No.. he's just using AI who's regurgitating things from an original author who's talking about this from a deeper level - everything here sounds borrowed. I'm not surprised that he doesn't check whether his content is his or not. For example: "Meaning is the experience of ordered consciousness" He's citing Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory repackaged with a bow on it and sold as original insight. He didn't coin that. He absorbed it, smoothed it through AI, and published it. he's using AI to write about why AI can't replace human writing. The irony writes itself. The manipulation.
I really just want to help people. I’m not overly concerned with the economics of it. But I guess it’s ok if people find value in my work and are willing to toss a few nickels my way. 🙂
When we only consume, we borrow other people’s interpretations. We see what they feel, but we never process what we feel. Everything becomes shallow and interchangeable.
Writing forces the opposite. When you sit down to write, you cannot escape your own thinking. You take a fact, turn it around, question it, connect it to your own experience. In that process, feeling attaches to it. That is when it becomes meaningful.
Your letter brilliantly addresses the info chaos problem. I recently noticed that so many of us are losing our words. I and people around me can be looking at an object or midsentence completely lose the correct word. Even young people, newscasters, politicians and preachers. I know i am aging but this seems wrong. I have been trying to slow down my frantic scrolling for news and entertainment, trying to stop and respond internally. So now i see your solution, the dreaded write an essay.
I’ve started writing 2 to 3 pieces per week and I’ve found it’s an exceptional way for me to process my thoughts. I think it’s also helped be be able to better verbalize ideas and concepts.
Can’t agree with this more: “most people walk around with opinions they’ve never thought through. They feel like they believe something, but they’ve never tried to write it down in a way that would survive a smart reader’s scrutiny.” They hide behind the wall of illusion and hope that people would assume that they have something insightful to say. But anything that can be proven without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. What can only be safely said is that they have nothing to say.
Even though i read books I'll make a habit of reading essays first before writing it myself and i found a great site for that which aeon.co/essays if anyone wonders. Well there are more but it's not like i have to tell you. And i told about this site because obviously i just felt like it and wanted to recommend it when i saw the site afterall this is just me doing my things
It took me 2 and a half years to write my last book, which I was so happy I published in 2023 before AI really came into force.
I rewrote the book (Bushido Of Bitcoin) EIGHT times. And it wasn’t a small book: 530k words in the end. Exploring, wresting and grappling with ideas on beauty, virtue, complexity, wealth, cycles, excellence, responsibility, economics, politics and philosophy the whole way through.
I lost track of how many books I read, how much of Nietzsche, Spengler, Clavell, Hoppe and everyone else I read in order to weave together all these ideas and try to come up with something thought through.
I say this not to blow smoke up my ass, but to echo what you said about the “discovery process” that is writing long form.
It’s truly a unique, deep and transformative process.
I tell everyone that writing the book changed me as much as I changed the book through each of the eight rewrites.
——
Couple other notes
I published an essay a couple months back on the virtue of deliberate ignorance and unplugging from the noise
I used a term “mental obesity” to describe our excessive intake of information in the information age (analogous to physical obesity thanks to Industrial Revolution - which you alluded to too). Hope that’s useful for your future work.
Shit. I forgot the second. Nevermind. I’ll comment again when I remember.
It’s been a while since I took writing seriously. I wrote for both bitcoin magazine and zero hedge years back. Must’ve hit at least 2m words (the old way..lol).
Perhaps it’s time to make a come back. Thanks for your work man.
Writing is the only thing that forces you to find the gaps in what you think you know. Reading gives you the illusion of understanding. Writing exposes the actual holes.
This was so beautifully written, I started writing cause I remember feeling I had all these thoughts and they simply needed to go somewhere as I needed to make sense of the world.
“We need ordinary people who make sense of their own minds and document them in public” was my favorite line.
Thank you for being one of those people because as someone who knows how hard it is to get a difficult point across in your writing, you did it with this essay!
Just coming across the term, “The meaning economy”. Knowing how much I document my thoughts in pages of stacks of notebooks in my mid 20s, I’m in my mid 30s and I struggle to write consistently.
You’ve helped inspire me to write, Dan. I’m almost at 100 followers after my first post, but I’m struggling to find the confidence in a second paper that’s good enough. Thanks, Kyle
Really enjoyed this essay, thank you!
I hadn't heard the term 'meaning economy' before, it's quite thought-provoking.
My newsletter, The Meaning Map, consists of essays about meaning. So, maybe I've accidentally positioned myself well for the new economy?
