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It also lacks intrinsic value. A gold jewel is not really 'better' than one made from aluminum, except for the fact that gold is rare and thus expensive and sig

It also lacks intrinsic value. A gold jewel is not really 'better' than one made from aluminum, except for the fact that gold is rare and thus expensive and signals somebody invested a significant amount of resources into acquiring it. A hand written email used to signal the same - that somebody took the time and effort to craft a thoughtful email to you, and holds you in high enough regard to make an investment like that. Nowadays its utterly impossible to tell.

xanderlewis 2y ago
‘Costly signalling’, to give it its technical name. Now that GenAI has devalued (alternatively, read: ‘democratised’) prose, the best costly signal will be to go to great lengths to show you haven’t used AI. Whatever it can’t do will become by-definition more valuable.
- elicksaur 2y ago
  In an equality sense, I guess it is democratizing, since everyone who uses it sounds the same. But to me, there needs to be some small element of individualism. “Democratic” is partially about each person being able to share their own voice. In that sense, it centralizes prose, since the user adopts the voice of OpenAI.
  - xanderlewis 2y ago
    It's not 'democratising' — or if it is, it wasn't wanted. I was trying to be sarcastic without being overly snarky.
caf 2y ago
To really drive home the point, in the 19th century there were ingots of aluminium among the crown jewels of some royal families, because at the time it was rare, expensive and required a significant resource investment to refine.
II2II 2y ago
> A hand written email [...] I remember when a hand written letter literally meant a hand written letter. Preferably in tidy cursive. Some viewed it as more personal. Others viewed it as a reflection of thought and effort. It is easy to say that AI is different. I don't even like it when my email client attempts to auto-complete the current word, never mind the next few words, because it wasn't my word. It makes me feel even worse if it was going to be my word. (If what I was going to say is that predictable, is it even worth saying?) Yet that shift in values over handwritten letters leads me to think there will be a shift in values regarding AI written letters. It doesn't take much imagination to to realize that someone is going to tell an AI agent to write birthday greetings to each of their friends, then send it off on their birthday.
- aaomidi 2y ago
  Hand written post cards still carry more emotional weight than email. Arguably even more so.

xanderlewis 2y ago

‘Costly signalling’, to give it its technical name. Now that GenAI has devalued (alternatively, read: ‘democratised’) prose, the best costly signal will be to go to great lengths to show you haven’t used AI. Whatever it can’t do will become by-definition more valuable.

elicksaur 2y ago
In an equality sense, I guess it is democratizing, since everyone who uses it sounds the same. But to me, there needs to be some small element of individualism. “Democratic” is partially about each person being able to share their own voice. In that sense, it centralizes prose, since the user adopts the voice of OpenAI.
- xanderlewis 2y ago
  It's not 'democratising' — or if it is, it wasn't wanted. I was trying to be sarcastic without being overly snarky.

caf 2y ago

To really drive home the point, in the 19th century there were ingots of aluminium among the crown jewels of some royal families, because at the time it was rare, expensive and required a significant resource investment to refine.

II2II 2y ago

> A hand written email [...] I remember when a hand written letter literally meant a hand written letter. Preferably in tidy cursive. Some viewed it as more personal. Others viewed it as a reflection of thought and effort. It is easy to say that AI is different. I don't even like it when my email client attempts to auto-complete the current word, never mind the next few words, because it wasn't my word. It makes me feel even worse if it was going to be my word. (If what I was going to say is that predictable, is it even worth saying?) Yet that shift in values over handwritten letters leads me to think there will be a shift in values regarding AI written letters. It doesn't take much imagination to to realize that someone is going to tell an AI agent to write birthday greetings to each of their friends, then send it off on their birthday.

aaomidi 2y ago
Hand written post cards still carry more emotional weight than email. Arguably even more so.