Very scary.

the world of greek philosophy is marked by two eras, with the socrates as the inflection point. as far as we know, he wrote nothing. we only know of his ideas from his students, and they are pretty good ideas. socrates sharpened his wits in conversations. plato’s dialogues are a homage to this fact. it appears that productive thinking happens in conversations. unless you’re engaged in a mere manipulation of symbols within some grammar (as happens in mathematics) can it be accepted that solo thinking via writing is a great aid. this is leslie lamport’s domain. it should influence how one understands his statement on thinking and writing. about complex, irregular ideas solo thinking only gets you so far. the sort of solo thinking you do when you write is what has misled paulg to write this incomplete think piece. if he had discussed this idea in a conversation someone would have pointed out to him that socrates, jesus, and muhammad wrote nothing but have left behind some huge edifices of thought.

maybe someone would have even pointed out to him from what activity the peripatetics derived their name. but alas!

Paul Graham proving himself wrong....

He didn't need to right that article. He is already rich. So why did he do it?

Everyday hn is full of articles where people have some some amazingly complex thing, entirely for fun. Then they have written a blog about it entirely for fun.

Then we get one of the familiar detachments from reality

> In preindustrial times most people's jobs made them strong. Now if you want to be strong, you work out. So there are still strong people, but only those who choose to be.

Except for all of the people whose jobs still make them strong. Scaffolders, tree surgeons, bricklayers, carpenters, et al.

I need to write a document next week. I have begun to analyse a complex system that chatgpt will not be aware of. I need to apply my specialism to it, to decide what to do with lots of steps. Writing it will test my understanding of the system, and encourage completeness. It will allow others to know what they are expected to do. It will allow a constructive discussion of the choices and reasons. ChatGPT wont help me, except perhaps in layout, rephrasing a sentence, something like that. My job will keep my writing muscles strong. Paul Graham has lost touch with reality.

Which books are best for learning good writing?

> And yet writing pervades many jobs, and the more prestigious the job, the more writing it tends to require.

I would say that it's quite the opposite! The most prestigious the job, the more likely the person will have one or many assistants to help them write.

Think of presidents, governors and CEOs. They must *read* much more than they write. Their response can fit in a post-it attached to the paperwork.

The next level also reads more than they write. Instead of a post-it, they will probably come up with bullet points which will be fleshed out by people below them.

The people who *really* have to write stuff is the people at the *bottom* of the hierarchy.

Writing well could be a way to go up the ladder. But it is definitely not required at the top.

What will change, in the future, is that *everyone* will have assistants.

One of the best indications / talks on writing and thinking is Jordan Peterson - the best advice he gives anyone is to write - 5 minute video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwjw2J6ByJo

Use it, or lose it.

Even smart people completely over-rate “AI” it seems

is there a way to block any PG posts from my feed?

so true