Robin Sloan:

Is our high-tech future really just an asymptotic approach to zero effort? Is it only about making things easier than they already are?

I can’t decide if that’s utopian or dystopian.

John Lanchester, from a recent issue of LRB:

If I had to name one high-cultural notion that had died in my adult lifetime, it would be the idea that difficulty is artistically desirable.

From the recent archive:

For many of us -- not least adolescents -- reality is now largely a virtual experience.

And from five years back:

Do you understand the difference between "Is it worth buying?" and "Can it be sold?"