Writing well, which means for impact, meaning, and to elucidate or add insight is incredibly difficult and increasingly a lost art.
The biggest reason for declining writing skills is how fast everything is moving. You are measured on ‘respnsiveness’ which is ‘speed of hitting sent’ not on the content or the accuracy of what you write (spreading mis-information and dis-information).
Another reason is litigiousness. The final reason is the advent of bulletin board chats, SMS texts, email communication, and people who don’t read classical texts of any industry or any kind anymore - they read a summary of a summary and act as if they were a SME (they are NOT).
While this is slightly off topic from the intent of this essay, it is related so I want to post here. This is one of my biggest gripes. And why I choose to write my Substack “Intangible Edge” without editing or content created by AI. I also try to read books or article pre-2023 when possible as an antidote to and a reminder of what human writing looks like, warts, rainbows, and incorrect grammar and all.
The fake feeling and aftertaste from reading AI written slop is real. It’s easy to get used to it - like eating processed food. You no longer distinguish between it and a whole food diet. You mimic it unknowingly, or intentionally because it gets more reactions, reposts, views and comments.
Garbage in garbage out has spread to so much in daily routines and lives. The worst part - we’re losing the ability to build and create original #notgarbage
Yes! It's exactly like eating processed food. And it terrifies me to think that so many people love the taste of it. Especially in business writing, where they'll start calling bland, meaningless writing a "best practice."
Have you read "Working" by Robert Caro? It's a great story about developing the craft, from one of America's greatest biographers.
Writing well, which means for impact, meaning, and to elucidate or add insight is incredibly difficult and increasingly a lost art.
The biggest reason for declining writing skills is how fast everything is moving. You are measured on ‘respnsiveness’ which is ‘speed of hitting sent’ not on the content or the accuracy of what you write (spreading mis-information and dis-information).
Another reason is litigiousness. The final reason is the advent of bulletin board chats, SMS texts, email communication, and people who don’t read classical texts of any industry or any kind anymore - they read a summary of a summary and act as if they were a SME (they are NOT).
While this is slightly off topic from the intent of this essay, it is related so I want to post here. This is one of my biggest gripes. And why I choose to write my Substack “Intangible Edge” without editing or content created by AI. I also try to read books or article pre-2023 when possible as an antidote to and a reminder of what human writing looks like, warts, rainbows, and incorrect grammar and all.
The fake feeling and aftertaste from reading AI written slop is real. It’s easy to get used to it - like eating processed food. You no longer distinguish between it and a whole food diet. You mimic it unknowingly, or intentionally because it gets more reactions, reposts, views and comments.
Garbage in garbage out has spread to so much in daily routines and lives. The worst part - we’re losing the ability to build and create original #notgarbage
Yes! It's exactly like eating processed food. And it terrifies me to think that so many people love the taste of it. Especially in business writing, where they'll start calling bland, meaningless writing a "best practice."
Have you read "Working" by Robert Caro? It's a great story about developing the craft, from one of America's greatest biographers.
ZH
Looks like a great recommendation - I will check it out!