Linked List / May 2023

Writing is Thinking ➶

Paul Graham:

Observation suggests that people are switching to using ChatGPT to write things for them with almost indecent haste. Most people hate to write as much as they hate math. Way more than admit it. Within a year the median piece of writing could be by AI.

I warn you now, this is going to have unfortunate consequences, just as switching to living in suburbia and driving everywhere did. When you lose the ability to write, you also lose some of your ability to think.

I don’t have the slightest hope of averting this switch. I often tell startups it’s safe to bet on laziness, and this is one of the biggest bets on laziness in history. The switch is going to happen, and we won’t know the consequences till it’s too late.

I’m not warning about the switch to AI in the hope of averting it, but to warn the few people who care enough to save themselves, or their kids. Learn to use AI. It’s a powerful technology, and you should know how to use it. But also learn how to write.

Writing, and also drawing, is thinking. Strange to see this post on Twitter rather than on Paul’s blog.

✶ Thursday, 11 May 2023


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