Hello Fellow Bookworms,
I hope all is well despite the crazy weather we have gotten in the United States. I hope we are all safe and have managed to stay warm and dry. I have tried to post blogs twice a month but I failed for the month of February. This month I plan to make up for it by posting three blogs. This post is my second for this month of, March. I write the rough drafts for my blogs about the week before I post. I type it and then come back and reread it later while making my corrections. I say this because today is Sunday. I had a great day today, I went out to Olive Garden with coworkers. We laughed and tried to talk about everything except for work related topics. Every now and then something about work would pop up but for the most part we did a good job at talking about other topics. I came home at about 9:20pm and wanted to do a few things before going to bed. I opened my IPad Pro and hit my app for You Tube. Once I heard what I heard there was no taking it back…
Disclaimer: The person I am about to share may be controversial for some people. I do not talk politics on my blog nor would I approve or engage in any comments that are political. I am sharing the name of this person because the topic is related to writing. The sole purpose of this blog is about the enjoyment of reading and writing.
There’s a You Tuber that pops up in my feed from time to time called, Glenn Beck. Well this particular video he posted on March 1 titled, Elon Musk Just Gave a Shocking Warning the Everyone Should Hear, was very interesting. According to Elon Musk AI will reach Artificial General Intelligence by next year. What does that mean? I asked the same question and got my answer right from his mouth. AGI as they are calling it means AI has gotten smarter than any human. It can do everything we can do and better. WHAT, say this again! My jaw dropped as I thought about how that will affect my writing.
Think about it, seriously, if that were to happen, would it even be worth writing if AGI can write better than a human. I know what most people would say to this. That won’t happen. It’s not true. Why do you believe what he says? I thought you were trying to stay off You Tube, don’t listen to that. The last one was actually my thought, but seriously, it’s a scary thought if it were to be true. If we continue to write how could we compete? If we are readers how will we know the difference to be able to whole heartily trust the author when feelings and emotions are written and displayed from the characters. As readers, do we really want to relate to the words AGI wrote or the words that a human wrote? How are we going to know the difference?
My mind began to spin at all the different thoughts and then it stopped. All the spinning, all the words. It all stopped, and there I was standing inside of my own mind with this next question. Is it even worth writing anymore? I mean, how can it be when the future for writers looks bleak. When all you hear about when you look around is AI this and AI that. I hear, “If you don’t jump on the AI bandwagon wagon you’re going to get left behind.” Is this all true? Will this really take place in the next year? So fast. What will all of this look like? How will be change as humans?
I sat back and pondered this for sometime. I stopped typing my first draft of this blog and walked away to really process my thoughts and all the information I had gathered on AI thus far. I came to the realization that, whatever happens I cannot change what the future of AGI brings. I can choose to keep writing because it’s what I love and enjoy. I can continue to read because it’s what I love and enjoy. Some people would say if you can’t beat them join them. I’m not ready to do that either. So I’ve just decided to keep doing what I’m doing and watch from the sidelines to see how it all plays out. Then from there, I can decide my next step. In all honesty, the AGI information actually made my anxiety worse regarding my writing. I began to feel more pressure.
When I realized that there’s nothing I can do about the future of AGI, I began to relax. I came to the conclusion of, I’m just gonna write for me. I’m gonna write because I love words. I’m going to write because words carry power and change. If I never publish another book or another word, all is not lost, and I would not be disappointed. I would write from my heart no matter what. I would enjoy every minute of it. Is that not what life is about? Doing what we enjoy and love? My friends, we only get one life. One chance at this. Just love yourself enough to know that what you’re doing is enough as long as it makes you happy and brings you joy.
Until next time Bookworms, stay safe, and stay positive.
M.C. Addington 