It is an inevitable step to make that knowledge available via an LLM. Yes, usage will be high variance, with some people getting smarter and some going the other way. But usage of current technology including books is already like that! I would not undo the superb work of the online George Eliot archive, or the online version of Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary, two websites upon which I am quite reliant, along with the online edition of John Stuart Mill, Project Gutenberg, and many others. Asking Claude to review them for me as part of my overall work pattern hardly seems immoral. I have read quite a lot of George Eliot’s papers. Am I morally obliged to re-read them, or to find my notes, every time I have a new stray thought? Do I have to use an index rather than Claude every time? Can I check how viable a line of research might be? Can I use it to test my hypothesis against existing scholarship and pursue those lines of enquiry? Am I only allowed to find new things to read in person in the library? (To be clear, that is what I miss most about the London Library and I expect that sort of activity to go up in value, but still.)
This is the sound of a brave soul on Plato’s Cave Search & Rescue Team trying to convince the shadow-gazers. “Come on, guys. I’ve been outside. There’s useful stuff up there. I brought a rope.”
Meanwhile, the doomsday cultists are warning of an “existential crisis of epic proportions” (as opposed to a run-of-the-mill existential crisis? A tastefully-proportioned existential crisis?)
I’m gonna level with you, folks.
This is an existential crisis of epic proportions.
It’s the game-changer of paradigm shifts.
We need to have a conversation about what a watershed moment of seismic change this is shaping up to be.
It’s the ting-tang-walla-walla-bing-bang of rama-lama-ding-dongs.
And if I’m wrong?
Then my blog isn’t called The Straight Shooter.
Please support my work—by taking out a premium subscription for just $6 per month, or at least for as long as AI lets us all continue to draw breath.
I exaggerate, but not by much.
Oliver discovered that an LLM is fantastic for researching an odd little question like “the prevalence of the phrase ‘self-command’ in eighteenth century moral discourse outside the work of Adam Smith.” This echoed my own experience a year ago. You can always tell the people who refuse to even experiment with an LLM’s capabilities, because they keep parroting clichés about an LLM “doing your thinking for you.” I have never thought so hard for so long as I do now that I have a useful tool at my disposal. Entire vistas have opened up that were never there before. Your Luddite revolution is over, Mr. Gioia. Condolences. The bums lost. My advice is to do what the rest of us did; get an LLM subscription, sir. The bums will always lose. Do you hear me, Gioia? The bums will always lose!