No.. he's just using AI who's regurgitating things from an original author who's talking about this from a deeper level - everything here sounds borrowed. I'm not surprised that he doesn't check whether his content is his or not. For example: "Meaning is the experience of ordered consciousness" He's citing Csikszentmihalyi's flow theory repackaged with a bow on it and sold as original insight. He didn't coin that. He absorbed it, smoothed it through AI, and published it. he's using AI to write about why AI can't replace human writing. The irony writes itself. The manipulation.
I really just want to help people. I’m not overly concerned with the economics of it. But I guess it’s ok if people find value in my work and are willing to toss a few nickels my way. 🙂
Feeling gives meaning to the facts.
When we only consume, we borrow other people’s interpretations. We see what they feel, but we never process what we feel. Everything becomes shallow and interchangeable.
Writing forces the opposite. When you sit down to write, you cannot escape your own thinking. You take a fact, turn it around, question it, connect it to your own experience. In that process, feeling attaches to it. That is when it becomes meaningful.
been thinking a lot about how to not become stupid in the AI era. Writing was one of the ways. This is gold.
Your letter brilliantly addresses the info chaos problem. I recently noticed that so many of us are losing our words. I and people around me can be looking at an object or midsentence completely lose the correct word. Even young people, newscasters, politicians and preachers. I know i am aging but this seems wrong. I have been trying to slow down my frantic scrolling for news and entertainment, trying to stop and respond internally. So now i see your solution, the dreaded write an essay.
Smart. I have been losing my words but never attributed to this. Something to work on!
I’ve started writing 2 to 3 pieces per week and I’ve found it’s an exceptional way for me to process my thoughts. I think it’s also helped be be able to better verbalize ideas and concepts.
Can’t agree with this more: “most people walk around with opinions they’ve never thought through. They feel like they believe something, but they’ve never tried to write it down in a way that would survive a smart reader’s scrutiny.” They hide behind the wall of illusion and hope that people would assume that they have something insightful to say. But anything that can be proven without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. What can only be safely said is that they have nothing to say.
Maybe we should start reading more essays first, Dan.
You can feel this, too.
If you use A.I. too much, you feel your mind getting lazy (or dumber).
But reading, thinking and writing is hard. And that’s why it’s good. It’s probably also necessary to keep our minds sharp as we age.
Excellent essay :)
Even though i read books I'll make a habit of reading essays first before writing it myself and i found a great site for that which aeon.co/essays if anyone wonders. Well there are more but it's not like i have to tell you. And i told about this site because obviously i just felt like it and wanted to recommend it when i saw the site afterall this is just me doing my things
It took me 2 and a half years to write my last book, which I was so happy I published in 2023 before AI really came into force.
I rewrote the book (Bushido Of Bitcoin) EIGHT times. And it wasn’t a small book: 530k words in the end. Exploring, wresting and grappling with ideas on beauty, virtue, complexity, wealth, cycles, excellence, responsibility, economics, politics and philosophy the whole way through.
I lost track of how many books I read, how much of Nietzsche, Spengler, Clavell, Hoppe and everyone else I read in order to weave together all these ideas and try to come up with something thought through.
I say this not to blow smoke up my ass, but to echo what you said about the “discovery process” that is writing long form.
It’s truly a unique, deep and transformative process.
I tell everyone that writing the book changed me as much as I changed the book through each of the eight rewrites.
——
Couple other notes
I published an essay a couple months back on the virtue of deliberate ignorance and unplugging from the noise
I used a term “mental obesity” to describe our excessive intake of information in the information age (analogous to physical obesity thanks to Industrial Revolution - which you alluded to too). Hope that’s useful for your future work.
Shit. I forgot the second. Nevermind. I’ll comment again when I remember.
It’s been a while since I took writing seriously. I wrote for both bitcoin magazine and zero hedge years back. Must’ve hit at least 2m words (the old way..lol).
Perhaps it’s time to make a come back. Thanks for your work man.
Writing is the only thing that forces you to find the gaps in what you think you know. Reading gives you the illusion of understanding. Writing exposes the actual holes.
This was so beautifully written, I started writing cause I remember feeling I had all these thoughts and they simply needed to go somewhere as I needed to make sense of the world.
“We need ordinary people who make sense of their own minds and document them in public” was my favorite line.
Thank you for being one of those people because as someone who knows how hard it is to get a difficult point across in your writing, you did it with this essay!
Just coming across the term, “The meaning economy”. Knowing how much I document my thoughts in pages of stacks of notebooks in my mid 20s, I’m in my mid 30s and I struggle to write consistently.
I guess I just have to restart.
No begging needed, Dan! I’ll write ✍️—otherwise, a neuron in my brain keels over.
create more
consume less
You’ve helped inspire me to write, Dan. I’m almost at 100 followers after my first post, but I’m struggling to find the confidence in a second paper that’s good enough. Thanks, Kyle