Language and the Word (with a Capital "W"): A Conversation with Nick Capone

A discussion about rhetoric, AI, and more

Dear readers,

Not long ago I sat down with my old friend Nick Capone to talk about rhetoric, language, artificial intelligence, and the Word (with a capital “W”).

I chart a bit of my intellectual journey, my conversion to Catholicism, losing my wisdom teeth, some theological dimensions of speech, mockingbirds, Helen Keller, wearing clown suits to funerals, having ChatGPT soften your tone, irritation at Cormac McCarthy’s lack of punctuation marks, the rhetoric of inevitability, idolatry, and more.

Near the end, I mention a book that’ll ruin your life.

I hope you find it worth your time to listen. You can watch the whole thing here:

Anyone is free to make a meme of me saying that snakes have pits on their faces (around 41:30).

God bless you,
jnb