larryglickman.bsky.social
Historian at Cornell University and author, most recently, of FREE ENTERPRISE: AN AMERICAN HISTORY. Working on a history of backlash politics in the United States, from Reconstruction to the present.
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I feel like it's really simple: all aspects of AI are about reducing labor costs. Behind the razzle dazzle Johnson is just actively deskilling himself. But people get used to crap. Part of the long history of industrialization impoverishing experience.
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Anyone who has read newspapers on microfilm, perused letters in archives, leafed through diaries, scrapbooks and photo albums, knows that even if these were to be digitized, the serendipity of making connections in this analogue way can not readily be reproduced through keyword searches./8
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My ability to understand what Iām writing about is dependent upon doing the actual work myself. If AI does the research and gives me a summary, if I count on AI to make connections between events and people, the quality of my work will suffer.
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Imo we have a system of grace and forgiveness for the rich and powerful and merciless, arbitrary harshness for most other people
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Compare this paragraph from Darnton's 1999 essay (link in next post) with the one quoted about. The description of the benefits of technology to deepen the possibilities of the book are uncannily similar. But Darnton discussed this a quarter of a century ago./4
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Yes. But Johnson is exempted, I guess, because we know that he could do what he does without it, so in his case it's presented as an allowable move toward "efficiency." Personally, I identify with Stacy Schiff's quote, why would I want to deny myself the pleasurable bits of the process.
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Thanks. Super interesting.
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Fascinating. Would love to hear more about this discussion.
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The description of Johnson's "research" on the gold rush is precisely what I would regard as cheating if a student did it for a research paper.
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Which is why this paragraph rankles, especially since Caro has emphasized the importance of slowing himself down by hand writing and then typing his drafts. "Prodigious biographies" assisted by "chatbots" would have been a very different, and, imo, lesser, undertaking./10
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Well put. Couldn't agree more!
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Thanks, Julie!
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Thanks so much, Daegan!
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An older colleague in chemistry recounted that twice in his career while researching something in a (paper!) journal, he stumbled across something in an unrelated article that ššš
š ššš šššššš (eg, project breakthroughs that led to major promotions at big pharma).