In a previous life (not literally) I was a computer scientist. I was very serious about my job. And I was good at it.
When you’re working on a project, it’s hard to spot what tools are going to help and what’s just added fluff. Technology appears like it’s always evolving. But, real innovation is somewhat rare.
What seems new often isn’t. Most likely, it’s something that’s been rebranded and sold to people who don’t know any better.
Sometimes it’s about building hype for the company who’s producing the tool. Or convincing people that this “new thing” is going to:
- make them more money
- fix problems
- in some way make their day-to-day life easier.
In sum… it’s probably a sales gimmick.
There is no single development, in either technology or management technique, which by itself promises even one order-of-magnitude improvement within a decade in productivity, in reliability, in simplicity.
Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. (No Silver Bullet–Essence and Accident in Software Engineering)
I’m not a zealot opposed to change. I’m sure good things have and will come out of AI. But technology is a chameleon. And it’s easy to lose sight of the human aspect, which is far more important. Call me a naive humanist, but why do anything if it’s not to make this troubled world more peaceful.
What You’re Losing by AI Writing
By AI writing, if we must call it writing:
- You’re saying “my voice doesn’t matter” and it’s not worth finding or honing.
- You’re making yourself more dependent on technology to think for you. You’re debasing your ability to think critically and ultimately losing power over your life.
- You’re putting money before inner wealth and genuine human connection. You’re losing not only your ability to be at peace, but also your ability to have a meaningful life.
- You’re losing the chance to struggle and grow as a person. And grow a powerful skill as a real writer.
You Need Your Heart and Your Head
I’m not saying this as a person that’s always had all this figured out. By God, I haven’t. I remember how much it would piss me off to hear someone talk about “following your heart” when I was broke and already had tried my damnedest to do so. And was still… broke.
And nowadays, it pisses me off almost equally when I hear a lot of the hustle culture crap.
I’ve been down both paths at this point. I’ve been down the one about purely following your heart and your dreams, and the one about purely following your head and the money. The secret is you need both.
Your heart’s either in the right place, or it isn’t. And you either have a good head on your shoulders or you don’t. Why not have a good head on your shoulders and have your heart in the right place? The world tries to tell us we need to choose one or the other. And that’s rubbish!
