Why Is Writing Hard?
For the people who’ve figured out the right incantations to type and buttons-buried-in-submenus to click, computers can automate administrivia, surface information, and make them feel “more fully participant in the future”. But getting there is an arduous journey, and many people get in a place where computers just make things harder. The experienc... See more
Feifan Zhou • Page not found • The Blog of Feifan Zhou
Tanuj and added
Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: writing is thinking. In fact there's a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing. You can't make this point better th
... See morePaul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots
This is one major reason I write; to continue to think, to process things. Sure, I use AI considerably in a lot of areas, like summarizing things, pulling out key points or to-dos, I even have it evaluate what I write, fix grammar, test the content to see if it is unique, cohesive, or compelling.
But, I don’t want to offload all of my thinking to AI and stop thinking. Similar to Paul’s point in the article, we used to get strong by working, now we workout to gain strength because working, in most cases, doesn’t provide this benefit for us.
I want to think and to think well. One of my favorite books this year is, “Clear Thinking” by Shane Parrish. I have invested a lot of time and energy into learning improve my thinking. It would be a shame to outsource it to token prediction algorithms.
I submit that we have two big biases when we talk about technology. First, we think about it too much in terms of tools and recipes, when really we should think about it more in terms of process knowledge and technical experience. Second, most of us focus too much on the digital world and not enough on the industrial world. Our obsession with the d... See more
How Technology Grows (a Restatement of Definite Optimism)
Britt Gage and added
Instead of good writers, ok writers, and people who can't write, there will just be good writers and people who can't write.
Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: w... See more
Is that so bad? Isn't it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren't many blacksmiths left, and it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Yes, it's bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: w... See more
Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots
“But this is nothing new. The story of technology – from prehistory to now – has always been that of the ways we are entrained by the tools and systems that we ourselves have made. Think of the pathways we make by walking. To every tool there is a corresponding habit, that is, an automatised way of acting and being. From the humble pencil to the pr
... See moreFirst, one must perform perfectly. The computer resembles the magic of legend in this respect, too. If one character, one pause, of the incantation is not strictly in proper form, the magic doesn't work. Human beings are not accustomed to being perfect, and few areas of human activity demand it. Adjusting to the requirement for perfection is, I thi
... See more