Douglas McLennan
Doug is the editor of ArtsJournal
The Machines Are Coming for Your Plot Twists
What seemed preposterous in a 1962 novel—story-writing machines—is now Silicon Valley gospel. As AI churns out narratives, we're left wondering: who's really telling the...
African Art Market Caught Between Home and Away
As Middle Eastern buyers flex their newfound muscle, African dealers face the classic dilemma: chase the international money or build local infrastructure first? Turns...
IMLS Makes America’s Grants Great Again
Federal cultural funding now comes with ideological strings attached, as museums and libraries discover their grant applications must suddenly harmonize with presidential vision statements....
When Words Have No Liability
We now live alongside AI systems that converse knowledgeably and persuasively—deploying claims about the world, explanations, advice, encouragement, apologies, and promises—while bearing no vulnerability...
The Man Who Thinks The Enlightenment Was A Mistake
Rod Dreher emerged from the conservative blogosphere in the 2000s and won fans with his daily stream of testy opinions and unguarded anecdotal writing....
The Middleware Manifesto: A Proposal for Rebuilding American Culture
That shift from content value to traffic value is what has destroyed the business model for nearly everything we're talking about. I'm calling it a manifesto because that's what it needs to be. Not a lament. Not a white paper, but a declaration of what is needed.
AJ Chronicles: This Week’s Stories — Changing of the Guard
This week there’s a question that connects nearly every story. Who gets to decide what’s real? A viral AI-generated video of Tom Cruise fighting Brad Pitt is racking up views. Neither actor consented or was paid. SAG-AFTRA is furious. Lawsuits await. Meanwhile, Tracey Emin is telling young artists to buy
Does Making Art Require A “Writer’s Room”? Or Is It Something Else?
There’s no question that they’ve helped me write. And yet, if I look back over my career as a writer, the value I’ve derived...
What Does It Mean To “Rewire” Your Brain?
Is it a helpful shorthand for describing the remarkable plasticity of our nervous system or has it become a misleading oversimplification that distorts our...
The Art Of Literary Subversion
The unique power of literary tradition, unlike philosophy or science, is that literature can respond to its predecessors without invalidating them, can contradict them...
The Successor To The Corporation For Public Broadcasting
The wind-down of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has given birth to a new independent, nonprofit organization that looks to fill some of the...
Australia’s First New City In 100 Years
The masterplan forms one of Australia's largest urban development projects and, once complete, will be the country's first major city built in over a...
America’s Richest Humanities Funder (And Its Implications)
Is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation the last best hope for American arts and letters—or is it killing them? - The Atlantic
A Dawning Recognition About AI And Music
Many worry that a kind of “canned” creativity will take over much of what originates from real people today, pushing a broad swath of...
Where The Power Lies: Institutions Versus Networks
Institutions foster cooperation by rewarding good behaviour and punishing rule-breakers. Yet they themselves depend on cooperative members to function. We haven’t solved the cooperation...
Scientists Look Inside The Brain Of A Musician While He’s Playing
What happens in a performer’s brain while playing? Traditional brain-imaging tools like functional m.r.i. (f m.r.i.) require subjects to lie motionless in a scanner....
AI Companies Are Eating Higher Education
A.I. companies are increasingly exerting outsize influence over higher education and using these settings as training grounds to further their goal of creating artificial...
City of Bellingham Whatcom Museum seeks Museum Executive Director
City of Bellingham Whatcom Museum seeks Museum Executive Director. Estimated base salary in the range of $140,000 to $168,000.
What Happens When We Fill Every Waking Moment With Information
From the jarring morning alarm to the podcast we listen to on the way to work; from the constant murmur of the office to...
Study: Reading To Children Improves Their Social Skills
I’m a neuroscientist with four children, and I wondered whether children might be losing more than just the pleasure of listening to books read aloud. In...
Musical Protest In The Era Of Gaza
Gaza showed how power brokers from the White House on down seem eager for pretexts to punish dissent in ways that create a chilling...
Turns Out, AI Prefers Human Content To Its Own
This is the AI search paradox: The more AI-generated content exists, the more valuable human thinking becomes. - Fast Company
Requiem For One Of The All-Time Great Book Sections
The book section you really wanted to get your hands on was the Washington Post Book World. To put it bluntly, you read the Times Book...
The People Who’ve Gotten Obsessed By Audiobooks
Since my own fandom has grown, I’ve noticed, at least anecdotally, many more friends and acquaintances talking about their love for audiobooks, not just...
In Praise Of Obsolete Technologies (Like CDs And DVDs)
There is satisfaction in pressing a button or cranking a dial that no touchscreen will ever replicate. There is also certainty; if I reach...
