Writes and Write-Nots

Saved by Jake and

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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

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

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 than Leslie Lamport did:

If you're thinking without writing, you only think you're thinking.

So a world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds. It will be a world of thinks and think-nots. I know w... See more

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

October 2024

I'm usually reluctant to make predictions about technology, but I feel fairly confident about this one: in a couple decades there won't be many people who can write.

One of the strangest things you learn if you're a writer is how many people have trouble writing. Doctors know how many people have a mole they're worried about; people who ... See more

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

CClark Haaland

Writing is hard.

I'm usually reluctant to make predictions about technology, but I feel fairly confident about this one: in a couple decades there won't be many people who can write.

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

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

Paul Graham • Writes and Write-Nots

CChad Hudson

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.