I was still digesting the throat-clearing intro when my eye noticed "quietly" and "honest" and I decided I'd not bother. But I scrolled through out of politeness, just in case the Basilisk will be very thorough.
> I want to be clear that I'm not against these tools generally. I use them myself
No essay is made worse by being stripped of filler. If the reader has got this far, this sentence is entirely redundant, I think.
I literally did the same thing, by the way: scanned the first paragraph for predatory signals; got "quietly," "honest;" skimmed.
The shape of the final paragraphs confirmed my prejudice.
I realized, though, that initial reading now is primarily to identify predatory signals on time and attention; in the absence of predatory LLM-signals, cautiously read; but every deviation from information-density triggers a flight response.
Rarely make it through anything anymore unless it's ancient (Horace, Cicero, Lucretius); but maybe they were forced into information density by the act of writing plus meter?
Lucilius, apparently, a degenerate counter-example; who used to dictate 200 lines a day standing on one foot: criminal.
Yeah, glazed immediately. It's not even like I recognised it as generated, there's just no substance.
My issue is that the equation has been discussed to death without anyone, including this author, proposing a solution. The horse is dead but the beatings continue.
"I am against these tools generally. I use them myself" would be a more interesting take
I am against murdering animals. But I eat animals.
I'm against them, vehemently, but I'm also not going to fight a tidal wave. I'm not going to be unemployed and unemployable by refusing to use them. Principles are expensive and I certainly cannot realistically afford to hold them tightly.
Being forced to use them to continue to have an income is causing me a cognitive dissonance and a level of stress that is surely going to kill me though. I strongly resent the fact that I've been backed into this corner where my choice is to swallow my principles or throw away a career I've worked half my life on
Pro AI: It’s inevitable and I love it
Anti AI: It’s inevitable and I hate it
Oh no. They’re converging. But I guess that just proves the point doesn’t it.
Even if it's not inevitable, if your employer tells you "use AI or get fired", well, take your pick. A lot of the resentment I see is a result of those sorts of mandates.
That’s why I don’t entertain their fatalism. We’re all rats on a sinking ship powerless to do anything outside of our existing schedules. Indistinguishable outcome for the majority of people compared to the AI euphorics.