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Since this article is on the front page after I just achieved a major personal breakthrough concerning my father through writing I'll share it. I've been in a

Since this article is on the front page after I just achieved a major personal breakthrough concerning my father through writing I'll share it. I've been in a protracted battle with my father my entire life and we reached a breaking point where I thought I wouldn't speak to him for a year or more. I sat down and started writing random thoughts down in an agitated state. Once I started calming down the picture started becoming clear: My father assumes I am like him. He thinks I should be like him and is confused when I am not. I always assumed that I am like him because he thinks that, but when I really think about it, he and are nothing alike. I mean, nothing alike. This conflict between what we think we should be like and what we are actually like is the root of the problem. I'll keep writing as a thinking tool. I'll use an AI for the boilerplate stuff.

jimkleiber 4y ago
> This conflict between what we think we should be like and what we are actually like is the root of the problem. I've seen this conflict a lot in my life and appreciate how you described it. I've found I've often been annoyed when I ask someone how they're doing and they say "fine" and I know they're not feeling fine. I realized maybe they're really saying "I want to feel fine." Something about splitting their desired state from their present state helped me.
Grothendank 4y ago
It's interesting because I have had a similar breakthroughs by using Bing to help organize and simplify my thoughts. I have Pure-O - a mental variant of obsessive compulsive disorder where I ruminate compulsively about things that concern me. But often I can't converge on a solution. Writing has often helped in the past, but sometimes it can't help. In those times, I just write and write and write and never reach a solution - in the ruminant state I seem to struggle to extract larger insights from the ruminations. That's where AI can help - not just in boilerplate production, but in editorial input, and in looking up and brainstorming potential solutions. When I put my writings together with the help of AI, I can do a number of useful things: 1. Bing can extract and merge key ideas that come up frequently in my rumination 2. Bing can help me identify and describe the values my ideas represent 3. Bing can summarize and help me understand the nature of the conflict 4. Bing can help me brainstorm and organize resolutions 5. Bing can even look up methods for understanding and solving the problem Once I have the simplified, abstracted, and actionized version of my ruminations, I notice two things: 1. The pressure to ruminate about the conflict evaporates 2. My thoughts on the issue become clear, calm, and reflective 3. The reflection moves to my values and options 4. There is no more hesitation and splitting of hairs 5. I can finally pick a resolution to the conflict I encourage you to experiment with AI as more than a boilerplate generator. I encourage you to see whether it can help you: 1. write out complex and painful thoughts 2. engage them in ways you're currently struggling to do 3. refine and simplify them into clear and powerful values and facts 4. brainstorm nuanced solutions to conflicting emotions I consider this similar to writing with a skilled and caring helper or counselor. Moreover, there is evidence (both scientific and personal) that the AI guidance teaches and renews the skills I need to perform the writing process on my own. I see it as a powerful extension of the writing technique, not a replacement.

jimkleiber 4y ago

> This conflict between what we think we should be like and what we are actually like is the root of the problem. I've seen this conflict a lot in my life and appreciate how you described it. I've found I've often been annoyed when I ask someone how they're doing and they say "fine" and I know they're not feeling fine. I realized maybe they're really saying "I want to feel fine." Something about splitting their desired state from their present state helped me.

Grothendank 4y ago

It's interesting because I have had a similar breakthroughs by using Bing to help organize and simplify my thoughts. I have Pure-O - a mental variant of obsessive compulsive disorder where I ruminate compulsively about things that concern me. But often I can't converge on a solution. Writing has often helped in the past, but sometimes it can't help. In those times, I just write and write and write and never reach a solution - in the ruminant state I seem to struggle to extract larger insights from the ruminations. That's where AI can help - not just in boilerplate production, but in editorial input, and in looking up and brainstorming potential solutions. When I put my writings together with the help of AI, I can do a number of useful things: 1. Bing can extract and merge key ideas that come up frequently in my rumination 2. Bing can help me identify and describe the values my ideas represent 3. Bing can summarize and help me understand the nature of the conflict 4. Bing can help me brainstorm and organize resolutions 5. Bing can even look up methods for understanding and solving the problem Once I have the simplified, abstracted, and actionized version of my ruminations, I notice two things: 1. The pressure to ruminate about the conflict evaporates 2. My thoughts on the issue become clear, calm, and reflective 3. The reflection moves to my values and options 4. There is no more hesitation and splitting of hairs 5. I can finally pick a resolution to the conflict I encourage you to experiment with AI as more than a boilerplate generator. I encourage you to see whether it can help you: 1. write out complex and painful thoughts 2. engage them in ways you're currently struggling to do 3. refine and simplify them into clear and powerful values and facts 4. brainstorm nuanced solutions to conflicting emotions I consider this similar to writing with a skilled and caring helper or counselor. Moreover, there is evidence (both scientific and personal) that the AI guidance teaches and renews the skills I need to perform the writing process on my own. I see it as a powerful extension of the writing technique, not a replacement.