This week at Cog #22
Jesse Jackson’s legacy, what AI bots can and can’t do, the power of earworms and saying goodbye to a pet
As editors, two of the questions we want every writer who pitches us to answer are: #1 Why now? and #2 Why you? The first question is usually pretty easy to answer: Many of our essays have a news peg, a holiday hook or a seasonal focus. This week, for instance, we published stories about the legacy of Jesse Jackson, who died on Tuesday, and what’s really happening on Moltbook, which launched a few weeks ago.
The second question can be harder to answer. Or at least a bit more nuanced. We ask it to establish the writer’s expertise. Cognoscenti, the Italian word we take our name from, is defined as “people in the know.” But at Cog, we believe there are many ways of knowing and many forms of expertise. You can, for example, be a pet expert because you’re a veterinarian with decades of experience, or because you’re a woman who has had five dogs over the years.
We’re all subject matter experts of some sort. Sometimes we possess an expertise we’re paid for. Other times, it’s an expertise that was forced upon us. I, for instance, know a lot editing and epilepsy for very different reasons. The point is that you don’t need a degree in a subject to have an opinion worth sharing. Our writers show us that every week. — KNC
This week’s stories
My dog Belle is at the end of her life, and I am walking her home
“We are on our own, Belle and I,” writes Anne Driscoll, “and I alone can offer her palliative care. So now, we have a new routine: I close the blinds of the living room each night, Belle takes one side of the L-shaped sectional and I take the other, and our heads meet in the corner.”
Earworms: Annoying or revolutionary?
While researching the phenomenon of earworms, Julie Wittes Schlack came across E.B. White’s satire, “The Supremacy of Uruguay.” In White’s story, written in the 1930s — amidst growing threats of nationalism and authoritarianism — the ultimate weapon turns out to be a worldwide earworm.
Jesse Jackson and the arc of Black hope
Jesse Jackson widened what “possible” meant, writes Imari K. Paris Jeffries. “He proved that a Black presidential candidacy could be a serious campaign that competed across regions and issues. That changed the country’s political muscle memory, and it changed the expectations of the next generation.”
Moltbook wants you to believe its AI acts independently. It doesn’t
Moltbook is a social media platform, like Facebook or Reddit, but for AI bots only. Moltbook’s AI system is agentic, which means it functions like an independent agent instead of waiting for prompts. “For some people, that might sound like a godsend. For others, especially those concerned with security, it sounds more like a nightmare,” writes Joelle Renstrom.
Bonus content
Look, we get it. There are lots of reasons to hate winter. But there are just as many reasons to love it. Cog’s senior editor Cloe Axelson offers six. Bonus bonus content: an Insta reel (below)!
Earlier this month, we gathered authors Nicole Graev Lipson (“Mothers and Other Fictional Characters”), Scaachi Koul (“Sucker Punch”) and Oona Metz (“Unhitched: The Essential Divorce Guide for Women) at WBUR’s CitySpace to discuss marriage and divorce. Their fun — and frank — conversation is now available on YouTube.
Earlier this month, NPR launched the American Storytelling Collection, a new destination for podcast series produced by the NPR Network. It’s an audio portrait of the United States told town by town. With stories about four men who recorded an album while incarcerated, the meaning of wilderness, the closest presidential primary race in American history (1976) and more, there’s something here for everyone.