I am committing to you, dear reader, to always be the voice behind these messages. However flawed that voice may be and however many errors you may discover in both grammar and punctuation, I promise that these nimble fingers and this very interesting brain will be the creator of this content.
Artificial Intelligence is pervasive in media, and I have been increasingly noticing a snippet at the end of an article that says something to the effect of, “This article was assisted by AI.” I have no doubt that Chat GPT or some other AI creation could read the entirety of the words I have written and create a compelling and interesting next blog post. But, I would ask, to what end? I am confident that there would be no spelling errors, the grammar would be impeccable, and the post would be punctuated to perfection.
I am old school. I am not a Luddite, as I am typing this on a computer, but I prefer to read, listen to, and watch humans creating rather than whatever medley a robot can create.
For what it is worth, I just checked my spelling of Luddite and Google spewed this at me: “A Luddite was historically a member of the early 19th century English textile workers’ movement that protested new machinery threatening their livelihoods, often by smashing machines. Today, a Luddite refers to someone who opposes technological progress, particularly new technology like AI, fearing its impact on society, jobs, and human well-being.”
So according to that definition, I am a Luddite. This is a little bizarre. I feel like that painting by Norman Rockwell, called Triple Self-Portrait, where he is painting himself as he looks into a mirror, and of course, he painted that image as well. Click on the link to view it.
AI is telling me that I am a modern-day luddite. Of all the nerve.
I suppose I don’t care much for what AI thinks of me, and I am perfectly happy to be judged by Artificial Intelligence. Back to my original point. My commitment to you is to always be authentic, and if or when I am bereft of ideas or inspiration, you will be the first to know, and I will call it quits. I am not lazy and will not resort to having a bot write for me.
The reason I bring all of this up is because I feel like it is important for you to know that I am a one-man shop. I write, edit, record, publish, and post all on my own. I will accept 100% of the responsibility when there is an error of any kind. I am not shy about this and think the reflection on my humanity and uniqueness is part of the charm. I toyed with the idea of asking my wife to edit my content before posting, but she is not only busy with her own pursuits, she is a brutal editor. I like to like her more than I like red ink and having a perfect post.
My process for writing, if you are interested, you can continue reading; if not, stop here, and I will see you next week. I find inspiration from an article, video, book or some other observation during the week. I ruminate on said inspiration and let it roll around in my noggin. Is there a message here, I ask. Can I string together a thousand words, give or take? Would anyone else find it interesting? If I can answer to the affirmative on these questions, I will grab a cup of coffee or tea and put my head down like Schroeder at the keyboard and plug away.
I allow the words to flow naturally and see where the text takes me. I do not edit as I go. Thinking too much can be dangerous while creating anything. I put the critic in the other room, and I pounce on the idea like a golden retriever with a good stick. I am somewhat conscious of the word count, as it is displayed in the lower left-hand corner, but I keep plugging away until I feel like it is somewhat taking shape.
Once it is written, I allow spell check to remind me of what an idiot I am or how uncoordinated my fingers are. I fix all of the errors and save the document. I go do something else, a walk, mow the grass, a paddle on the lake, or whatever else I find enjoyable and leave the work on the hard drive (or the cloud).
I ignore it for multiple days without looking at it or thinking about it. Most often, I think to myself, “Well, that wasn’t great, but we’ll see.” And see I do. Several days later, I will print it off and give it a read. This read is not to correct any errors, although it sometimes is a byproduct, but it is to see if I have put together a cogent thought. I evaluate it for what it is. Could I ask my friends and other followers to commit six to seven minutes of their lives for what I have created? That is the primary question in my mind. If the answer is yes, I then begin the dogged work of trying to proofread my own stuff.
This is difficult for me as my writing doesn’t fall neatly into the Strunk and White style of writing. Again, I want my voice to be authentic. One of the finest compliments I got on my book, Now What: A Practical Guide to Figuring Out Your Financial Future, was that this reader knew me quite well and she said, I can’t read this without hearing your speaking voice. She said it was kind of like hearing Morgan Freeman’s distinctive voice when she reads anything he writes. High praise indeed. And this brings us back to my original point. Robots have their place, to be sure. But creating content for human enjoyment is not one of those places. There will be something lacking in the music, the show, the movie, the book, or the article that can’t be replicated from a living soul. Our collective lived experience is unique, and robots can study that, maybe even understand it to some degree, but they could never experience it. It is the experience of life that provides the richness, texture, and meaning to all of us who take our breath the old-fashioned way.