JA WestenbergI've been a professional writer for over a decade and it still amazes me how many folks are CONVINCED they can just do this shit. Nobody walks up to a surgeon and says "I reckon I could have a crack at that." But writing? Everyone's got a world-changing essay in them apparently. It's in there. Somewhere. Behind the spleen.
Paco Hope@Daojoan Not just writing. Now that everyone has an LLM in their back pocket, they're convinced they can do damn near any job that requires knowledge and expertise. I've got 25 years in my industry. But punks with 5 years and a ChatGPT window are telling me they're gonna tackle a thorny, industry-wide problem from scratch and they'll probably ship a solution next week.
datatofu@paco @Daojoan If a kid with an LLM can threaten a 25-year career, the problem isn't the AI—it’s the definition of the career. Don't sell yourself short by leaning on 'years.' Expertise is about the scars and the intuition that comes from deep, saturated practice. Someone could do in 7 focused years what most do in 30, but neither should be measuring efficacy on temporal scale.
@drmorrisj They’re no threat to anything but budget. They are going to waste time and money failing. The issue is how long it takes for someone to realise that’s what is happening and how much damage will happen while we wait for leaders to figure it out.
It’s mostly the implied insult that gets me. They think that the experience amounts to so little that the text prediction machine makes it irrelevant.
“Years” of experience is a shorthand expression to convey the concept in a social media post. I can’t put my CV in. Don’t read it too literally.
Gildilinie Gremlin 🏳️⚧️@Daojoan i wrote a dissertation once. and my spleen is fine
Error_User_Not_Found@Daojoan Yeah, I would love to be able to cook up some fantasy or non-fiction. But my grammar and being able to put a whole novel together? Let the laughter begin.
Jeff Atwood@Daojoan really? I find most people are terrified of writing and avoid it as much as possible. Hence Slack. Hence Discord.
Christoff, the human@codinghorror @Daojoan same experience for me
Ben Buchanan@codinghorror @Daojoan People don't seem particularly self-aware about their preference for Slack. They think they're being efficient.
PhD9
Morten Juhl-Johansen@Daojoan But you are, simply, a great writer. So a comparison is tricky.
Talent, experience and hard work is in there. And like a physical athlete, the talent comes out when the hard work forms the experience.
And people who think they can do your thing right out of the gate should fuck off.
Talent, experience and hard work is in there. And like a physical athlete, the talent comes out when the hard work forms the experience.
And people who think they can do your thing right out of the gate should fuck off.
Leslie Burns@Daojoan Lawyering, too. Even before CHatGPT, etc.
I feel you.
Paul Canada@Daojoan I worked as a magazine and newspaper feature writer. Most of my work was as a freelancer writer/photographer, not easy. Selling ideas to editors was the hardest part of my job.
David W. Jones@Daojoan Or in the gap between neurons????
Jorge 🦣
Phil Wolff@Daojoan Writing is hard. Being a writer is harder. Persistence, even when you don't want to write. Loneliness. Precarity. Fighting precarity. Sucking at something until you don't. Whipping off slung mud. Most folks quit the trade before mastering the craft.
The 54 Studio 🪩🕺🏻💊👃🍬@Daojoan Pity the folks who have nothing left after venting their spleen, or those who have had splenectomies.
Johnny Xmas@Daojoan if I came across a surgeon mid-surgery I sincerely promise you I would absolutely ask for a go, and just for you I’d do verbatim for you and even do the funny little accent. Absolutely. Gimme the knifey thing and the little sucky thing and I’ll absolutely take a crack at taking out or putting back whatever floppy bits are giving you the run around. Dude’s out here doing surgery in the street; how much worse am I gonna make it
chris actual@Daojoan I love writing! I am scared to death of writing! I think I'm ok at writing! I am shit at writing!
On loop in my head anytime I think about writing something
mizblueprint@Daojoan
Unfortunately, there are many delusional "do it yourself" architects as well.
Unfortunately, there are many delusional "do it yourself" architects as well.
kit
moongold@Daojoan
So true.
William Zinsser expands this thought nicely with a personal anecdote in chapter one of 'On Writing Well.'
ISBN 0-06-273523-3
Harper Perennial.
I'm just now reading it for the first time. Well worth a read so far if this helps other aspiring writers.
#zinsser #writing #surgery #books #BookshopOrg #reading #libraries
@Daojoan they are the one's who can sense the level of understanding. Why speak if it can't be heard ... by the mind?