Not on My Grave

Language Matters by Elias Winter · Sep 16, 2026 · 26m

My barber Tommy was standing behind me with a pair of clippers when he asked whether I had seen the news about the artificial-intelligence researcher who thinks AI might kill everybody. This is apparently what barbershops are for now. There was a time when a man sat in a barber chair and was asked whether he wanted the sides tapered. Perhaps someone argued about baseball. Maybe an elderly man complained about taxes. Now you sit beneath fluorescent lights wearing a black polyester cape while a man holding a razor near your carotid artery asks whether you have emotionally prepared for the…