Aphoristic Intelligence Beats Artificial Intelligence

The first aphorism I ever read was on the Quotable Quotes page of Reader’s Digest, one of only two publications available in my house growing up. (The other was Time magazine.) I must have been about 8 years old when I came across the following sentence by Gerald Burrill, then the Episcopal bishop of Chicago: The difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

At the time, I had no idea what an aphorism was. I was just 8. And I had no idea what Gerald Burrill’s observation meant. But...