As I read this, I thought of the city room where I spent three years learning from passionate newspeople and writers. They were perhaps the last, or next to last, generation to experience that rhythm and angst that permeates their writing. They came in direct contact with events that were making history. While their words filtered and distilled the facts for the sixth-grade-level reader that was the American public, those words stirred passion in the reader to create discourse, even if it was only discussed around the coffee shop booth or barbershop.
I've spoken with a few of those folks. They talked about when word processors came in; they were scared about the ramifications. Most agree that AI is on a whole different order of magnitude.
Word processors were just a typewriter on steroids. It didn't do the writing for you. Instead, it made it possible to correct or rearrange text and so on. The Deseret News first got CRTs that coughed out perforated tape to send to the print room in about 1973 when I started working there. It streamlined the process, but it was a far cry from today's AI.
That discourse is part of the purpose and power of writing. People who observe and distill what's happening in ways that others can't or don't have the time/ability/freedom to have a great responsibility to record and communicate history as it happens in ways that start important discussions. Writing can, in that way, send out ripples that change the world.
People recording historical events from their POV is essential to a richer knowledge of how these events affected people. Letters, diaries, obituaries, journals, and personally written histories are treasures that luckily show up on the Internet by and for genealogists. Unfortunately, they are ephemera. I've been collecting them for my own genealogy and thank everyone who has written these things.
Yes, we need firsthand accounts to enrich our understand of history! Those records prevent wholesale revision or faulty skewing of events--records from multiple viewpoints show us how all sides saw situations and how events affected people from all walks of life.
"Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy.” Stephen Hawking
And apparently dumb down Shakespeare, not to mention Bukowski.
What a stellar piece of writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you for not sounding the Doomsday Trumpets over AI and telling it like it is. As a fellow writer, I also believe that AI can't ever replace humans. Can it generate passable internet content? Of course, but only because we've settled for a bunch of sixth-grade-reading-level, Google-pandering garbage for so long. Only because we now sit and, as Nicholas Carr pointed out in The Shallows, scan and skim so much information that we can't hold it all in our working memories (so who cares about quality if we're not going to retain it)?
It's writers like you who understand that humanity is inseparable from real writing and who are willing to call out the overblown claims and ridiculous "predictions" flying around the mainstream media waves who will stand as voices of reason while everyone else is rushing about like Sims when the house catches fire. Humans unite!
I greatly appreciate you comment and thoughts. There are some short-sighted folks out there that aren't going to give a dilly about any of this, as long as they can pump out content for clicks. *sigh*
I think the content system will collapse on itself eventually. We're already seeing an exodus of people who prefer to create and consume with intention and who refuse to march to Google's tune. Even if AI gains the ability to take over most internet writing, it can't change the nature and purpose of real writing. We will always need humans to convey human thoughts, experiences, and emotions--and other humans to connect with those creative works.
Thanks for checking it out. Those were the days, as they say. I'm sure I'm remembering it as better than it was...but then again, a lot of what makes the internet overwhelming and horrible hadn't come on the scene yet. And there were no iPhones.
AI sends me into spasms of terror. As a writer, Anthony has struck a chord that I'm certain reverberates throughout the writing culture & far beyond. How many of you have been irritated while reading an online piece that appears to be written by a non-English speaking person? I mean things such as gender, number & correct pronouns are ignored. Political biases permeate every sentence. Now I suspect that many are bot-articles. What information are the bots using to draw from? Seems eventually nothing written can be relied upon as its source will be entirely fabricated, the real data edited out through years of biased thinking. It's bad enough that humans rewrite history. i.e. the winners of wars.
I believe human fact-checkers will be the wave of the future. Since AI can't be counted on to write factual material, it's up to humans to keep them honest. Oh, jeez--what a depressing sentence to write.
Exactly. Word processing programs don't create their own material, and that's the difference. I often imagine someone like Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway watching us correct, cut and paste, and otherwise fiddle around with our work with barely a bead of sweat upon our brows. What would they think?
As I read this, I thought of the city room where I spent three years learning from passionate newspeople and writers. They were perhaps the last, or next to last, generation to experience that rhythm and angst that permeates their writing. They came in direct contact with events that were making history. While their words filtered and distilled the facts for the sixth-grade-level reader that was the American public, those words stirred passion in the reader to create discourse, even if it was only discussed around the coffee shop booth or barbershop.
