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A batch of the best highlights from what Jim's read, .
Depression—which often culminates in burnout—follows from overexcited, overdriven, excessive self-reference that has assumed destructive traits. The exhausted, depressive achievement-subject grinds itself down, so to speak. It is tired, exhausted by itself, and at war with itself. Entirely incapable of stepping outward, of standing outside itself, of relying on the Other, on the world, it locks its jaws on itself; paradoxically, this leads the self to hollow and empty out. It wears out in a rat race it runs against itself.
The Burnout Society
Han, Byung-Chul;
Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor open their new book, *[AI Snake Oil](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691249131/ai-snake-oil?srsltid=AfmBOorHbypOHktYByYHjTaai6yIWbcS77l9JiliigOPk5Ry79A03WV7)*, with a thought experiment: Imagine a world where “vehicle” was the only word we used to refer to every mode of transportation. Debates about environmental impact, safety, cost, and so on would be confusing because we would be conflating bikes with spacecraft or trucks with buses.
AI Scams Are the Point
Edward Ongweso Jr.
The poet W. H. Auden once wrote, “When one thinks of the attention that a great poem demands, there is something frivolous about the notion of spending every day with one. Masterpieces should be kept for High Holidays of the Spirit”—for our own personal Christmases and Easters, not for any old Wednesday.
The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction
Alan Jacobs
...catch up on these, and many more highlights
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