19 Comments
User's avatar
Matthew Kendrick's avatar

Love this. Btw you’re a very skilled writer, not a terrible one!

Expand full comment
James's avatar

Yeah but I can’t let it go to my head

Expand full comment
njmksr's avatar

I have nothing to say other than "fr fr 💯"

Expand full comment
MM's avatar

100! Absolutely.

Expand full comment
Woody Yocum's avatar

Thanks, I’d like to take the liberty to add bit of handmade optimism. Here is an animated appreciation of Woody Guthrie’s, ‘This is Your Land’. We just finished it last week and it’s free to share and repost as you wish. We animators hate AI slop right there with you!

https://vimeo.com/1096145803

Expand full comment
Redwoods 3's avatar

Nothing wrong with being a Luddite who wants to start a Butlerian Jihad, that's my only issue with this, otherwise spot on! Read Brian Merchant—Luddite isn't anti-technology, it's exactly what you're saying!

Expand full comment
Richard Pollard's avatar

Hear, hear. A superb encapsulation.

The worldview in question seems to reflect the possession of knowledge as being solely for social status rather than bettering oneself. Knowledge without effort, and thus without understanding, is meaningless.

Expand full comment
nico's avatar
13hEdited

really sharp prose. will send this to the next AI glazer i see

Expand full comment
J.D. Smith's avatar

I want to ask people who rely on GenAI, "Who works out for you?" Athletes, musicians and dancers, among others, know there is no substitute for putting in the training for the time when there are no crutches to lean on.

Expand full comment
Suspence's avatar

AI influencers still haven't learned the vital lessons Adam Sandler tried to teach us nearly 20 years ago in "Click"

Expand full comment
Shashank Jejurikar's avatar

The point about an AI writing someone's proposal or birthday card reminds me of the movie "Click."

Expand full comment
Suspence's avatar

I hit post on my "Click" comment, then scrolled through the rest and saw that you had already posted it an hour ago

Expand full comment
Ricco's avatar

It’s only a matter of time before many of us go Dreher Mode But For Secular Humanist Libs. The vision for humanity on offer from these antisocial freaks is almost unspeakably grim. “Resisting summary”, as Simon Sarris put it recently, will be the defining struggle for those of us who still believe in an old-school romantic view of literature.

I say this as a regular user of LLMs in the software development context, someone who is depressed about AI not because it’s just a “stochastic parrot” or whatever but rather because it’s extremely good at what it does—so good that it’s going to make the cultural-cognitive effects of social media or shortform video look like child’s play in comparison.

Expand full comment
Brett Morgan's avatar

The amusing part being that the proliferation of AI generated slop requires the ability of readers to interrogate texts and verify their validity.

Expand full comment
the long warred's avatar

Get away from the kids.

Expand full comment
User's avatar
Comment deleted
19h
Comment deleted
Expand full comment
James's avatar

I mean Wikipedia has a certain function—so do LLMs—but it’s also certainly not the same as actually engaging directly with the material.

Expand full comment
C3.Command.Control.Coffee's avatar

Wikipedia is a great resource, but it’s not “reading” in the sense we’re taking about.

Expand full comment
HalSF's avatar
18hEdited

True! But human beings write, edit, and revise all Wikipedia content manually as far as I know and the pernicious of AI seems in a different category altogether, despite AI’s proclivity to also offer summaries.

Accidentally deleted my comment by the way. To reiterate: a fine rant!

Expand full comment