The Spotification of our brainsOn AI. And writing.

If you were to ask me about music 10 years ago, you’d see I was quite in the know.
Okay, I didn’t know that much, but I had opinions. I could tell you about a few up-and-coming artists and offer some new song recommendations. Now? I have no idea. I’ve outsourced that part of my brain to Spotify.
Spotify’s Discover Weekly program and activity-based playlists fill my phone with perfectly-attuned music recommendations. I might click add-to-library, but I don’t know as much as I used to about new music. It’s not necessarily a bad thing — Spotify does a better job than I ever could.

But writing…I worry about outsourcing this one.

I find the more write, the more ideas I have… which begets more writing. It’s a virtuous cycle. And a good one because writing is thinking. It’s exercise for your brain.
ChatGPT and AI platforms offer on demand writing. I don’t need to think — I just mention some things I want and ChatGPT offers an email or article ready to go.
Honestly, it’s great. I am not writing this to say we shouldn’t use it. ChatGPT saves me time. Just… don’t forget the benefits of writing.
If you have a problem, or are curious about a subject — attempting to write about it is one of the best ways to approach it. It forces you to structure, to storyline, to cut down an idea to the root before expounding on it with rich detail and example. To identify gaps in logic, and where to research next. To put yourself in a readers’ shoes, and empathize with someone else.

Writing is the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about. Importantly, writing is also the process by which you figure it out.
- Farnam Street

ChatGPT isn’t a writing replacement. It’s an enabler. Let AI do the busy work. So writing can be a tool for elevating your thinking.