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Video can be faked. Pictures can be changed. In this slithery world of everything moving underfoot, I'd like to make the case for writing as memory, specifically writing that you...
500 Words from Lee Schneider
Latest posts
Crime Doesn’t Pay
Reported via various sources today, Anthropic has to pay authors because it stole their work to train the AI on. “Anthropic has agreed to pay at least $1.5 billion to...
Issue 110—Machine Breakers
TOP OF MINDWelcome to 500 Words. I gave an interview last week to Dave Monk at the Friendly Futurist podcast. Dave was interested in the predictions for the future that...
As many bots as there were humans.
I was on a Zoom conference the other day and noticed something not-human. No, not zombies. But bots. There were as many bots on the call as there were humans. ...
Issue 109—When a Whale Looks at You
Welcome to 500 Words. My next novel, coming out in October, includes whales who can think and communicate with people. Researching that took me down many roads. I’ve learned so...
Issue 108—Reading Underground
Hello, and welcome to 500 Words. TOP OF MINDSummer reads are specific reads. The book that is your beach read, with a steamy plot you can interrupt with another iced...
Issue 107—You Can’t Stop the Sun from Rising
Welcome to 500 Words. TOP OF MINDBill McKibben is doing some of the most inspiring writing and thinking about the climate crisis, and he’s got a new book coming out...
Issue 106—Long-Term Memory for Civilization
Hey there, welcome to 500 Words. TOP OF MINDThe sun is having a moment, as Bill McKibben writes in The New Yorker. “• It took from the invention of the photovoltaic...
Facebook Stepping Up its Memory Grab
Facebook is stepping up its grab of your personal memories. When you post to its Story feature, there’s a pop up asking if you’d like to opt in to use...
What could go wrong?
A little worried about this, but what could go wrong? “US to breed billions of flies and dump them out of aircraft in bid to fight flesh-eating maggot” VIA The...
Carbon Footprints
For so long I believed that the idea of a carbon footprint was created to help us humans understand the way we imprinted ourselves on our planet. And I was...
Really enjoying reading Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways...
Really enjoying reading Robert Macfarlane’s The Old Ways because of lines like this that vividly render moments in nature: “Above me, ravens muttered their hexes. 🐦⬛”
The Southern California habit of miniature golf...
The Southern California habit of miniature golf. Good for long weekends.
Ok, Ok, Ursula...
Ok, Ok, Ursula. You’re right. But do you have to be SO right. “I am going to be rather hard-nosed and say that if you have to find devices to...
No AI Button
Kojo Osei writes about why there should be no AI button. These are good thoughts to have during the week that Jony Ive and Sam Altman have joined forces for...
Issue 105 - Get in the Zone
Welcome to 500 Words. This issue was published 21MAY25. On the first day of my new day camp, I think I was about nine, I got on the basketball court...
The information, skills, and the will
From Bill McKibben’s newsletter, some clear thinking. “Occam’s Razor, I think, would lead us to say that many things the Trump administration does are simply designed to waste energy, because...
Celebrating Notebooks (again)
I use notebooks. Still. There is something about writing by hand that stirs things up in a way that I need them stirred. Every few weeks I page through my...
Running from Microsoft Word
So far, AI hasn’t gotten close to any of my fiction work. I work on novels and stories in Scrivener, which has no AI hookup. I make daily notes in...
Can’t Write Fiction Fast Enough
When I write science fiction, my idea of success is to stay ahead of the real-time curve of events. I’m failing at this — the predictive aspect of it. Because...
Personal Branding for Introverts
Maintaining a personal brand can be exhausting and blur the lines between personal and professional life, especially for introverts. Were you one of those people who were told to build...
Read it later or read it never?
These are the things that try the soul of a dedicated note taker: My read-it-later apps have become a read-it-never apps. I spent some time this weekend going through all...
Issue 104 - The Internet is Still Okay
Welcome to 500 Words. FOUND INTERNET OBJECTSThe internet still offers up treasures. The image below is in the public domain, free to use by anyone. When I came upon it...
Work in Progress
I’m deep into editorial fixes for Liberation, the third novel in a trilogy. It has to stand by itself in the series and also end with a bang. Here’s a...
Issue 103 - Storytelling
Welcome to 500 Words. JOIE DE VIVREWith my wife and youngest son, we were off to Spain last week to visit family there, including my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchild. The...