I've spoken with a few of those folks. They talked about when word processors came in; they were scared about the ramifications. Most agree that AI is on a whole different order of magnitude.
Word processors were just a typewriter on steroids. It didn't do the writing for you. Instead, it made it possible to correct or rearrange text and so on. The Deseret News first got CRTs that coughed out perforated tape to send to the print room in about 1973 when I started working there. It streamlined the process, but it was a far cry from today's AI.
That discourse is part of the purpose and power of writing. People who observe and distill what's happening in ways that others can't or don't have the time/ability/freedom to have a great responsibility to record and communicate history as it happens in ways that start important discussions. Writing can, in that way, send out ripples that change the world.
People recording historical events from their POV is essential to a richer knowledge of how these events affected people. Letters, diaries, obituaries, journals, and personally written histories are treasures that luckily show up on the Internet by and for genealogists. Unfortunately, they are ephemera. I've been collecting them for my own genealogy and thank everyone who has written these things.
Yes, we need firsthand accounts to enrich our understand of history! Those records prevent wholesale revision or faulty skewing of events--records from multiple viewpoints show us how all sides saw situations and how events affected people from all walks of life.
"Unless we learn how to prepare for, and avoid, the potential risks, AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization. It brings dangers, like powerful autonomous weapons, or new ways for the few to oppress the many. It could bring great disruption to our economy.” Stephen Hawking
And apparently dumb down Shakespeare, not to mention Bukowski.
People are always going to take shortcuts. We're headed for Idiocracy.
The Dimformation Age!
Brilliant!
Thank you.
What a stellar piece of writing. I thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you for not sounding the Doomsday Trumpets over AI and telling it like it is. As a fellow writer, I also believe that AI can't ever replace humans. Can it generate passable internet content? Of course, but only because we've settled for a bunch of sixth-grade-reading-level, Google-pandering garbage for so long. Only because we now sit and, as Nicholas Carr pointed out in The Shallows, scan and skim so much information that we can't hold it all in our working memories (so who cares about quality if we're not going to retain it)?
It's writers like you who understand that humanity is inseparable from real writing and who are willing to call out the overblown claims and ridiculous "predictions" flying around the mainstream media waves who will stand as voices of reason while everyone else is rushing about like Sims when the house catches fire. Humans unite!
I greatly appreciate you comment and thoughts. There are some short-sighted folks out there that aren't going to give a dilly about any of this, as long as they can pump out content for clicks. *sigh*
I think the content system will collapse on itself eventually. We're already seeing an exodus of people who prefer to create and consume with intention and who refuse to march to Google's tune. Even if AI gains the ability to take over most internet writing, it can't change the nature and purpose of real writing. We will always need humans to convey human thoughts, experiences, and emotions--and other humans to connect with those creative works.
The great author Stephen Harrigan told me, "It's our job to write something that an algorithm can't anticipate." Word.
I think you would like what we're doing at Foster:
https://blog.foster.co/tag/edition-one/
I felt your frustration in your "Future of the internet..." story. Nicely composed.
Thanks for checking it out. Those were the days, as they say. I'm sure I'm remembering it as better than it was...but then again, a lot of what makes the internet overwhelming and horrible hadn't come on the scene yet. And there were no iPhones.
"Im sorry Dave. Im afraid I cant do that.......This conversation can serve no purpose any more. Goodbye."
- HAL (2001: A Space Odyssey)
Zoiks!
--Scooby Doo
AI sends me into spasms of terror. As a writer, Anthony has struck a chord that I'm certain reverberates throughout the writing culture & far beyond. How many of you have been irritated while reading an online piece that appears to be written by a non-English speaking person? I mean things such as gender, number & correct pronouns are ignored. Political biases permeate every sentence. Now I suspect that many are bot-articles. What information are the bots using to draw from? Seems eventually nothing written can be relied upon as its source will be entirely fabricated, the real data edited out through years of biased thinking. It's bad enough that humans rewrite history. i.e. the winners of wars.
I believe human fact-checkers will be the wave of the future. Since AI can't be counted on to write factual material, it's up to humans to keep them honest. Oh, jeez--what a depressing sentence to write.
Exactly. Word processing programs don't create their own material, and that's the difference. I often imagine someone like Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway watching us correct, cut and paste, and otherwise fiddle around with our work with barely a bead of sweat upon our brows. What would they think?
I think, honestly, they'd laugh at us. I hope so.