I’m on vacation this weekend, so I’m going to keep the reflection a bit shorter today (hey! That sigh of relief was rude).
To jump right in: I (and everyone else, more or less) have been thinking and talking and worrying over GenAI quite a bit, as of late (some random, recent-ish takes that I enjoyed: John Oliver talked about AI slop in his main segment; author Ted Chiang wrote about why AI can't create "art"; and musician Jacob Collier discussed human creativity with Hank Green). All of these concerns and conversations are reasonable, given that no one, regardless of what they claim, really understands how, and how much, GenAI will change "things", broadly.
I want to give a disclaimer here: I don't think GenAI has to be an unmitigated bad thing—or at least I hope it doesn't, since it's ostensibly here to stay. I do think there are use cases for it, on both large and small scales; I've used it myself to aid in data analysis and to parse through dense legalese (with mixed feelings [and mixed results]).
Even so, it's uncontroversial to say that the corporations making GenAI are not carefully considering the implications and impacts of pushing their product into the world (or, for that matter, the ethics of how the models are trained). This is felt particularly keenly by creatives, because GenAI is being used to "create" "art" (do you know how annoyed I have to be to put air quotes around two words in a row??) while, in many instances, being illegally trained on copyrighted works. A prime example of this is the recent trend of using GenAI to make images in the style of Studio Ghibli's animated films; a cute concept on the surface, until you think about how that's been made possible, and how invasive it is for the artists who actually created the style. It's sad. It's frustrating.
Another example, and what prompted this ramble, is a content creator on YouTube (recommended to me by the Algorithm, naturally) whose channel is dedicated to teaching other "authors" how to "write" "books" using GenAI (okay, I'll stop it with the air quotes). The person claims that their methods allow people with great ideas to tell stories without getting bogged down with that pesky, boring "writing" business. And I...I just...I can't stand that. Writing, the process, is a huge part of why we tell stories in the first place. Cutting that out because you don't enjoy it is like driving a marathon. It misses the point; it undercuts the achievement; it produces a worse outcome for everyone involved.
I could go on (and on) about this, but I'll spare you, because I recognize that I'm ranting, and I don't really have a goal aside from encouraging you to, as much as possible, engage with GenAI tools in ways that are measured and thoughtful (if at all!). Okay. That's all, for now. Love you, bye!
PS I think I set a record for the most parentheticals in a newsletter! Nice!
PPS Upon reflection, I realize that this was not kept shorter. Whoops!
☕ Project Curses
Last time I wrote you I was getting ready to embark on my summer of writing, with high hopes for how I’d use the time—which, fortunately, were well founded! Now, progress hasn’t been quite as dramatic as I’d have liked (e.g., it would've been very cool if I’d magically finished the novel in two weeks), but, perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve gotten more done in the past couple weeks than I have in months. That’s good.
Right now I’m finishing up the last of the research I’d identified for myself when drafting. This includes both small things (e.g., What does homemade wood polish smell like? How long is the delay when you talk to someone on the phone but they’re standing near you?) and big things (e.g., How do Jungian views of identity relate to the concept of the soul? How do memories form, and how does revisiting them in written or visual formats affect the brain?). You know—the stuff writers think about.
Once this is done, the track will be laid, so to speak; tunnels will be carved through insurmountable blocks, and bridges built over gaps in the story, so that the revision effort can glide effortlessly forward. I’m very close to drafting properly again, and so stoked for it!
♟️ Project Rift
When I wrote the first draft of Project Curses I kind of just powered through from start to finish, which was helpful when, you know, doing something I’d never done before, and that I wasn’t sure I could do. But for this new novel-length project I’m doing things a little differently, for a variety of reasons (which I’ll get into eventually). Right now that looks like drafting, and re-drafting, and re-re-drafting Chapter 1 until it’s pretty much dialed in. I’m currently on Draft 3, and it feels close (though I’ll probably give it a final pass or six for polish).
📚 Reading
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke |Piranesi is a story about a man who lives in an infinite house that contains both the ocean and the sky, a house latticed with endless corridors and innumerable rooms, a house adorned with countless statues of strange and wondrous design, where only fifteen people have ever lived, just two of whom are alive: Piranesi, and the Other. Susanna Clarke writes worlds, characters, and magic that feel so real. She’s brilliant. This is my second read-through of Piranesi, and I couldn’t recommend it more.
🎧 Listening
Robert Macfarlane: Is a River Alive? on Between the Covers | Macfarlane, author of Underland and The Lost Words, among other books, writes about landscapes and language in a way that captures the beauty and life inherent to caves and rivers and coastlines and people. That really comes across in this interview, and I would’ve been spellbound by the conversation even if it didn’t feature readings and questions for Macfarlane by some of my favorite authors (including Ursula K. Le Guin, Richard Powers, and Amitav Ghosh). This shot Is a River Alive? straight to the top of my TBR!
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 | Games are still games. Clair Obscur is definitely a game; it’s filled with complex mechanics and menus and upgrades and (very satisfying) turn-based combat. But games can also be so much more than games, and Clair Obscur is definitely that, too. It has some of the best writing I’ve experienced for the medium, a haunting, sweeping score that rivals those of big budget films, incredible voice and motion-capture acting, and graphics infused with story and character. But the best part of the game is the story it tells, and how that story explores themes of grief and joy and life and death using every aspect of the medium. I recommend playing the game, of course—or, if you’re not spoiler-averse, at least checking out Jacob Geller’s video essay on the game, which speaks to its themes more eloquently than I can.
In the frame: I'm on vacation and can't put in a new photo today, so you're getting this pretty picture from a hike I've shared already.
A lot of you may already be familiar with John and Hank Green, AKA the vlogbrothers, knowingly or not—whether through their eponymous YouTube channel, one of Hank's educational "side" projects like Crash Course or SciShow, or through one (or more) of John's bestselling novels or nonfiction books, like The Fault in Our Stars or The Anthropocene Reviewed. If you haven't come across them before, then...well, you're welcome. They're great.
Anyway—I'm giving the Green brothers a little shout out in today's show & tell because there have been several videos, recently, that really resonated with me, and that I thought you might like too. First there's a video from John about his religious views and how he relates to Hank, who is not religious. Then there's a two-part conversation where John asks Hank, "Am I cigarettes?", comparing our addiction to content and scrolling to smoking—to which Hank replies with a really thought provoking take on consuming content versus information through the lens of snack foods. John also just put out an explanation of what being a New York Times bestseller actually means, which is interesting, and actually relevant, here. Finally, there's that conversation between Hank and Jacob Collier I mentioned in the reflection, which engages with ideas around creativity and human capacity in a really thoughtful, beautiful way.
If any of that sparks interest for you, check it out! Most of them are less than 10 minutes long and definitely worth a watch. If not, just take solace in the fact that amidst the firehose of AI-generated, empty-feeling content, there are, and always will be, very thoughtful, kind humans making things with care.
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