Somebody else can amuse us or frighten us. They might put us to sleep with an injection, or perhaps keep us awake. They cannot make us rational. They cannot make us think. Thinking is up to us.
Our Bosphorus view
from a local mosque, Ecdat Cami
Tarabya, Sarıyer, Istanbul
Monday, February 16, 2026
To prove that no recursive theory of addition and multiplication of the counting numbers can be complete, Gödel relies on the distinction between the subjective and the objective. I suggested this in “Subjective and Objective,” while noting also that, for a computer, all is subjective.
Incomplete pavement
Altınova, Ayvalik, Balıkesir
September 9, 2025
TL;DR: AI writing is like human writing. Of course it is, since its model is human writing. But then what AI produces is like bad human writing.
My sources include Plato, Wendell Berry, George Orwell, E. B. White, William Deresiewicz, Hadley Freeman, Andrew Kay, Kenneth G. Crawford, Hollis Robbins, Yuval Noah Harari, William Egginton, Megan Fritts, and Vi Hart.
About preparing certain seeds for human consumption in an infusion:
For sensory attributes, I’m admittedly Platonic and believe that since coffee is a fruit, it should taste something like a fruit. (And it’s not just any fruit – it’s a cherry!) My roasting philosophy comes from the same conviction. Generally, I’m after bright, juicy, fruity, syrupy goodness.
Thus Caleb Bilgen, founder of Ánimo Coffee Roasters in Asheville, North Carolina.
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What I see as the sun rises
Altınova, Ayvalik, Balıkesir
September 5, 2025
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Polytropy 