Stephen Malina
@an1lam
Not sure if it's a result of approaching 30 or kneejerk contrarianism against AI-generated writing (which I'm actually optimistic about) but I'm finding myself appreciating "stylized" writing more recently. Bruce Sterling's prologue to Ascendancies is a good example: https://i.imgur.com/4wKqzpG.jpg
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
Maybe I'm just fooling myself but when reading this I feel like I detect an aliveness that AI writing still lacks, even with prompt wizardry applied. This isn't just carbon chauvinism either. The aliveness isn't inherent; an AI could totally achieve it. I just don't think they have yet.
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
The obvious way to test this is to do a blind test, although constructing one is tricky.
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
On the other hand, with art I don't perceive such a clear gap. Maybe because I've spent on the order of 1000-10000x more time consuming writing vs. art?
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
Another way to describe this writing is that it's compressed. It gives a sense of inexpressible yet crisp ideas lingering under the surface. Unfortunately, I don't think my writing often gives off this sense that I'm seeking out. Too much of a drive towards explicit crushing density.
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
One measure of this type of writing is whether the ideas pattern match situations by association before you've fully digested them. I fear he'll hate this entire idea for failing to understand mediocrity (which I don't) but @vgr was probably the first person whose writing did this for me.
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Stephen Malina
@an1lam
Another angle on this is that I'm relatively more excited about writing and coding assistants that improve quality than I am about tools that help me write more prose or code.
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Venkatesh Rao ☀️
@vgr
You're talking about density I think, which is orthogonal to mediocrity. I wrote about it in a couple of posts ~2012. You're on to something. Density comes from tighening grounding https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/01/11/seeking-density-in-the-gonzo-theater/ https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/05/03/rediscovering-literacy/
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