Luddite Dispatch 02
Notes from the Summer of Ludd
Kincaid MacDonald
Princeton PhD student researching the intersection of cognitive science, mathematics, and artificial intelligence.
Luddite Dispatch 01 - The Tyranny of the Short Form
Weekly events, and an essay 'The Tyranny of the Short Form', in celebration of our new (Longer-Form) Emails.
Tools for Thought
A Polemic Against Scrolling
No blogger wants to produce shallow fluff, and no reader want to do nothing but skim. Yet, because so many readers skim, writers feel forced to simplify; because the writing is simple, readers skim all the more. It's a destructive cycle – and at its root is scrolling.
Riddle Fortnightly
Riddle Fortnightly No. 12
Of the 18th of November, 2024 Fortunately, the continuity of spacetime has resumed: the Fortnightly is back! In this edition, we have a round up of new E-ink and time-blocking tools, then an (unusually long) column with the Riddler’s take on “The Elite College Students Who Can’
Riddle Fortnightly
Riddle Fortnightly No. 10
Of 25 August, 2024 Dear Readers, Welcome to this summer’s third installment of the Riddle Fortnightly. As you break out the tea and biscuits, and settle down with this edition, I wanted to offer a chant-worthy motto for the week ahead. That, and a mind-twister of a
Riddle Fortnightly
Riddle Fortnightly No. 9
Of Aug. 11, 2024 Dear Reader, Put on a pot of tea, get out some biscuits, and fetch your E-ink tablet – it’s time for what we hope might become the pleasant Monday coffee-break ritual of reading another Riddle Fortnightly. In this week’s edition, 1. An extremely
Riddle Fortnightly
Riddle Fortnightly No. 8
Esteemed reader! Welcome (or welcome back) to Riddle Press – and to another installment of its newly rechristened Riddle Fortnightly (née Riddle Weekly). This change was occasioned by the reflection that, under its previous cadence, the Riddle Weekly would be better called the ‘Riddle Biyearly’. After recovering from this affront to
Tools for Thought
A Marriage between Handwritten Notes and Obsidian
We live in a world of typed text. What place does the Penman have?
Tools for Thought
Some E-ink Workflows for Mac Users
E-ink devices don’t “just work”. They require a bit of fiddling to set up — but, once set up, can be integrated seamlessly into your workflow, even with your Apple devices.
Big Floaty Ideas
Virtuous Tools are Tangled Hierarchies
The question is not "what to automate and what not," nor even "what should we use tools for and what is exclusively human," but rather: Are the tools corrupting, or virtuous? Are they instruments that lessen our contact with reality, or do they strengthen it...
Big Floaty Ideas
A Paean To the E-ink Tablet
Computers didn't have to be this way. E-ink gives us a glimpse into an alternate technological universe in which computers are conducive to focus –– and suggests ways to automate our existing technology to serve us better.