Thanks for writing that and articulating the depths of the problem. It is not just cognitive offloading that is a concern but it really is about our "soul" - who is driving the bus? I wrote recently about my fascination with the book Dune - the Butlerian Jihad and the fight against thinking machines. It's not just fiction anymore ...
Do not dishonor your soul.
Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.
You do not make a machine that mimics the spirit of a person.
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
- The Orange Catholic Bible. Dune.
We also must note and be realistic about calls for AI Literacy. It's a wave to go down the rabbit hole of AI and then use it more and more and more. It's human nature, this tendency towards "ease". Norman Finklestein at the end of this video - articulated this very well, a cry against those who portend to "co-pilot". Who is driving the bus? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNIGyUmclNE&t=1163s
One of the hardest parts of being human is admitting when you just don’t want something badly enough. We hem and haw about that project we never get around to, or the book we’ve been meaning to read, or whatever. But if we wanted it badly enough, we’d do the thing.
AI is a way to dodge having to admit that we don’t want to do the work. It’s a way to dodge the sense that we are finite, that we’ll never get to the bottom of the todo list in this lifetime.
How did writing become a bundle of mundane tasks that could be decomposed into AI susceptible chunks in the first place?
It is sensible within a social imaginary that sees measurable things as the only things worth pursuing, and then takes pride in efficiency, productivity, and above all, winning
Peter, this is a great takedown of AI optimists like the Hard Fork guys - and “professional asshat” in reference to James Frey made me laugh out loud - he doesn’t care if I care about what he AI-generated? Asshat, cubed. Not caring about fakery and conning is an old human tic, but it doesn’t change the fact that true expertise relies on knowing where the information comes from and interpreting it yourself - a point you make very well.
Nice one. I felt some pressure to read the NYT piece because NYT. You saved me from it.
Thanks for writing that and articulating the depths of the problem. It is not just cognitive offloading that is a concern but it really is about our "soul" - who is driving the bus? I wrote recently about my fascination with the book Dune - the Butlerian Jihad and the fight against thinking machines. It's not just fiction anymore ...
Do not dishonor your soul.
Thou shalt not disfigure the soul.
You do not make a machine that mimics the spirit of a person.
Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind.
- The Orange Catholic Bible. Dune.
We also must note and be realistic about calls for AI Literacy. It's a wave to go down the rabbit hole of AI and then use it more and more and more. It's human nature, this tendency towards "ease". Norman Finklestein at the end of this video - articulated this very well, a cry against those who portend to "co-pilot". Who is driving the bus? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNIGyUmclNE&t=1163s
One of the hardest parts of being human is admitting when you just don’t want something badly enough. We hem and haw about that project we never get around to, or the book we’ve been meaning to read, or whatever. But if we wanted it badly enough, we’d do the thing.
AI is a way to dodge having to admit that we don’t want to do the work. It’s a way to dodge the sense that we are finite, that we’ll never get to the bottom of the todo list in this lifetime.
Great piece!
How did writing become a bundle of mundane tasks that could be decomposed into AI susceptible chunks in the first place?
It is sensible within a social imaginary that sees measurable things as the only things worth pursuing, and then takes pride in efficiency, productivity, and above all, winning
Peter, this is a great takedown of AI optimists like the Hard Fork guys - and “professional asshat” in reference to James Frey made me laugh out loud - he doesn’t care if I care about what he AI-generated? Asshat, cubed. Not caring about fakery and conning is an old human tic, but it doesn’t change the fact that true expertise relies on knowing where the information comes from and interpreting it yourself - a point you make very well.