A deepfake is the worst kind of character assassination if you are innocent. A video that uses the timbre and nuance and tone of your voice, that uses your lips and cheeks and laugh lines to convey a message that is the opposite of anything you would choose for yourself is a deep violence, not […]
Dervla McTiernan on How AI Deepfakes Are Changing the Rules of Crime Fiction Read More »
How To Kill a Mockingbird Got Banned and Became a Pulitzer-Winning Classic “Happy anniversary, To Kill a Mockingbird! Harper Lee’s classic turns 66—explore the story behind its lasting power and timeless relevance.” In this article from July 2025, Millie Ramm celebrates the anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by asking, “why has this
Think for Yourself “One of the most dehumanizing effects of AI is the short cuts it offers through the gaps and impasses intrinsic to the act of writing.” For those of us who write to discover what we think about a topic, Dan Chiasson, chair of the English department at Wellesley College, addresses a fundamental
The Rise of Ragebait Lit “This spring, arguing about books in the group chat is back” In Harper’s Bazaar, Maris Kreizman discusses the predominance of “ragebait lit,” books that “are dominating the cultural conversation.” “The premises of these books may have inspired more than their share of hot takes . . . but the conversations
15 Graduation Gifts for English Majors “WHAT TO GET THE SOON-TO-BE BARISTA IN YOUR LIFE” “If you happen to have a favorite English major about to burst forth into the hard-scrabble, AI-invested, job-scarce media apocalypse” and are searching for an appropriate gift, Literary Hub has some suggestions. Prices range from $18 to $1,550. (Of course,
Do We Think Too Much About the Future? “For most of history, people didn’t try predicting it. Maybe that was wise.” One feature of life story psychology is the concept of life review, a tendency to think about the future in terms of what our lives mean and what we want to leave as a legacy.
Literary Links: Life Stories in Literature Read More »
Text Is (Still) King “Why the written word will never die.” Psychologist Adam Mastroianni argues that all the current narratives about the decline of reading and the related decline of civilization itself “tend to leave out some inconvenient data points.” He concludes that “humans have a hunger that no video can satisfy. Even in the
Is AI hurting your ability to think? How to reclaim your brain Noel Carroll, an associate professor in Business Information Systems at the University of Galway, warns that “many people may be falling victim to the same phenomenon – outsourcing the ‘struggle’ of thinking to AI.” He calls this condition “cognitive atrophy.” Essentially, AI is
Deep reading can boost your critical thinking and help you resist misinformation – here’s how to build the skill Two college professors, a cognitive scientist and a literacy expert, explain the drawbacks of doomscrolling and how deep reading can help overcome brain passivity. Deep reading . . . refers to the intentional process of engaging
The Oxford Word of the Year 2025 is rage bait The powers that be at Oxford University Press have chosen rage bait as their word of the year for 2025. Rage bait is defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to
