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Why I Write (1946)

orwellfoundation.com

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Re: Why I Write (1946)

#51

Post by Matumio »

gdulli wrote: post #14
keyle wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People that don't understand this is best to explain to with AI music. AI music appears to be reasonable music, but it carries no human emotion, it has no intent to exist and stand up on its own. That's key to explain when it comes to writing or anything. AI assisted anything, sure, maybe, but AI for creative purposes is bland and ultimately poisons the well. No one really wants to go see an AI movie at the cinema, e…

People who only see art as its surface content without all that other subtext are exposing themselves.

Well said. There is a social context, there is a process and a struggle that can be more important than the result. It is sad to reduce art to the final product, or to approach it with an industrial mindset: maximizing commercial value while minimizing effort.

I can't write well. Let someone say it who can: (Ursula Le Guin, 5min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2v7RDyo7os&t=337

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#52

Post by lordleft »

sharkjacobs wrote: post #29

> For minutes at a time this kind of thing would be running through my head: ‘He pushed the door open and entered the room. A yellow beam of sunlight, filtering through the muslin curtains, slanted on to the table, where a matchbox, half-open, lay beside the inkpot. With his right hand in his pocket he moved across to the window. Down in the street a tortoiseshell cat was chasing a dead leaf,’ etc., etc. This habit c…

I've started doing this as a kind of creative and mental exercise. It can imbue even a day filled with drudgery with something worthwhile.

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#53

Post by lordleft »

I love Orwell, he ranks as one of my favorite writers, especially his non-fiction. Unfortunately, I think too many writers take his famed writing advice as doctrine, and ignore the possibilies of a richer and more elaborate style.

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#54

Post by satvikpendem »

andrepd wrote: post #48
satvikpendem wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet many people listen to AI music, some examples on HN even [0], one of the main reasons being it can create songs tuned to very specific niches that cannot normally be found much. I also have found very entertaining videos and content made with AI, such as Pokemon "nature documentaries" [1] and I imagine people in the future will want to see an AI movie if it appeals to them, because it's content that would oth…

I can hardly imagine anything more unappealing that watching AI slop "nature documentaries". It's truly inconceivable to me to look at things from the prism you are looking.

That's my point, you find it unappealing yet that genre has millions upon millions of views, so clearly some people do find it enjoyable, if only to see on a screen in high detail the types of pocket monsters they imagined in their minds as a kid, and maybe you don't have such a fascination so I can see why you can't conceive of the notion that others do.

My point is that ultimately, dismissing others' experience doesn't make it go away, and sticking one's head in the sand about how "no one" would like AI generated content is a fool's errand when I can already see that maybe 5 or 10 years in a future there will be a blockbuster hit that's fully made with AI, and in the decades after that, no one will bat an eye at AI usage, much as they don't about CGI these days, even though directors from the golden age of cinema would find our modern movies as inconceivable as you do today with AI.

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#55

Post by svat »

emmelaich wrote: post #23
delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #21

It’s years since I’ve read Orwell, but I believe I have read almost all of his books (Coming up for Air nor Clegryman’s Daughter I have not read, or I don’t remember a single thing about them). He’s Non-fiction books (Down and Out in Paris and London, The Road to Wigan Pier, and especially Homage to Catalonia) are great. If you are at all interested what it was like to live in Europe in this time of economic turmoil…

About the "worst" thing I've read about Orwell was that he was a relentless moralist and didn't know how to have fun. Sorta the opposite of P.G.Wodehouse. Which ... I'm OK with. I've read most of his work too. Of course 1984 and Animal Farm are the best but Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London are good too. (I also love Wodehouse)

Incidentally, in 1946 when the British public had been turned against Wodehouse because of the (entirely innocuous) radio broadcasts he had made as a German prisoner (I imagine Lord Haw-Haw was on their mind, which influenced their opinion), Orwell wrote “In Defence of P. G. Wodehouse”: https://www.orwell.ru/library/reviews/plum/english/e_plum

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#56

Post by rawgabbit »

lordleft wrote: post #53

I love Orwell, he ranks as one of my favorite writers, especially his non-fiction. Unfortunately, I think too many writers take his famed writing advice as doctrine, and ignore the possibilies of a richer and more elaborate style.

In my opinion, Orwell had already wrestled with and composed a coherent philosophy. His writing style was a tool to articulate his philosophy and viewpoint.

Those who are still formulating their thoughts and putting it down on paper will come across as incoherent no matter which writing style they adopt.

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#57

Post by randusername »

kuboble wrote: post #10

I think I haven't been exposed to such a good writing in years. (Which probably says as much about average modern writing as it does about my reading habits) > Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the sa…

> Story of my life is how to align that demon to force me into things I actually want to do.

My favorite example of creators discussing the drive to create is from the video game Dwarf Fortress. It has mechanics for it [0].

Dwarves that are stuck with inspiration to create a masterwork will go mad and destroy themselves if they can't find the raw materials they need.

Dwarf Fortress is known for the absurd scale of its simulations: history, war, love, geologic formations, fluid dynamics, prognosis of specific injuries to specific body parts. It's an interesting detail that creative frustration earned a place in that web of "realism". It's a significant part of the game.

[0]: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Strange_mood

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#58

Post by rawgabbit »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #26
emmelaich wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About the "worst" thing I've read about Orwell was that he was a relentless moralist and didn't know how to have fun. Sorta the opposite of P.G.Wodehouse. Which ... I'm OK with. I've read most of his work too. Of course 1984 and Animal Farm are the best but Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London are good too. (I also love Wodehouse)

Worst thing you read about him is surely that he apparently tried to rape a girl in his youth: “ But Venables's postscript changes all that. Venables is the Buddicoms' first cousin, and was left the copyright to Eric & Us, as well as 57 crates of family letters. From these she made the shocking discovery that, in 1921, Eric had tried to rape Jacintha. Previously the young couple had kissed, but now, during a late sum…

I read another account that for all his literary prowess, he was terribly inarticulate with women. That he would simply grab the woman that he longed for not knowing what else to do.

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#59

Post by analog8374 »

kuboble wrote: post #10

I think I haven't been exposed to such a good writing in years. (Which probably says as much about average modern writing as it does about my reading habits) > Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the sa…

sounds like software dev. Life consuming

Re: Why I Write (1946)

#60

Post by lioeters »

analog8374 wrote: post #59
kuboble wrote: post #10

I think I haven't been exposed to such a good writing in years. (Which probably says as much about average modern writing as it does about my reading habits) > Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the sa…

sounds like software dev. Life consuming

> Writing software is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon..

Yeah that fits.

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