#494 Who gets to vote?

If I don’t write the post I intended to write, I actively avoid the desired result of my writing.

If I don’t do the workout I intended to do, I actively avoid the desired result of my workout (being in better shape, running a new PR,…)

If I don’t have the difficult conversation I intended to have, I actively avoid the desired result of that conversation.

Inaction is not the lack of action.

Inaction is taking active action to avoid working towards the result you desire.

The real question, then, is:

Why do I actively avoid working toward a desired result?

Am I worried that even if I write daily, I’ll never become a skilled writer?

Am I worried I won’t enjoy writing anymore if I ever get recognition?

Am I worried that writing every day will turn me into a skilled writer, but being a professional writer won’t be fulfilling?

P.S. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I only have a limited repertoire of examples in this newsletter, my friend

I trust you to apply the insight to your situation.

And maybe, when you’re pondering the question above, you’ll come to the same conclusion as me:

That more often than not, I’m more interested in the comfort of “wanting” something I don’t have than in “taking action to get something.”

If the storm ChatGPT is causing shows us one thing, it’s how unoriginal most of our thoughts are.

AI builds on a massive library of what others have learned before.

(Individual) humans build on a much smaller library of what others have learned before.

If we merely do what others have done before, in some fields, AI has caught up to us already.

What happens we build on what others have learned before, and combine it with what we learn ourselves (in other words, practice and skill building)?

Now we’re talking about innovation: we’re doing things that haven’t been done before.

And even then, one day, AI will possibly also innovate and do things that haven’t been done before.

Sheer “processing power” is not a game we can win.

The true question here:

If raw intelligence and “brain processing power” isn’t what makes us truly, uniquely human, then what is?