"Isn't it so cool to be human and alive right now?"

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Thanks to all of you who have weighed in so the AI Watercooler so far. It's super interesting to read the opinions of other humans, and to see the current split (60/40).

If you haven't shared your current and perfectly valid opinion yet, or want to see more opinions of others, go here.

Today's opinion: AI is stunting actual creativity, which necessarily involves a lot of waiting, failing, wrestling, thinking, and effort.

Yes, AI makes superficial creation easy and fast—Write a book in a week! Release a song album tomorrow!—but these "creations" are to fully-human creations like particleboard IKEA furniture is to the solid wood table that's been in your family for three generations. There's irreplaceable and lasting soul and character and memories in one and not the other, even though both are technically furniture.

Unnaturally hastening the creative process through the use of AI doesn't lead to the self-discovery inherent in the creative process. Nor does it build the authentic self-trust you're meant to build through creating. And most other humans don't want to consume a creative work that involved no sacrifice on your part. Without sacrifice, there's very little of you in "your" creative work.

(Exceptions: I'm not opposed to using AI as a technical resource when it comes to debugging code or even using it to build, for example, the code behind aiwatercooler.org. Or asking AI which one is right: "particle board" or "particle-board" or "particleboard"?)

Agree? Disagree? Explain. I genuinely want to know. Reply, and I'll share thought-provoking responses in a future email.

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NOTICING LIFE

Today's noticing life moment comes from an unexpectedly magical weekend in Oklahoma during Cross-country Trip #1. The Internet informed me today that bison run into storms which is such an inspiring analogy for being proactive versus passive. Cattle just stand there miserably in a storm and take it.

This picture was taken at the passion business of a down-to-earth husband-wife team. If we can trust my cryptic notes, they were told during COVID that they'd have to close their business for two years. If they moved to Oklahoma, however, they only had to close for two weeks. So they moved. The stuff we do for our dreams, and the places they take us...

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Isn't it cool to be human and alive right now? See you in the next one...