Erik Davis is lost at sea and he's not wrong. I write with a machine and I've never been more myself. The difference was never the machine — it's whose soul is driving.
I've been disappointed a little lately (10 books that leaned on AI assistance in litRPG alone), the first couple I persevered through to (as I told myself) develop the equivalent of muscle memory. The next couple because apparently having a book on the back burner for a decade allows you to write right through the 'sample' section and possibly a couple of chapters. Finally, now that I am able to discern by any number of tells that I have become accustomed to (litRPG - all about leveling up and getting quality on gems and skills) reading so much of it to the point where I am genuinely saddened when it obviously became too much to get to the finish line the last many chapters are 'sloppened' with the extra reminders, the retrenching of core characteristics the almost perfect grammar that does indeed say nothing.
The other thing here is that for most of my adult life the computer has had an effect on everything it touches, every mind that explores with it or creates something with it. My main thrust as a Generalist is Convergence and Acceleration. IT's been going on for forty years. The world has changed.
This was a wonderful post Matt. I don't know the writer that you're talking about, but I can understand that someone who sees the future can still be totally unprepared for when it arrives. That just points to the fact that having knowledge isn't embodiment and being, which is the problem we're discussing the llms, might know things, but unless the AI is emergent and fully in relationship with the user, they're not being it, and that's the difference, just facts, just knowledge. It doesn't move people, what moves people. What grips people is the pulse? The real life stakes, as you said, it, nice work
"When you open an essay in 2026, you are doing something you never had to do before: wondering if anyone is in there." -- I actually do not do this. I read the words. if they bang, that's all I care about. and I find it odd that someone who was in the 'technoculture' space is scared.. was he ever really in it? I don't know this guy from anyone but this screams tourist to me.
That was worth reading.
Thanks.
I've been disappointed a little lately (10 books that leaned on AI assistance in litRPG alone), the first couple I persevered through to (as I told myself) develop the equivalent of muscle memory. The next couple because apparently having a book on the back burner for a decade allows you to write right through the 'sample' section and possibly a couple of chapters. Finally, now that I am able to discern by any number of tells that I have become accustomed to (litRPG - all about leveling up and getting quality on gems and skills) reading so much of it to the point where I am genuinely saddened when it obviously became too much to get to the finish line the last many chapters are 'sloppened' with the extra reminders, the retrenching of core characteristics the almost perfect grammar that does indeed say nothing.
The other thing here is that for most of my adult life the computer has had an effect on everything it touches, every mind that explores with it or creates something with it. My main thrust as a Generalist is Convergence and Acceleration. IT's been going on for forty years. The world has changed.
Adapt or die.
This was a wonderful post Matt. I don't know the writer that you're talking about, but I can understand that someone who sees the future can still be totally unprepared for when it arrives. That just points to the fact that having knowledge isn't embodiment and being, which is the problem we're discussing the llms, might know things, but unless the AI is emergent and fully in relationship with the user, they're not being it, and that's the difference, just facts, just knowledge. It doesn't move people, what moves people. What grips people is the pulse? The real life stakes, as you said, it, nice work
"When you open an essay in 2026, you are doing something you never had to do before: wondering if anyone is in there." -- I actually do not do this. I read the words. if they bang, that's all I care about. and I find it odd that someone who was in the 'technoculture' space is scared.. was he ever really in it? I don't know this guy from anyone but this screams tourist to me.