When photography emerged in 1839, French academic painter Paul Delaroche reportedly declared, "From today, painting is dead!"
In one sense, Delaroche was right — what died was the careers of those painters who photocopied what they saw.
New painters emerged that captured different realities—Monet sought to convey the aura of light; Picasso played with multiple perspectives; Rothko dissolved forms into color fields of emotion. The market for painting exploded.
Every new technological marvel brings death and loss, yes, but it also invites an explosion of birth.
Entrenched experts are the ones most likely to miss the lesson of history: new tools open the playing field for a new generation of expertise.
When photography emerged in 1839, French academic painter Paul Delaroche reportedly declared, "From today, painting is dead!" In one sense, Delaroche was right — what died was the careers of those painters who photocopied what they saw. New painters emerged that captured different realities—Monet sought to convey the aura of light; Picasso played with multiple perspectives; Rothko dissolved forms into color fields of emotion. The market for painting exploded. Every new technological marvel brings death and loss, yes, but it also invites an explosion of birth. Entrenched experts are the ones most likely to miss the lesson of history: new tools open the playing field for a new generation of expertise.
Things will appear simple or easily replicable on the surface.
You’ll hear people say:
“Anyone could’ve made that with ChatGPT.”
But the more and better access everyone has to tools, the clearer it becomes that the final bottleneck to great work is not knowledge or information. Heck it’s not even intelligence—it’s that elusive, intangible, sublime qua
... See morethe the truth nobody wants to say out loud is that most people with authority didn’t earn it.
they inherited it.
they faked it.
they politicked their way into it.
they sat in meetings, approved other people’s work, & called it “leadership.”
they were great at navigating the game of perception.
they were terrible at building anything real.
and now the ... See more
they inherited it.
they faked it.
they politicked their way into it.
they sat in meetings, approved other people’s work, & called it “leadership.”
they were great at navigating the game of perception.
they were terrible at building anything real.
and now the ... See more
the death of expertise
The problem for AI is that creative work is not predictable. It is not about statistical likelihood or simply mashing up the familiar—it is about leaps in logic and counterintuitive juxtapositions. It is about the unique experience of the individual, and seeking to do what has never been done before. It is about the least predictable next word or p
... See moreRay Nayler • AI and the Rise of Mediocrity
Pablo Picasso nailed it in a typically elliptical way when he said that ‘Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.’ Questions are what matter. Questions, and discovering the right ones, are the key to staying on course. Are our tactics, our day-today decisions, based on our long-term goals? The wave of information threatens to obscure
... See more