George Monbiot
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social1. Here's why I'll never use AI to assist my research or writing:
A. I don't want to know exactly what I'm looking for.
I mean that when I start researching a topic, I want to remain open to its contradictions and paradoxes, and to the unexpected paths that might lead off it. 🧵
2. Often, in reading books, reports or academic papers, I'll stumble across something far more interesting than the thing I thought I was exploring. And I’ll come to understand the deep background and context far better than if I allowed a machine to do some of the work.
3. B. As Naomi Klein remarks, our kind of journalism consists of pattern recognition. The patterns I recognise might be completely different from the patterns you recognise. Sometimes I read something that triggers a memory from 30 years ago, in a completely unrelated field.
4. No machine can do that for me, nor would I want one to. It is these weird neural connections and the consequent apprehension of patterns that build both human consciousness and individuality.
5. Obviously, we all absorb social influences, in ways of which we're not fully aware. But to the greatest extent possible, we should seek to work things out for ourselves. Just as we need to exercise our bodies, this cognitive effort is an essential workout. Let’s train our brains, not AI bots.
6. C. I don’t want to save myself effort. I WANT it to be difficult. If it’s not hard, it’s not worth doing. Only by pouring everything you have into a task can you develop your skills and develop your mind. The effort is the outcome.
7. D. I want my readers to know it’s me talking to you, and nothing and no one else. Otherwise, it would feel like a deception, however lightly I might use the software. Embrace the strange, the unexpected, the tangential. It’s what makes us human.
#WeirdPride
8. Here's the thread on one page: skywriter.blue
Page by George Monbiot (@georgemonbiot.bsky.social)
1. Here's why I'll never use AI to assist my research or writing:
A. I don't want to know exactly what I'm looking for.
I mean that when I start researching a topic, I want to remain open to its con...
skywriter.blue