'Religion,' I should note, has a disputed etymology in Latin: some say it's from 'relegere,' meaning 'to reread', while others say it's from religare, meaning 'to connect' or 'link.' Literature is life's fastener. Joshua Cohen connectdisputeetymology share on social
The birth of the search engine, it's nothing new: it's essentially embedded in our literature; it's how ideas relate, how the mind makes connections. I mean, connections are made online through links, and within an algorithm, they're made through degrees of relevancy between different terms. Joshua Cohen algorithmbirthconnection share on social
I have a credit card and a phone. I answer emails; I answer questions on chat in the middle of the day. Then, late at night, I write against other people who do just that. Joshua Cohen answercardchat Change image and share on social
I don't like being victimized by a machine or by other people's demands on my time. I become resentful by feeling forced or incentivized to live a life I don't want to live. That rage in general prevents me from entirely becoming enslaved by technology. Joshua Cohen demandenslavefelt share on social
All technology does is give us back to ourselves. So to be anti-technology in a sense is to be anti-human. Joshua Cohen antibackgive Change image and share on social
What qualified me to write about Israel was that I wanted to; it took no time to convince myself. The only reservation I had was about eaven: I wanted to write about the Jewish heaven but did not feel qualified because I did not and do not believe in 'it,' though I should. Joshua Cohen convinceeavenfeel share on social
Without computers, in the 17th century, we could classify the entire animal kingdom... there was this idea of the speciation, right? And now, all a search engine is is essentially the mathematical speciation of ideas - and these things really derive from the way that language is used and the way words relate. Joshua Cohen 17thanimalcentury share on social
The M.F.A. is a degree in servitude. It is a way to keep writing safe - to keep reading safe from writing. Joshua Cohen degreereadsafe Change image and share on social
A writer appears in everything that he does. That said, I felt like writing characters with my own name, in fact, provided me with something of a smoke screen. Joshua Cohen appearcharacterfact Change image and share on social
The problem is Jewish-American fiction that always ends with assimilation back into the community. Joshua Cohen americanassimilationback Change image and share on social