Humanity As Secret Weapon

Latest from the Notebook: Do what's easy; try something new next year; ask: who's asking?, and more.

My actual notebook.

I take note of many things that I think would be worth exploring further with TAoN readers in one way or another. But sometimes — maybe you know this feeling? — these ideas just turn into lists of stuff that I never get around to sharing at all. So once a month or so, I’ll share my list! Here, then, my latest public notebook.

---

Sick of reading about AI? I get it! And that’s exactly why this passage from an article in The New Yorker about Holly Herndon jumped out at me. Herndon is an artist and musician who (along with her partner Mat Dryhurst) was early to embrace the technology as a tool. Despite that embrace:

“Herndon rejected the idea that [an AI image] generator such as Midjourney would become ‘the best artist ever,’ dismissing it as ‘a ridiculous understanding’ of art or its function. ‘I’m alive,’ she said one afternoon, as we sat in her apartment. “I am constantly updating what I am, and how I respond to what’s happening around me. I have all of these sensors that are constantly taking in new stuff. That just doesn’t exist in the machine-learning world.”

I love the idea that human creativity depends on our ability to notice, to direct our attention, to respond to what we take in. One more beat:

She leaned back in her chair. “There are cool, sophisticated systems, but they are nowhere near as sophisticated as this,” she said. She gestured toward herself. “This is remarkable.”

I admire the optimism; humans certainly can be remarkable. I hope Herndon is correct! In the week ahead, take note of what your “sensors” bring in than an AI can’t.

---

THE POSSIBILITIES OF EASY

From a New York Times article (gift link) about the brilliant musician and songwriter Vince Clark, here describing his attraction to synths when he was starting out:

“It felt to him like electronic music was the genuine punk rock. A guitarist needed to learn at least three chords, but a synth player could create a whole track even with nine broken fingers. ‘The Sex Pistols were real musicians,’ he said. ‘The early electronic musicians weren’t. All they could do was’ — he tapped on the dining table — ‘which is still all I can do,’ he finished with a roar.”

---

SOMETHING NEW

I’m an obits fan in general, and the news that Byron Wien had passed caught my eye: I remember his name from my long-ago days as an editor at business and finance magazines; he was “a Wall Street soothsayer,” as The Times put it, known in part for annually predicting “10 surprises” in the year ahead. He also (this I did not remember) once wrote up, at age 80, a list of 20 life lessons. They’re quite good! I’ll share two I liked:

• Every year, try doing something you have never done before that is totally out of your comfort zone. It could be running a marathon, attending a conference that interests you on an off-beat subject that will be populated by people very different from your usual circle of associates and friends, or traveling to an obscure destination alone. This will add to the essential process of self-discovery.

A good one to ponder as 2024 (yikes) approaches. (And on the subject of taking on new challenges, see also this TAoN post featuring a guest prompt from Tom Vanderbilt.)