Severin Matusek

When people bring up the specter of generative AI as relates to creative work, my mind goes in a few different directions. But the point that feels most salient is the simplest: Actually doing things is fun.

If LLMs can now ace the IMO, why not make them president and CEO too? They should run the institutions, not us. Relatedly: the idea that Mars colonization or Cluely or whatever is some kind of natural, inevitable endpoint to humanity; that regardless of whether a product is something we want, there is a moral duty to bring it into existence—to... See more

Functionalist theories, building on Durkheim’s insights, analyze totemism in terms of its social functions. From a functionalist perspective, totemism contributes to social cohesion by providing a shared system of beliefs and practices that reinforce group solidarity. The totemic system establishes social boundaries, regulates behavior through... See more

In 2024, an online experiment with 36 ChatGPT users found that use of AI can expand how many creative ideas an individual user has, but at a group level, “users tended to produce less semantically distinct ideas”. That same year, another study reached similar results; this time it was a group of short-story writers who each managed to independently... See more

I see working with AI as being in conversation with the software.

We have embraced a myth that leaders are special, particularly brave or gifted. But mostly, leaders are amplified by their peers, part of a culture where leading is expected, rewarded and supported.

The sense is that in the fairly recent past there were social narratives that were both fulfilling and rewarding to participate in, but that for our generation and seemingly subsequent generations to come, it is becoming harder and harder to find and buy into a compelling shared telos. This is the sense of meaninglessness that prompts some people... See more

Put simply, a network state is an online community that materializes in the physical world with the goal of achieving meaningful collective action.