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Sometimes I know exactly what I’m going to write in this newsletter.
But sometimes I don’t have any ideas as I watch the clock tick closer to deadline, hoping and praying for the muse to pay a visit.
Today was one of the days where I had half an idea but couldn’t see the other half until some inspiration landed in my lap.
Let’s start with the half idea.
A few weeks ago, I was struck by an article in The Atlantic about artificial intelligence titled A Tool That Crushes Creativity. To be more specific, I was struck by the creativity of Charlie Warzel, whose wordsmithing includes this truly remarkable passage:
“To live through this moment is to feel that some essential component of our shared humanity is being slowly leached out of the world. Spend enough time online, and you will see that not only is this cheaply rendered synthetic content everywhere; it is quietly shaping culture. It’s become a way that marketers advertise, that politicians produce propaganda. It’s changing how people communicate with one another. Our brains are being sous-vided in machine-made engagement bait… until they’re tender and succulent enough to fall apart on contact.”
I was determined to someday find a way to talk about our brains being sous-vided and today was the day when the muse showed me the way by reminding me of what I had witnessed a week earlier.
Sharing the stage with Chis Hadfield as we discussed his latest novel, Final Orbit, is an out-of-this-world experience. While the book is historical fiction, it is the product of facts, details and experiences assembled by his decades as an astronaut, including 165 days in space.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield (left) and Free Press editor Paul Samyn discuss Hadfield’s writing, his career and his new book at the Winnipeg Art Gallery last week. (Brook Jones / Free Press)
In other words, the creativity that Hadfield produces is anything but cheaply rendered synthetic bits of content. Hadfield has depth because of how high he has soared. Hadfield has intelligence that is real and increasingly rarified. Hadfield is the antithesis of AI slop.
The irony in what is increasingly becoming the age of AI: Hadfield has been to space, which we once thought was the final frontier.
Today, we are boldly going wherever generative AI wants to take us.
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