Skip to content

R E A D E R

Selected writing by Mark DeLong

  • About Mark DeLong
  • Technology
  • Automobiles
Subscribe
A whiteboard with the heading "Poll" and beneath that heading three names: Smith, Marx, and Wendell Berry. Smith has two stricks (votes), Marx has three, Wendell Berry has one.
Posted inLiving Technology

Wendell Berry on scale and limits

"No doubt there always will be some people willing to do anything at all that is economically or technologically possible..."
Continue Reading
September 17, 2026
An ancient gold coin with a female figure whose arm is extend. She is Venus, goddess of love and beauty. She is holding an apple, given to her (fatefully) by Paris, whose choice brought about the Trojan War. Around the edge of the coin is stamped "VENVS"
Posted inBook Review History Technology

Beauty and “no-thingness”

A meditation on beauty and a book review of Patrick Bringley's All the Beauty in the World. Beauty could save us from AI.
Continue Reading
September 14, 2026
A very old and heavily rusted gear is nearly completely covered by fine sand, It is part of a long abandoned machine.
Posted inHistory Technology

The research paper is dead. Research record and provenance, too?

When it comes to AI, just saying no isn't an option anymore.…
Continue Reading
September 4, 2026
Marc Ribot leans over his guitar in his performance at INNtöne Jazzfestival 2024. His white hair os frizzy and he looks at a fellow musician over his glasses.
Posted inCommentary Poetry Technology

Noise, art, and AI. A musician considers the function of art

Marc Ribot responds to a question on whether AI can create. So,…
Continue Reading
May 18, 2026
Posted inTechnology

Two kinds of beauty. Brief excerpt from The Score

"Object beauty" and "process beauty": brief excerpt from C. Thi Nguyen's The Score
Continue Reading
February 23, 2026
Posted inLiving Poetry Technology

Fiat ars, pereat mundus

Can one use art in times when it feels so useless? Should one do art at all?
Continue Reading
January 30, 2026
Through our window
Posted inCommentary Living Technology

Through our window

When a choice of teeny Gorilla Glass or a picture window makes a difference. Thinking about which reality you want to live in.
Read More
March 30, 2023
I make a numerical mistake. Then I think about two rivers
Posted inLiving

I make a numerical mistake. Then I think about two rivers

How do you gauge progress in a writing project? I really should have been writing something else this week....
Read More
February 16, 2023
Out to pasture
Posted inAutomobiles History Technology

Out to pasture

The passing of the horse ... and into the clean world of the car!
Read More
January 26, 2023
Boston bakers, more or less
Posted inHistory Living Technology

Boston bakers, more or less

In 1998, Microsoft Windows was a Boston baker. If bread is the product, does the process matter to the people who bake? Plus, observations about WFH from the 1990s.
Read More
July 21, 2022
Dave Grohl stands in an elevator with a bag of groceries. The light in the picture is monochrome light blue-black. He is looking up slightly, and the light is illuminating his face.
Posted inHistory Technology

Muzak. Like the air, only sweeter

You might hate it. You might find it useful. The pleasant history and on-going conundrum of "background music."
Read More
April 7, 2022
Rolling tires
Posted inAutomobiles History

Rolling tires

Why is this woman snuggling with a radial tire on a loveseat? A look at another advertising trope, this time for tires.
Read More
February 17, 2022
Flimsy film, ethereal pixels. Pictures and us.
Posted inHistory Technology

Flimsy film, ethereal pixels. Pictures and us.

An image captured, rectangularly framed. The 35mm frame-of-mind. Cannonballs, OFF and ON. "Seeing machines."
Read More
January 6, 2022

Posts pagination

Previous page 1 … 4 5 6
Categories
  • Automobiles
  • Book Review
  • Commentary
  • History
  • Living
  • Poetry
  • Technology
Archives
  • October 2026
  • September 2026
  • May 2026
  • March 2026
  • February 2026
  • January 2026
  • December 2025
  • November 2025
  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • June 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • May 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • September 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • July 2022
  • April 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
You May Have Missed
A small flyer affixed to a downspout in central Moscow reads “Peace to Ukraine Freedom to Russia.”

Novels verboten? Music, maybe okay.

Marc Ribot leans over his guitar in his performance at INNtöne Jazzfestival 2024. His white hair os frizzy and he looks at a fellow musician over his glasses.

Noise, art, and AI. A musician considers the function of art

Jame Mustich sits behind a microphone in a blue Oxford shirt. A water bottle sits in front of him. He has his hands folded as he talks, probably at a conference or a meeting.

Sense and GPT-ability

A distant mirror

Contact — reader@markdelong.me
Subscribe — monthly (or so) emails. Handy.
The book — Re:tooling (coming soon)
Copyright 2026 — Mark R. DeLong. All rights reserved. Bloghash WordPress Theme
Scroll to Top

Subscribe for free! It's only another email!

I promise I won't spam you, and I'll never share your email with others. You'll hear from me, oh, about every month with updates and analysis of cultural and personal impacts of technology, book reviews, or other musings.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.