Dear Loyal Readers,
Lately I’ve been thinking about reading – why we do it and what makes it so rewarding. In a recent interview, poet and author Ocean Vuong said, “I think, at the risk of sounding overly dramatic or emo, I feel truer to myself while reading than I do experiencing the world through my body — so any chance to read is ideal for me.” My love of reading may not be as strong as Mr. Vuong’s, but ever since I launched this newsletter almost seven years ago, I’ve believed deeply in the power of reading, both alone and in community. After all, if we read only the best stuff, and if we reflect and act on what we’ve read, we become better people, more kind and thoughtful. Loyal readers, I’m grateful that you appreciate the highest-quality nonfiction, and I’m happy that you read each week’s selections along with me.
This week’s issue explores the wonders and dangers of artificial intelligence, particularly in the world of language and creative expression. Even if you’ve been following the advancements of GPT-3, this week’s lead article, “A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What It Says?” will blow your mind, especially if you’re an English teacher, or someone like me who struggles to write clear and coherent prose. If technology has indeed made our society dumber, as last week’s issue suggested, apparently all we need to do is get the machines to write our essays and emails (and novels and poems) for us.
📫 I’d love to hear what you think. Please go ahead and hit reply, leave me a voice message, or send me a text.
Happy reading!
Mark
PS - Many of you have been confiding in me lately. You’re saying: “I want to read more. I aspire to read more. But I just can’t carve out the time. What should I do?” If this is you, let’s talk. I want to make The Highlighter not just a digest of great articles but also a supportive place where we can figure out ways to read more and find more joy and calm in our lives.
A.I. Is Mastering Language. Should We Trust It?
Back in my teaching days, my colleagues and I used to assign “The Big Book,” which challenged our students to write 40 pages of original prose in a variety of genres centering on a common theme. Our students groaned the whole way through the yearlong project. But at the end, when they published their book, saw their words in print, and shared their work in a public exhibition, they beamed with pride. Their hundreds of hours of painstaking hard work had paid off.
But what’s the point of trying so hard? Soon, with the help of artificial intelligence and GPT-3, young people (and adults!) will be able to whip up perfectly cogent essays in the matter of seconds.
In this mind-boggling article, Steven Johnson explains how neural nets and large language models have combined to craft language that is becoming indistinguable from (and sometimes better than) human writing.
Mr. Johnson writes:
The machines have acquired language. The ability to express ourselves in complex prose has always been one of our defining magic tricks as a species. Until now, if you wanted a system to generate complex, syntactically coherent thoughts, you needed humans to do the work. Now, for the first time, the computers can do it, too.
Are you scared? I am. Despite the wishes of GPT-3’s founders to keep their technology open source in order to “benefit humanity as a whole,” there’s no guarantee that users won’t employ the software for nefarious ends. A current version sometimes spits out racist rhetoric – perhaps an accurate current portrayal of our species. A less-racist update is more palatable but sounds like a proponent of critical race theory. How do we teach values to a computer? Who gets to be the teacher? (45 min)
➡️ Click here to read the article. Or click the headline up top.
📚 Save the article on Pocket and read it later.
✏️ Check out a physical version of the article with my highlights.
⭐️ Hit reply and tell me what you think.
More great articles about artificial intelligence
As an astute loyal reader of The Highlighter, you may be noticing that I’m experimenting with the newsletter’s format and changing things up a bit. Indeed I am! I hope you like and appreciate the extra attention I’m giving to the lead article. After all, it’s the best of the best. But despite my intention to feature fewer articles, I just can’t resist recommending these two outstanding pieces, also exploring the ills of artificial intelligence.
“I’m The Operator,” by Lauren Smiley
Wired Magazine | March 8, 2022
Uber operator Rafaela Vasquez’s gray Volvo SUV was supposed to stop. That’s what the software said it would do. Except it didn’t, killing a bicyclist in the first fatal accident involving an autonomous vehicle back in 2018. Even though the investigation revealed that Uber had stripped Volvo’s automatic braking system, Ms. Vasquez found herself accused of negligent homicide. Is it the human’s fault when the computer gets things wrong? Especially when the computer belongs to a massive corporation that wants to replace the human? (48 min)
+ Did you hit a paywall? Don’t worry. Try this Google Docs version. And if you prefer, here’s a magazine version with my highlights.
“Love And Loss In The Age Of A.I.,” by Jason Fagone
San Francisco Chronicle | July 21, 2021
Eight years after his fiancée Jessica died from a rare liver disease, 33-year-old Joshua Barbeau, still could not escape his anxiety and depression. The loss was too much to bear. So when he discovered Project December, a website that uses GPT-3 to manipulate human language, Joshua had to decide: Did he want to communicate with an A.I. version of Jessica, one that could replicate her style of speech, one that approximated her personality? Why, of course he did. Note: This article first appeared in Issue #306. (50 min)
+ Mr. Fagone is also the author of “The Lottery Hackers,” which has nothing to do with technology but nonetheless was one of my favorite articles of 2018. He participated in Article Club in July 2020.
Reader Annotations
Last week’s lead article, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid,” argued that the rise of social media has resulted in our society’s stupefaction. Several of you shared your appreciation of the article. Loyal reader Lisa called the piece “depressing as hell” but accurate. “It has enabled our worst instincts and has made us dumber, as thinking and discerning are no longer required for social discourse.”
But is social media the lone and ultimate cause of our society’s decline? I wasn’t so sure:
Really, has social media caused all this? Are we really beholden to our phones and newsfeeds? Can’t we all decide to sign off of Twitter (and Elon Musk) for a while? Couldn’t our politicians become less petty if they wanted to? Or are we too far gone?
Many of you, on the other hand, were sure. We are too far gone, you said, and social media is the culprit. Loyal reader Renée put it plainly, suggesting that even if we wanted to change our ways, our addiction prevents us.
Despite the gloomy tone of the article, several of you wrote in to share your progress on ridding yourself of Instagram or Facebook or TikTok. (Except for Twitter, I’m right there with you!) Maybe we should all heed loyal reader Kati’s idea: Let’s get off our screens and hang out with friends in real life.
Thank you Lisa, Renée, and Kati for taking the time to share your perspectives. The whole point of this newsletter is to read great articles, reflect on them, and see how we can apply what we’ve learned. Loyal readers, if today’s lead article resonated with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can email me or send me a voice message.
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