That Your Joy May Be Full: A Short Advent Reflection on Jesus of Nazareth and Paul Atreides

~ Richard Rabil, Jr. ~ Leave a comment

The following is from an Advent reflection I wrote for my church in December of 2021. I'm sharing it here for posterity as this year's Advent season comes to a close. Frank Herbert’s popular sci-fi novel Dune revolves around Paul Atreides, son of a wealthy duke. Through the best education that money can afford, Paul … Continue reading That Your Joy May Be Full: A Short Advent Reflection on Jesus of Nazareth and Paul Atreides

What’s Missing in AI-Generated Art: Product Versus Process

~ Richard Rabil, Jr. ~ Leave a comment

English professor Alan Jacob shares this quote from John Gruber on AI-generated art: If your opinion of a work art changes after you find out which tools were used to make it, or who the artist is or what they’ve done, you’re no longer judging the art. You’re making a choice not to form your … Continue reading What’s Missing in AI-Generated Art: Product Versus Process

Declining Birth Rates, Smartphones, and a Biblical Rationale for Having Kids

~ Richard Rabil, Jr.

In a recent interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, Dr. Alice Evans argues that birth rates aren't just declining in wealthy first-world countries like Italy, Japan, and the United States. They are declining everywhere. Not because of cost of living or lower levels of religious belief; not because of women being more empowered in … Continue reading Declining Birth Rates, Smartphones, and a Biblical Rationale for Having Kids

The Former Editor of Harper’s Magazine on Our Crisis of Meaning

~ Richard Rabil, Jr. ~ 17 Comments

In the first few pages of his 2011 book The Atheist's Guide to Enjoying Reality, philosophy professor Alex Rosenberg provides a summary of his views on the ultimate questions of life: Is there a God? No. What is the nature of reality? What physics says it is. What is the purpose of the universe? There … Continue reading The Former Editor of Harper’s Magazine on Our Crisis of Meaning

The Great Engine That’s Reducing Us to Data Right Now? Don’t Feed It

~ Richard Rabil, Jr.

Zadie Smith in 2019: [...] we sometimes seem oblivious to the idea that we spend our days feeding ourselves into a great engine of knowing, one that believes it knows every single thing about us: our tastes, our opinions, our beliefs, what we’ll buy, who we’ll love, where we’ll go. The unseen actors who harvest … Continue reading The Great Engine That’s Reducing Us to Data Right Now? Don’t Feed It

Experiments with Generative AI: Simple Use Cases for Technical Writing

~ Richard Rabil, Jr.

For certain reasons I've mentioned before, I remain skeptical of GenAI as a revolutionary writing assistant. But I've now added a new reason to my list, which is that it is often difficult to know how best to leverage the power of LLMs to accomplish specific technical writing tasks. This problem is nothing new---it has … Continue reading Experiments with Generative AI: Simple Use Cases for Technical Writing

My First Podcast Ever: Joining Knowledge Base Ninjas to Talk about Aesthetics in Technical Documentation

~ Richard Rabil, Jr.

Recently I joined Gowri Ramkumar on her podcast, Knowledge Base Ninjas, to talk about the role of aesthetics in technical documentation. The discussion was every bit as nerdy as it sounds! How could documentation possibly be molded into a thing of beauty? Well, good news for all you keenly interested readers, you can find out … Continue reading My First Podcast Ever: Joining Knowledge Base Ninjas to Talk about Aesthetics in Technical Documentation

Why College Students Struggle to Read Books

~ Richard Rabil, Jr.

Rose Horrowitch in The Atlantic reached a troubling conclusion after interviewing thirty-three college professors: many students arrive at college unable to read books. Okay, that's not exactly true. It's not that  students are unable to read books but that compared to 20 years ago, college students today struggle to finish dense, complicated books requiring close … Continue reading Why College Students Struggle to Read Books

The Best Books on Technical Writing: An In-Depth Analysis

~ Richard Rabil, Jr. ~ 2 Comments

Once upon a time last February, I shared my favorite books about technical writing in a short Write the Docs discussion thread. It was a hastily-written contribution, and I kept thinking about it after the fact. I later realized I have a lot more to say on the subject. There are some great books out … Continue reading The Best Books on Technical Writing: An In-Depth Analysis