Midjourney launched a new “personalization” feature this week, and I think it presents an interesting and valuable contrast to the kind of direct manipulation interfaces for interacting with AI systems that I’ve been advocating for. I also think this implementation of personalization reveals an unconventional way of thinking about style in creative tools, not by concrete stylistic traits but by a style’s relationship to a universe of other tastes or style preferences.| thesephist.com
Neal Stephenson’s In the Beginning… Was the Command Line is one of the most profound pieces of writing about technology I’ve read. I found myself underscoring and highlighting numerous passages in this essay that reads equally as much like political propaganda, memoir, novella, and journalistic reporting all at once. If you have a couple of hours to spare, I’d recommend this essay only behind Greg Egan’s Diaspora, my favorite piece of science fiction, as a must-read.| thesephist.com