When we’re talking about data, we’re really talking about code—the languages that structure every aspect of our digital lives. But can code itself be interesting? Or even beautiful? Vikram Chandra grew up in India and always wanted to be a novelist, but when he came to the United States, he discovered computers—going from a weekend tinkerer to a consultant who paid his way through grad school. He spoke with Steve Paulson on what makes good writing, and what makes good code.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Neurologist Alice Flaherty talks about the science behind writer’s block, and recounts her own experiences with hypergraphia.
Ana Menendez says the younger generation of Cuban-Americans are completely Americanized and the older generation wouldn’t give up the standard of living they’ve grown used to in Miami.
Anne Carson is a writer who constantly rearranges poetry's furniture. As a translator, essayist, critic and poet, she's constantly forging new forms. In this UNCUT interview, she and Jim Fleming talk poems, old and new.
A.C. Grayling talks about the western Allies’ use of carpet bombing against civilian populations in both the European and Pacific theaters during WWII.
The Thousand and One Nights have been told and re-told for centuries, censored and banned in the Middle East, and made into cheesy Disney movies for kids. But have you ever read them? Here's the backstory with Steve Paulson.
He tells Steve Paulson that the long tradition of rigorous investigation of the mind undertaken by Buddhism has a lot to teach Western science.
One could argue that there's been no better time to be a consumer. With a few keystrokes, you could order most any good or service from the comfort of your own home. But does this convenience come at a cost? Journalist Paul Roberts says we're living in a culture of instant gratification, which has the potential to make us all isolated and shallow.
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