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The Shape of the Essay Field

paulgraham.com

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Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#31

Post by tlb »

mrguyorama wrote: post #21
mecsred wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't think learning to rely on these tools for product review is a good idea. The web shows how much gravity the advertising industry has. As soon as the number of people using llms like this become statistically significant, you can bet product placement will find its way into the training data. Betting on enshittification is easy money.

It's like the people who laud LLMs as a really powerful search tool. Google used to be a really powerful and functional search tool! Then, the antagonistic process of SEO and the perverted incentives of the company building the search index also taking advertising dollars ensured it was always going to get shitty, and serve their needs above yours. LLMs are the same. They WILL be made less effective for whatever you…

Search engines were great for 10-15 years before enshittification took over. It might go somewhat faster with LLMs since the playbook is known. But that's still a long time, so why not make the most of it while it lasts? And something better may come after.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#32

Post by Seattle3503 »

> At the other extreme, writing merely puts into words something readers were already thinking — or thought they were.

This is remarkably similar to the thesis of Strange Tools by Alva Noë. Noë argues that art is method for making perceptual and conceptual processes visible, often by disrupting or defamiliarizing them.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#33

Post by woopwoop »

I think this point is less forceful than it seems due to the high dimensional nature of knowledge. I just don't know that much more than I did when I was younger; there are too many directions to set out in from any given point. I learn important new things all the time.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#36

Post by pryelluw »

yawnxyz wrote: post #7

Everyone's young in some way. I've been looking at getting a Miata, and have been eyeing a nice 2016ish Miata because their prices seem so much lower. Then I read a post from someone saying their transmissions are "like glass" and how it's better off to pay a few more $k for a 2017+ car, b/c that's how much a new transmission would cost anyway. If everyone were to follow Paul's advice, these kinds of posts would neve…

[dead]

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#37

Post by colmmacc »

I work with a lot of smart people, many smarter than myself, and a goal I've always set myself is to leave them knowing less. Smart people are almost always more efficient at knowing more all on their own; they tend to be autodidacts and information hungry. But knowing less is much harder.

We all build up mental frameworks and systems for how we think the world is organized, and that's how we come to "know" it. It's mostly assumptions and invariants we've collected here and there. With age and experience, they become instinctual and habitual too. "Change X and Y will happen".

But when someone comes along and pops one of those foundational assumptions, "You know 'Y' doesn't always have to be true, and here's how", it is an incredible gift. A smart person will suddenly see new landscapes of possibility, optimism, and exploration that were previously out of view. What they thought they knew they now see anew.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#38

Post by dgs_sgd »

> But if you're going to write about things that are important to know, you have to ask why your readers don't already know them. Is it because they're smart but inexperienced, or because they're obtuse?

What’s missing is the third and most obvious explanation.. that what you think is important isn’t necessarily what others think is important..

Perhaps PG things this falls under the “obtuse” category.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#39

Post by analog31 »

>>> So the three reasons readers might not already know what you tell them are (a) that it's not important, (b) that they're obtuse, or (c) that they're inexperienced.

(d) because it's false.

I'm not saying PG's essay is false, but my scientific upbringing, and rare moments of humility, compel me to include this option.

Re: The Shape of the Essay Field

#40

Post by westcoast49 »

analog31 wrote: post #39

>>> So the three reasons readers might not already know what you tell them are (a) that it's not important, (b) that they're obtuse, or (c) that they're inexperienced. (d) because it's false. I'm not saying PG's essay is false, but my scientific upbringing, and rare moments of humility, compel me to include this option.

Or:

(e) because it’s subjective.

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