Match Cuts 2: Text Gems

Do you long for purely human-written texts that are so profound and wonderful you want to read them over and over again? Or that are so important you find yourself wondering why this topic isn’t discussed more often?

Thanks to Mastodon (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre), I found two veritable text gems, longreads, which are worth every reading minute because they are perfect thought fodder!

'Who Will Remember Us?' (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) - written by Cade Diehm (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) is a brillant essay about the culture of remembrance, about digitising who we are, or who we believe ourselves to be. And about the ethics behind it. About tech ideologies and human resistance. Imagine, the cloud went dark ... what remains?

I use the word ‘brilliant’ sparingly, but this essay deserves it. It’s not just for techies. Don’t be put off by the rather technical episode about Signal – that’s just the hook. It’s more than tech, it’s an essay about humanity and our actual path, connecting bodies, landscapes, and virtual spaces. The author writes on Mastodon (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre): “It is also the angriest and most personal text I've ever written. I'm furious, and you should be too.” I wish we had more of this fury because it’s inspiring for choosing a different path!

From digitising our memories to producing false memories in form of AI slop is only a very small step. I come across it almost every day in my research, to the point where it became like a puking pill: texts supposedly typed by human beings, recognisable as slop by the fact that they’re preceded by a summary. As if the website programmers knew full well that any more of this same old drivel would be unbearable.

Do you ever asked yourself what using LLMs makes with their users? Then take that thought to its logical extreme: what effect does it have on people who are professional writers? People who, strictly speaking, wouldn’t need such fakes at all, because they have learned to write themselves. Even more: they fought hard to master the craft - through struggle and failure!

In “The Colonization Of Confidence (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)”, author Robert Kingett (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) tells a story about a group of creative writers which is infiltrated by an influencer. The man persuades them to adopt a particular style of ‘publisher-friendly’ writing. One of the writers is on the verge of a breakdown. Could his friend’s crazy-sounding idea save him? The inherent dystopia is a current reality. The happy ending might bring a few tears and spark some ideas.

Back to real human memories: a recommendation in German language comes from a years-old topic, we “once” felt overwhelmed and also fed up with. It cut too deep into our very bones, often literally: COVID. And then happened what usually happens to war veterans: people fall silent, want to forget, and no longer want to go through the important process of working through their experiences.

The Viennese doctor Wolfgang Hagen (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) recalls the day - six years ago - when the first patient arrived on the ward: 13. März 2020 (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)(German). A list of memories of individual lives, which, precisely through its matter-of-fact tone, shows how much work we still have to do to keep these memories alive.

Match Cuts will be delivered irregularly. If you want to see all that I share on social media, you can follow me on Mastodon (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre).

Because energy costs have risen enormously and the nights are still freezing, I have a ko-fi where I am happy to receive any hot coffee or more (S'ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre) for my work!