The Path to Greatness

There are a number of reasons why AI can be problematic, but lawsuits over stolen copyrights and the like don’t touch on one of the more interesting and important reasons why AI should be used judiciously in creative work.

It can undermine your skills. And who among us wants to fall victim to that most dreadful of problems, creative atrophy?

This essay by Storm Humbert goes deeper into the perils of cognitive offloading, skill atrophy, and more.

Not a Scab, But a Wound – Apex Book Company

Don’t be drawn in by the allure of never having to go through the “being-bad-at-it” phase of learning a craft. We must allow ourselves to be bad—to downright suck—for a little while. Outsourcing our infinite potential to limited tools is how we become limited ourselves. Instead, pick up a pencil. Sit at a keyboard. Contend with the blank page and the empty canvas—the unsullied slab of granite. It’s the only path to greatness.

Like any tool, AI can be good at some things and not great at others. Knowing the why and when and how is critical to making good use of such tools, and those decisions require thought and good judgement. And what’s the best tool for building people who are good at thinking?

Why, a library card! AI Literacy Starts With Reading Books, Not Prompts

* * *

Photo by S.Ratanak on Unsplash #365Ways #365Ways2026 #AI #creativity #InquiringMindsWantToKnow #libraries #persistence #technology #thinking #Thoughts #Writers #writing

I have been folding my (extensive) sock collection. Now I'm left, as always, with non paired socks. What should I do with them:

#inquiringmindswanttoknow #inquiringminds #poll #socks #singles

Socks for the sock god!
40%
Find them a new job
20%
Sign them up for a dating site
40%
Poll ended at .
@Heliograph are there truly no gangsta Santa rappers? #InquiringMindsWantToKnow

Is it ok to be enjoying Party Rock Anthem in a Starbucks at 9:15 in the morning?

#partyrockanthem #starbucks #polls #inquiringmindswanttoknow #askingforafriend

Yeah! Wooo! Lets go!
50%
On occasion
37.5%
Not today
0%
Never
12.5%
Poll ended at .

When you were a kid, did you ever say "it!" after someone else said, "Shhhh," and thought yourself to be so cool and edgy?

#InquiringMindsWantToKnow #AskingForAFriend

If Popeye the Sailor Man lived in a frying pan, did he have problems with the HOA? Did he get slammed for code violations?

#InquiringMindsWantToKnow #AskingForAFriend

Often someone asks a question and it is followed by an answer. Sometimes he gives the answer and you supply the question. My version of this has a question followed by another question.

For example:
How could Putin possibly repay Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for all that Pete did for Russia?

What is a free lifetime supply of vodka?
#InquiringMindsWantToKnow #Jeopardy #NationalSecurity #corruption #politics #humor

See original post for question with explsnatory photo

2/2 #poll #polls #inquiringmindswanttoknow

Left one
0%
Right one
0%
Either one
0%
Neither one
0%
Poll ended at .

There's two completely similar, cold water, automated faucets and room for only one person at the sink. Which one do you use?

Poll in the first reply
1/2 #poll #polls #inquiringmindswanttoknow