It's funny, I had no real interest in reading the AI version of this you released. Not because I hate AI or have anything against it, I just feels like if I know I am reading an AI generated piece, I understand it will be good, but there is always something about it that feels uninteresting. Like someone's already given you a list of all the possible presents under the Christmas tree so there is no real way you can ever be surprised.
Not that I needed to be convinced of your work, but this is your best post yet. The reading feels like following a profound cultural change in real time. Eye-opening.
I would love to read your thoughts about what this means for education.
Fwiw this is way better than your thread of llm essays. Saw the thread on my feed, thought: hm, interesting. Kept scrolling. This essay? Gobbled it up and it's sticking with me. I love the way you have used AI as a tool for deepening your thinking and creating some cutting-edge thinking, while putting in the work to fill it with your human spark
The post-literate society idea is incredible and definitely true, but imo oral communication is clearly not the future. Look at the trajectory of communication online: usenet -> forums -> blogs -> facebook/twitter/youtube -> instagram -> tiktok etc. The internet is like an information market where revealed preferences win out the same way they do in economic markets, and though people (especially influential people who shape culture) tend to assume the language of our mind is text and text=rationality, that isn’t what we observe winning in the information marketplace, even in many purportedly sophisticated discursive spaces.
Clicked the heart on this human-written piece. Cos, wait ... didn't you say in another essay a couple of weeks ago that "there is no better time to be a writer than now"? You're playing with my emotions, Jasmine! I'm keeping up with the concepts and the McLuhan-ness, and the unstoppable back-to-oral trajectory, sure. AND I actually do sometimes use AI similarly to you when writing (not willing to pay for it though and don't do the voice stuff), but ... I DON'T WANNA. I AM DOING THE GENERATING HERE.
lol fair to call out the whiplash! there's so much to write about, only a question if there will still be readers for it. (and I do think modern writers have to be much more 'flexible' as creators, engaging in formats beyond longform text, etc)
This is nerdbro lame, but it’s funny that Star Trek inspired smart phones and tablets. And now we’re seeing its conversational computer interface realized. There are full scenes where a character works through a complex problem while talking to a computer, and everyone gave them shit because “why would talking to the computer be faster than typing?” Obviously this was done because a scene where a character typed wouldn’t have worked, but the demands of drama are a little prophetic.
Fascinating exploration. Your link between AI and Ong’s oral cultures made me wonder: if Socrates feared writing would erode memory, might he have championed chatbots as a return to dialectic—only to recoil at their lack of true contradiction? The tension between AI as collaborative thinker and authoritarian enabler feels pivotal. Does the oral revival risk flattening discourse into algorithmically optimized “conversations” that simulate depth without the friction of literacy’s quiet heresies? Or can we design tools that amplify, rather than replace, the solitary act of critical thought? The Shoggoth’s smile hides a Sphinx’s riddle.
I like it when chatbots push back + wish they did so more / were trained to make us all better thinkers! (but this is where the product/profit concerns may come in tension)
This is great. When I first read McLuhan many years ago I was fascinated by the idea that we were returning to a more oral culture. One if the most obvious things to me at the time was Ong's observation that oral cultures had more agonistic speech patterns and I think that's only got worse over the years 😂. Communication on the Internet is mostly war-like. Out of interest, what do you think a post-literate society looks like? I realise we're in one (some parts of our culture have ALWAYS been more oral anyway) but I'd be interested to hear your guess for the future. Thanks again for this.
Don't worry about it if you've got better things to do (sometimes - perhaps even oftentimes - life's too short to disappear into rabbit holes that you're not interested in). Thanks for the link - it looks like its just my thing.
This is such a good post.
It's funny, I had no real interest in reading the AI version of this you released. Not because I hate AI or have anything against it, I just feels like if I know I am reading an AI generated piece, I understand it will be good, but there is always something about it that feels uninteresting. Like someone's already given you a list of all the possible presents under the Christmas tree so there is no real way you can ever be surprised.
Not that I needed to be convinced of your work, but this is your best post yet. The reading feels like following a profound cultural change in real time. Eye-opening.
I would love to read your thoughts about what this means for education.
Thanks for the kind words, glad this was thought-provoking!! Still noodling on the education bit—but def very interested in that question
Fwiw this is way better than your thread of llm essays. Saw the thread on my feed, thought: hm, interesting. Kept scrolling. This essay? Gobbled it up and it's sticking with me. I love the way you have used AI as a tool for deepening your thinking and creating some cutting-edge thinking, while putting in the work to fill it with your human spark
The post-literate society idea is incredible and definitely true, but imo oral communication is clearly not the future. Look at the trajectory of communication online: usenet -> forums -> blogs -> facebook/twitter/youtube -> instagram -> tiktok etc. The internet is like an information market where revealed preferences win out the same way they do in economic markets, and though people (especially influential people who shape culture) tend to assume the language of our mind is text and text=rationality, that isn’t what we observe winning in the information marketplace, even in many purportedly sophisticated discursive spaces.
Clicked the heart on this human-written piece. Cos, wait ... didn't you say in another essay a couple of weeks ago that "there is no better time to be a writer than now"? You're playing with my emotions, Jasmine! I'm keeping up with the concepts and the McLuhan-ness, and the unstoppable back-to-oral trajectory, sure. AND I actually do sometimes use AI similarly to you when writing (not willing to pay for it though and don't do the voice stuff), but ... I DON'T WANNA. I AM DOING THE GENERATING HERE.
lol fair to call out the whiplash! there's so much to write about, only a question if there will still be readers for it. (and I do think modern writers have to be much more 'flexible' as creators, engaging in formats beyond longform text, etc)
this is a fantastic post. so glad you pub’ed it. 🙏🏾
This is nerdbro lame, but it’s funny that Star Trek inspired smart phones and tablets. And now we’re seeing its conversational computer interface realized. There are full scenes where a character works through a complex problem while talking to a computer, and everyone gave them shit because “why would talking to the computer be faster than typing?” Obviously this was done because a scene where a character typed wouldn’t have worked, but the demands of drama are a little prophetic.
scifi predicted / invented all of modern tech!!!! (which does make me think whether we just need to be writing better scifi)
Fascinating exploration. Your link between AI and Ong’s oral cultures made me wonder: if Socrates feared writing would erode memory, might he have championed chatbots as a return to dialectic—only to recoil at their lack of true contradiction? The tension between AI as collaborative thinker and authoritarian enabler feels pivotal. Does the oral revival risk flattening discourse into algorithmically optimized “conversations” that simulate depth without the friction of literacy’s quiet heresies? Or can we design tools that amplify, rather than replace, the solitary act of critical thought? The Shoggoth’s smile hides a Sphinx’s riddle.
I like it when chatbots push back + wish they did so more / were trained to make us all better thinkers! (but this is where the product/profit concerns may come in tension)
This is great. When I first read McLuhan many years ago I was fascinated by the idea that we were returning to a more oral culture. One if the most obvious things to me at the time was Ong's observation that oral cultures had more agonistic speech patterns and I think that's only got worse over the years 😂. Communication on the Internet is mostly war-like. Out of interest, what do you think a post-literate society looks like? I realise we're in one (some parts of our culture have ALWAYS been more oral anyway) but I'd be interested to hear your guess for the future. Thanks again for this.
LM Sacasas has an interesting essay on the agonistic / warlike thing re: social media and oral culture! https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-inescapable-town-square
oh god I don't know, I can barely accept that we're entering one. I will think on it!
Don't worry about it if you've got better things to do (sometimes - perhaps even oftentimes - life's too short to disappear into rabbit holes that you're not interested in). Thanks for the link - it looks like its just my thing.