A poetic vapidity coined by me in the early days, the ontogenous of our post-LLM world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Simply, when all words are possible, when ideas can be synthesized by the slightest glimmer of a concept – what is left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps a more apt reflection is \u201cThe Death of Thought\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And here we start to find some truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To ask the artificial mind for feedback frequently shortcircuits a necessary criticality – but it is an engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, often we don\u2019t even ask that, we state a problem and are offered a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are bequeathed a managerial ownership of the creative process, but product management, and product ownership come with a responsibility. As a user, are we owning that responsibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m at an age, and established enough that I do not have misaligned tasks saddled upon me – misaligned in the sense that I feel no personal connection to their completion – but when I did, I would not own the expectation demanded of supervisory authority – I would simply accept with the least friction and effort, the ideas that come to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So there is the first knife in the heart of thinking – why bother, when a product is readily available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When thought is valueless labour (as all value is relative) – why not take the easy product?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second knife is thrust deeper, it requires an active defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If AI is \u201cbest at the things I\u2019m not\u201d – that is to say, it appears the strongest when I have no domain knowledge to contextualize the output – how are we to stand against that superficial and convincing authority?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To discuss with AI a subject well understood, is to engage in a constant pattern of corrections, tangents, pedagogical maneuvers and shiftings. For myself, it is to leave unsatisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chatbot interactions are almost entirely unsatisfactory when I possess strong domain knowledge, and revelatory when I know nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, how are we to learn to think, when the thinking is served, tidy and listicled?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third knife is the one that has been there all along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the knife of social allegiance, culture, norms and habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A rusted blade that has always served to dull our thought process – whether through the avoidance of effort, or the cultural habits we have adopted – all of these make us intrinsically less likely to engage, challenge, and consider alternatives deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But why mention it as a knife of the new age, if it is one that has always been there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the recentering that is now taking place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have usually lived in a world of controlled media and dissemination, since the Gutenberg press, there was an official narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The internet was likely the biggest threat to this, allowing for the expansive thread of ideas, diverse, explosive, and often converging around tribal idiocies, fantasies and allegiances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the creation of the transcendental voice – the voice owned by a small few billionaires – and with a reach to every person on earth – what normalizing habits does it have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What conversations are no longer happening. Stacks no longer overflow, instead conversations happen in private, communities aren\u2019t made, and ideas are challenged in isolated chambers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discussions that should have happened in public – with peers, happen in private and internal validations become resolute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why listen and be humble to the thoughts of others when you\u2019ve already been told that you\u2019re right – you\u2019ve massaged the sparring partner into a gloating sidekick – a testament to your brilliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third knife builds conviction in our own wonder by muting conversation and discussion. We\u2019ve already been proven right by that manifest authority – justified in numbers with bold headings and point, counter-points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is the thought that we own, as well as the thoughts we share – our cognitive community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To turn that private, into a confessional with the rich, powerful, singular – that indexes and categorizes all – what does that make of our human community?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethan Mollick talks of centaurs and cyborgs – half man, half machine – these new ubermench islands that deny community for reverie in their ownselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An indulgence in one’s own effluence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last, there is the loss of failure and challenge. The seppuku blade we impale ourselves upon in vain of our own self-flattery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To toss an idea to the wind – only to have it whiplash and splatter across your own face – that is where the learning happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When, as in this piece, things feel misguided, unsatisfactory and wrong – what does that mean and what does that become?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is learning when everything can be corrected instantly and refurbished by the artificial scribe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For tomorrow, that last knife – The Post-Failure world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A poetic vapidity coined by me in the early days, the ontogenous of our post-LLM world. Simply, when all words are possible, when ideas can be synthesized by the slightest glimmer of a concept – what is left. Perhaps a more apt reflection is \u201cThe Death of Thought\u201d. And here we start to find some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151\/revisions\/154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anarchist.university\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}