Automation

There have been phases of automation. An earlier phase (mid 20th c.) saw the elimination of many metal-bashing "male" jobs. AI is set to do the same to "women's work". Receptionists, PAs, Librarians, Admin Staff and HR. These roles were core to the domestic work portfolio of "traditional families" or households with two earning adults … Continue reading Automation

In which I elaborate a little

The line is: "I'm Spartacus." It is taken up one by one, each repeating the phrase, "I'm Spartacus." (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054331/?ref_=fn_all_ttl_2) Emphasis on the "I". Who is the "We" in "We are all Palestine Action"? Can the speaker's authorial voice speak for me? Could I presume to speak for "We all..."? No, I have to speak for … Continue reading In which I elaborate a little

I make models, ships in bottles…

These phrases, from a poem of mine (here) begin to articulate my understanding of what art, and poetry as a kind of art-in-words, does. Among other things, art mediates the distance between the moment and the eternal. Art represents the macrocosm in the microcosm, bursting like Michelangelo's Awakening Slave: a moment out of the stone … Continue reading I make models, ships in bottles…

Time, perception and the infinite

Life is energy, movement, change, time. An implication of infinite space and time is that only the here and now exists forever. Thermodynamics. Energy moves: hot to cold. Movement is time. Movement is relative: this moves towards/away-from that; faster/slower, more/less. Movement is change: here to there. Change is time. Change is relative. Time is relative. … Continue reading Time, perception and the infinite

Zombie Apocalypse

It occurs to me that a zombie apocalypse may be the outcome of AI development. You could say that AI IS the zombie apocalypse. Since Dawn of the Dead, zombies have eaten brains. This seems an apt metaphor for what generative AI using large language models is doing. Machine reading as much of the world's … Continue reading Zombie Apocalypse

Dreamtime poetry

Art, as I have come to understand, is the means by which the dreamtime is carried across generations. The dreamtime is that from which "we" emerge/d, became something like what passes for self-aware, individually and as a species, some time ago; and, that to which we return, the same. Animals live mostly in the dreamtime. I debate … Continue reading Dreamtime poetry

X-Files

An atheist, materialist, anticapitalist poetry that trusts no one, not even itself? What kind of cultural capital does poetry have? How is that capital distributed and redistributed? And how does the distribution of that capital relate to the distribution or redistribution of any other kind of capital?

A Failing State

Britain is, I believe, a failing state among floundering nations. As the "state" withdraws from sectors of activity it becomes just another firm among many: a big gang, yes, but having no more validity and diminishing loyalty.

Privatisation

Privatisation, the political economic theme of the '80s and '90s, is often discussed in industrial terms. Coal, steel, automobiles, communications, water, and so on. But, I don't hear the term applied to housing. There was a "sell-off" of public housing, but it wasn't spoken of in terms like the sale of our national housing industry. … Continue reading Privatisation

Reflecting on process

Forty years ago I started on a journey that I had been planning for at least a couple of years before that. I wanted to be a poet. I came to Oxford to study language. I liked to say, as a sculptor needs to know how stone cracks, a poet needs to know how language … Continue reading Reflecting on process