Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Do your own writing

alexhwoods.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 265 posts

Re: Do your own writing

#211

Post by jamesrcole »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #9

I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking". I can't tell you how many times an idea, that was crystal clear in my mind, fell apart the moment I started writing and I realize there were major contradictions I needed to resolve. Likewise I also have numerous times where writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really co…

> I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking".

I think it's often useful to use writing all the way through the process of thinking through something, rather than just at the end.

Re: Do your own writing

#213

Post by clickety_clack »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #9

I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking". I can't tell you how many times an idea, that was crystal clear in my mind, fell apart the moment I started writing and I realize there were major contradictions I needed to resolve. Likewise I also have numerous times where writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really co…

Sometimes PRDs might be boilerplate, but there’s been times where I sat down thinking “I can’t believe these dumbasses want to foo a widget”, but when writing the user story I get into their heads a little and I realize that widgets are useless if they can’t be foo’d. It’s not the same if AI is just telling me, because amongst the fire hose of communication and documentation flying at me, AI is just another one. Writing it myself forces me to actually engage, even if only a little more than at a shallow level.

Re: Do your own writing

#215

Post by KolibriFly »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #9

I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking". I can't tell you how many times an idea, that was crystal clear in my mind, fell apart the moment I started writing and I realize there were major contradictions I needed to resolve. Likewise I also have numerous times where writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really co…

Yes, not all "writing" is actually thinking, and a lot of what we call writing at work is really just ritualized context transfer

Re: Do your own writing

#216

Post by KolibriFly »

nerevarthelame wrote: post #12

I agree with most of this, but my one qualm is the notion that LLMs "are particularly good at generating ideas." It's fair enough that you can discard any bad ideas they generate. But by design, the recommendations will be average, bland, mainstream, and mostly devoid of nuance. I wouldn't encourage anyone to use LLMs to generate ideas if you're trying to create interesting or novel ideas.

So maybe the framing is: LLMs are good at mapping the landscape, but not at discovering new continents

Re: Do your own writing

#217

Post by sudo_rm »

chrismorgan wrote: post #162
roadside_picnic wrote: post #9

I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking". I can't tell you how many times an idea, that was crystal clear in my mind, fell apart the moment I started writing and I realize there were major contradictions I needed to resolve. Likewise I also have numerous times where writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really co…

So often have I started writing a commit message about why I’d done something this way, and realised a problem or thought of another approach, and ended up throwing away the entire change and starting from scratch. (Aside: you should probably write longer commit messages.)

Second this. After having a chat with some coworkers, I've been attempting to write more thoughtful and longer commit messages. I had this exact experience yesterday after I had staged my commit and was writing the message. I realized that there was a better way to do this change and redid the whole thing.

Re: Do your own writing

#219

Post by 2020science »

I find it depends on context. I write a lot as an academic and author. When I need to generate functional content that has a specific purpose (knowledge base, transfer of information etc) I will use AI where it makes sense. Where I write to explore ideas, develop my own thinking, and connect with others in a very relational way, I intentionally do not use AI. Plus, when I do this, writing is an extension of my identity and I'd rather not give that away!

Re: Do your own writing

#220

Post by bhekanik »

roadside_picnic wrote: post #9

I've long considered writing to be the "last step in thinking". I can't tell you how many times an idea, that was crystal clear in my mind, fell apart the moment I started writing and I realize there were major contradictions I needed to resolve. Likewise I also have numerous times where writing about something loosely and casually revealed to me something that fundamentally changed how I viewed a topic and really co…

[dead]
Post reply on HN