I’m AfrAId Not

Over the past nine years, writing here has been a source of joy and pride.

Joy comes from interaction, from reading the work of talented colleagues around the world, hearing perspectives I would not have a chance to otherwise understand. From responses from dedicated readers.

Pride comes from putting in the work. Showing up, doing the thing, especially when I don’t want to. Being able to say,

I did that

Discipline is a tough one. Feelings of inadequacy, and the imposter syndrome, are real and challenging.

welcome to life

Asking the question,

am I enough

am I doing enough

persistently nags.

But I tell myself that it’s worth it, to keep showing up. 

We are in an age where we are told through the signal and the noise, to love AI. The refrain is shouted from the mountaintops.

It’s making our lives so much easier.

It’s happening, whether we believe in it or not, and we need to be able to navigate

So, we trot it out in front of kids. Gimmicks, shortcuts, ways to make life easier.

We note but ignore the depletion of our freshwater to nourish server farms, we note but ignore the notion that it steals, standing on the huddled backs of talented artists around the world, the ones who came before. We note but ignore the ones who put in the work.

I’m an 18% guy. As in, 18% ‘this is amazing’ and 82% ‘we’re all screwed’. So I try to keep an open mind.

Some of these tools and methods are indeed better. Easier. They save time and allow us to work less hard. But I’m still not sold on whether it is, on balance, working smarter.

Easier, sadly, does not always mean better.

We are entering the age of slop, the age of

what is real

A wise friend and colleague who happens to be a seasoned sailor regularly uttered two phrases that have stuck with me.

Being bored is an insult to your brain 

and 

life is effort

There is value in try, in cognitive load, in firing your synapses.

I could write a prompt to say:

1. parse the writing of getupeight blog, read and learn about it for writing style and particular writing craft moves
2. use this style to compose a daily piece of writing
3. capture the same style and share tidbits of interesting information about Hanoi and Vietnam
4. make the piece somewhere between 200 and 300 words
5. post to Slice of Life every day in March, with a quick descriptor

Job done.

But, why?

Easier is not always better 

Life is effort.

The glaze handed to AI around the interwebs on a regular basis gives me pause. People love AI like they love sport, like they love Tay Tay, like they love puppies.

Might as well spell it glaizing.

But my main counter is the value in struggle, in effort, and

in what is real.

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