Distinct from fine art, it’s also about avoiding developing the skill of written composition (forget vocab, spelling, grammar, appropriate word choice, proof-reading), it’s about avoiding developing any ability to express yourself, and failing to develop reading comprehension (if you plug something into it, asking for a summary). It’s just about being lazy and incompetent, and insisting that laziness and incompetence is fine, actually.
I hadn’t connected AI use with the recent surge in anti-intellectualism, but this makes me think it pretty neatly links that with the capitalist disrespect for art and writing as meaningful pursuits.
[Cueball is seated at a desk, and uses a laptop. White Hat is standing right behind him.] Cueball: I’m ranked 7,145,000th globally on this chess platform. Cueball: It’s hard to be ranked that low in any activity.
[Zoom on Cueball talking] Cueball: Few pastimes even have 7 million rated players. Until the Internet, it wasn’t really possible. You could be this bad, but only unofficially.
[Cueball is now facing White Hat] Cueball: So in a sense, I’m worse at chess than anyone was at anything for most of human history. White Hat: Why are you still doing it?
[Cueball is back on the laptop] Cueball: Well, no human has ever had this many friends to play with. White Hat: That person is calling you some very obscene names. Cueball: Our friendship is complicated.
ALT
