'If your grandmother had been a bicycle'
Deadpan. Quitting social media. Chat GPT blah-di-blah. Yes, it's The Notices, Ep 103.
Hello hello » It’s been a while. There were reasons.
Warning » I am writing this shortly after finishing the latest Tone Knob newsletter, about Deadpan greeting cards. (‘If you can’t say something nice, say something factually accurate’). I’m finding their tone of voice has infected me with an unshakeable monotone. Do not adjust your sets1.
Ai. Oh, sigh » People keep asking me what I think about Chat GPT. Answer: I don’t know. Can anybody know? It feels a bit like asking for one’s thoughts about ‘the Internet’ in 1994. Or ‘how do you think steam will change things?’ in 1700. Its true power will almost certainly come in the inventions-off-the-back-of-inventions-off-the-back-of-other-inventions2. I also wouldn’t be surprised if ‘writing things’ is the least of those uses.
Feels » I do have a number of feels, though. Particularly about the whole ‘writing things’ thing. The main one is a kind of generalised listlessness which is unusual for me (I am a relentless enthusiast for new things, and deeply suspicious of my inner curmudgeon.) This morning I asked GPT to summarise the plots of several plays and films as simple, funny, haiku. And lo! They were perfectly turned out. (‘Macbeth was a dude / Witches told him to be shrewd / Murder made him screwed’ etc.) But to what end? No human got the pleasure of writing them. And although I was ‘impressed’, none of them gave me that ‘ha! Oh, well played!’ feeling I get when an actual person pens a zinger.
Tiers » Perhaps we’ll develop a sort of two-tier appreciation system? I rarely look at, say, plates and bowls in IKEA and notice how ‘perfectly made’ they are. Yet give me a handmade wooden bowl and I will immediately – perhaps instinctively – be aware that another person made it. Or I notice how watching yet another gravity-defying CGI-generated blockbuster still isn’t as exciting as watching Harold Lloyd.
Sharper » for some proper brains on all of this *waves arms* Ai malarkey, check out Tom Chatfield on the ever-increasing importance of ‘close reading’; Tom ‘Reasonable People’ Stafford on the illusion of explanatory depth; and Not-Called-Tom, The Convivial Society’s ‘Prompt Box is a Minefield’.
Sinking feeling »What does it mean for something to ‘sink in’? Ohh! That’s such a good question! If you’re anything like me, your mind is now flying off in a thousand directions at once, and the actual article itself is largely redundant.
It’s the law » Murphy’s Law. The Peter Principle. Moore’s Law. I do love a good Law3. I’m adding Conway’s Law to the list. ‘Systems resemble the organisations that produce them’. Computer scientist Melvin Conway coined that in 1968. The more common manifestation of that these days is that website structures tend to reflect the internal structures of the companies wot made them. Very pleasingly, if one consciously attempts to harness his effect – say, by building a website and then shaping one’s organisation to reflect the digital structure – you’ve performed an ‘inverse Conway Maneuver’.
We, we, weary » You are correct – I did not like the re-tooling of I HEART NY into WE HEART NY. Thankfully, Nick Asbury has nailed exactly what was making me feel so ick: it’s not the messing with an iconic line (that can be fun, and iconic lines can take it). It’s the ‘moral one-upping’ of the original that gives me the eye-rolls. (Asbury also notes Gillette’s ‘Best a man can be’, and ‘Beanz Meanz More’.) Here, it's the idea that ‘we heart NY’ is ‘more inclusive’ than the original.
Inclusive » (‘I’m Spartacus’? Guys! Could we try ‘We’re Spartacus’ for a more inclusive vibe.)
Bicycle » This! Ayesha A Siddiqi’s thoughtful and touching advice blog to someone who feels they ‘started their life ten years late’. Among many lovely things, it includes Gino D’Acampo telling Holly Willoughby ‘if my grandmother had had wheels, she would have been a bike’. Which I think we can all agree is peak advice for most situations.
Quit » I’m done with social media. I’ve deleted my Insta account and my finger is hovering over Twitter’s DELETE key. To be honest, my experience of Twitter has mainly not bin-fire-esque. I’ve met lovely people and found fascinating things. But it’s also been 15 years (!) and I feel like it’s time to use my attention in different ways. I’ve set up @itsToneKnob for Tone Knob newsletter stuff. Follow me there to ease into the conscious uncoupling.
LinkedOut » Also, if I’m honest, my idea for LinkedOut (inverse LinkedIn: start by following everyone in the world, then the algorithm suggests people to unfollow until it’s just you, alone, getting the notification to wish yourself a happy work anniversary) is realistically my best tweet in years. Time to leave on a high.
Write me » None of which matters in the least to us all here, cos I reply to every email I get from Notices readers. Hit me up.
It occurs to me that ‘do not adjust your sets’ is one of those little cultural references that is probably baffling to most people under 30 innit. Old TVs. If the picture went fuzzy, you’d waggle the aerial around.
Steven Johnson’s idea of the ‘adjacent possible’ is rightly getting a lot of air time. See also the excellent Why Greatness Cannot be Planned by Kenneth Stanley & Joel Lehman.
My favourite is Carlo M Cippola’s Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. (Get the little hardback edition, it’s the perfect micro-book.)