9 Comments

I appreciate the way you are connecting these somewhat abstract "Why you should read" postings with your concrete connections with AI and mass media.

A quibble, but about your line "Eichmann’s Evil is like Sergio Busquets—understated but chillingly effective."

My first read took it as a direct comprison of the two and as I am not much of a footbal fan I had to look up Busquets to see what evil he had done!

After a second read I could see it was intended as praising Busquets' positive skill-set and comparing it to similar skills in the hands of banal evil. But a casual reader or a Busquets fan could easily be offended and take it the wrong way!

Cheers,

Leo

Expand full comment

Sorry for the double-posting below. I hit reply twice. Here is a link to a related post from Shafak's Unmapped Storylands, on Hannah Arendt:

https://elifshafak.substack.com/p/a-sort-of-strangeness-among-people

Expand full comment

will check it out

Expand full comment

hahahaha that's funny

Expand full comment

Thank you for taking the time to write an essay like this - I've never heard of Hannah Arendt prior to this, so ive found this a great read with much to think through and ponder on for the rest of the day

Expand full comment

I hope I'm able to convince you to read her work more deeply

Expand full comment

This is great, thank you.

The book concerning Labor, Work, and Action is "The Human Condition", I believe. The essay doesn't mention the source anywhere, that I could find.

Expand full comment

That's such a great addition. Thank you

Expand full comment

I appreciate the way you are connecting these somewhat abstract "Why you should read" postings with your concrete connections with AI and mass media.

A quibble, but about your line "Eichmann’s Evil is like Sergio Busquets—understated but chillingly effective."

My first read took it as a direct comprison of the two and as I am not much of a footbal fan I had to look up Busquets to see what evil he had done!

After a second read I could see it was intended as praising Busquets' positive skill-set and comparing it to similar skills in the hands of banal evil. But a casual reader or a Busquets fan could easily be offended and take it the wrong way!

Cheers,

Leo

Expand full comment