is in an ideal position to open his mind to new ideas “in consequence of his absence of fear for the future.” An old man does not have to fret about his next move because the chess game is over. He is free to think about any damned thing he chooses.”

Travels With Epicurus by Daniel Klein

I have often had some version of this hurled at me: “Easy for you to say – you’re retired” or “You can talk because you have a tenured position.” And I’ve never denied this, because those of us in “ideal positions” are able to consider radical ideas because “the chess game is over.” But instead of seeing this as something that disqualified me from participation in the discussion, I see it as an advantage I have over those who are spending all of their energy and attention simply trying to survive and inch forward. It seems to me that a large portion of new ideas that, when eventually adopted, turn out to be game changers are made by people secure enough to risk imagining a new direction.

Today’s reading: On Consolation: Finding Solace in Dark Times by Michael Ignatieff – a welcome salve for the soul. I’ve been particularly drawn to the chapters on Job and on Marcus Aurelius. The book was inspired by the 2017 event in Utrecht in which four choirs would sing musical versions of all 150 Psalms. Three years later, during the early months of the pandemic, these performances were broadcast, one per day, to provide consolation. Continue reading →

I read Carl Hendrick’s “Ultra-Processed Minds” and I find myself wishing I could start my teaching career over again, and refuse to give so much away to “coverage.” Eventually, I was speeding through 2500 years of theater history and literature in a single semester, an impossible task, and doubtlessly a blur to students. Even when I was fortunate enough to spend an entire semester exploring a single playwright, I would cover a new play every two days. Continue reading →

I woke up laughing… Continue reading →

Michael Rushton informs us that “Freakonomics Radio has a new three part series on the economic landscape facing live theatre. Part One is here, and Part Two is here, which, as a supporting act in an episode with Lin-Manuel Miranda, has me trying to coherently explain cost disease in the theatre, where it comes from and its implications. Part three will come next week, but if I say so myself it is a really informative series so far. Continue reading →

Activist Joanna Macy says a foundational part of social movements is “Worldview changes: reinventing our values and fundamental relationship to ourselves and others…We simply can’t embody a new system when we are operating out of old consciousness.” This is where the artist ought to enter. Continue reading →

When I went off to the CUNY Graduate Center to get my doctorate in theater history/criticism/literature, I wrote to Bonnie Marranca, the co-founder and editor of Performing Arts Journal offering to volunteer to help out in any way was needed. I had been reading back issues in the library at Illinois State University, where I was working on my masters degree, and I was inspired by the vision for the theater that Marranca and her husband, Gautam Dasgupta, put forward issue after issue. Continue reading →

“Disobedience, then, in the sense in which we use it here, is an act of the affirmation of reason and will. It is not primarily an attitude directed against something, but for something: for man’s capacity to see, to say what he sees, and to refuse to say what he does not see. To do so he does not need to be aggressive or rebellious; he needs to have his eyes open, to be fully awake, and willing to take the responsibility to open the eyes of those who are in danger of perishing because they are half asleep. Continue reading →

WTAF

Total market manipulation. I have put all of my retirement savings into cash and CDs. I will not support this dishonest use of the federal government. Disgusting.

Science tells us that nearly every cell in our body is replaced every 7 to 10 years. I have a former student who has been incarcerated for 41 years, since he was 17. So, for at least the past 31 years, we have been imprisoning someone who had nothing to do with the crime. And if you find this argument specious, you should read some of the arguments for keeping him there by so-called criminologists and tell if they are any better. Continue reading →

I just deactivated my Threads account as the first step to erasing the account completely. I had 99 followers, so not a major loss. It was OK as long as I stayed in the “Following” column, but the “For You” column made me feel like we are a nation of people who simply repeat variations on the uninspired talking point of the day. Continue reading →

I find literary critic Edmund Wilson’s writing style invigorating. I wish I’d come across his overall approach to his writing career much earlier! Continue reading →

More Jaron Lanier: “Oy, AI.” It is a good supplement, or dare I say replacement, for his interview on Sean Illing’s podcast “The Gray Area” (which I linked to in a previous post) mainly because someone like Lanier seems to be boxed in by the assumptions baked into the interviewer’s questions, no matter how well-meaning the interviewer is. “Have you not listened to anything I’ve said at all?” Lanier almost shouts at Illing at one point, and I sympathize with his frustration. Continue reading →

This morning, I listened to Sean Illing interview Jaron Lanier, a tech insider known for his work with Virtual Reality, and also a humanist thinker about things tech. This interview is about AI, and Lanier’s thoughtful humanism was refreshing. Continue reading →

BREAKING: Only 12% of the 1903 general public believed that the flight at Kitty Hawk would affect their lives, and 75% thought it would affect them negatively.

So here’s the problem: American-made cars aren’t made with American-made parts. So prices on those cars will also go up.

What a maroon.

For some reason, I decided to post something about AI on Threads.

2 stars. Would not recommend.

“One study (Leveraging Investments in Creativity 2003) found that 79 percent of all grants to individual artists were under $10,000, 66 percent were under $5,000, and sadly, 50 percent of all grants to artists in this country were under $2,000.” Because Art John R. Killacky But by all means let’s stay locked into the non-profit model for the arts. It’s really working! Continue reading →

I reflect on Derek Thompson’s interview of composer Mark Henry Phillips about his use of AI as part of the composition process and the effects AI might have on his own employment, and I also respond to business professor Ethan Mollick, author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI as he explores the latest advances in AI image generation. Is it all doom and gloom? Continue reading →