We’re Losing So Much Because of AI
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I came across a video where Robert Greene said he’s not a fan of AI.
Here’s what he said in the conversation with Ryan Holiday (Holiday was Greene’s research assistant when he was 18)-
Greene studied languages at Berkeley. Once, he got an assignment to translate a passage from Thucydides, the hardest writer to read in ancient Greek.
He spent about 10 hours trying to understand and translate that one paragraph. Finally, he thinks, okay, this is it and turns it in to his professor.
His professor says, ‘Robert, you were almost there, but you missed it. You completely mistranslated this beautiful paragraph, but you were getting at something.’
And that had a huge impact on him, even to this day-
‘It developed character, it developed patience, it developed discipline. You’ve got kids nowadays who are never going to have that experience. These incredible skills that the brain has are going to be atrophying, I fear. The brain is so much more interesting to me than any piece of technology. That’s what we should be worshipping, not these little toys that we create.’
How many high schoolers would spend an hour, let alone 10, trying to translate a paragraph? They’ve got not only Google but also ChatGPT to help them out.
Children who grow up with AI and use it to write their school essays will never know the joy of writing. They’ll never know if they enjoy writing. They won’t sit with their journal to process their thoughts when they have something more stimulating to occupy their time with. As a consequence, they won’t develop a deeper connection with themselves.
The process of figuring things out is so beautiful and so important. It helps with our self-development and makes us self-aware.
I remember when I was in Grade 9, I went to a teacher for help with English. I used to get terrible grades in English until Grade 7, which changed dramatically once I started reading books.
She made me sit down and write an essay (within an hour) every single week.
At first, I dreaded it. I hated writing essays. But I had to do it.
After a couple of months, it wasn’t as painful anymore.
And soon, I found myself looking forward to writing those essays- sitting by the window (on a Sunday morning, mind you), thinking and writing.
Sure, there are many benefits of AI. And I’m not saying I’m against AI or I don’t like it or don’t use it. It’s just like everything else, we need to know our limits.
We should definitely work along with AI and use AI to our advantage. But also remember to put in the work when required.
AI cannot replace human writers. AI can certainly not replace human connection. It will help you produce tons of blogs. But it won’t create the kind of impact real, honest writing does.
Because with AI, no matter how good you are at feeding in prompts, you’re getting an artificial brain. One that cannot think for itself or have unique ideas and experiences. Not a human one which is capable of all of that and so much more.
AI is smart. Ask it about books, and it can spit out a top-100 list. But it can’t tell you what it’s like to read a passage that puts perfectly something you’ve felt but couldn’t articulate. Ask it about music, and it can write you lyrics in the style of whoever you’d like. But it’s never listened to a great song, never heard one right when it needed to be heard. Ask it about taking a walk, and it can give you science-backed reasons to go for one. But it’s never been on a walk, never been totally excited by a thought or an idea that seemed to come from out of nowhere. Ask it about coffee, and it can give you an infographic that details tens or hundreds of brewing methods. But it’s never had that first sip of that first cup of the day. Ask it about connecting with an audience, and it can give you hundreds of best practices. But it can’t guarantee any of them are going to work.
Every human being is different and thinks differently. We’re all influenced by various kinds of art, music, movies, cultures, books and literature. We’ve all grown up differently and have had unique experiences. And we’re the sum of all this, which has rendered us with unique voices of our own. And that is reflected in our writing.
And if not for others, we need to write for ourselves.
Everyone considers themselves writers these days. And I’ll allow it as long as they’re actually writing, no matter how bad it is.
I’m curious to know what you think about this.
Thanks for reading.
PS- if you’re looking for a human writer, DM me on LinkedIn.
