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Why write?

 

Write what you like. Write what you know, write what you think the world needs to know.

Writing, true writing, is basically structured thinking. It rounds a person out. You write to discover what interests you, to find your voice. You can write about topics where you are an expert but also topics that you don’t know too much about so that others can tell you what you missed. This way writing can even be a conversation, it’s not just a one-way medium of communication. Writing is learning, discovery and transformation. The (metaphorical) pen is mightier than the (metaphorical) sword for a reason — unless you are in a physical fight, of course.

Writing is a soul searching process. Source: Thought Catalog on Unsplash


In 2023, writing has never been easier. With the introduction of LLMs and AI tools, you can write better and a lot more easily. However, I implore you to not completely rely on ChatGPT. The output tends to be of a certain bland, generic and pedestrian flavour that makes it unpleasant to the discerning soul. These tools can be used for editing, researching topics improving for grammatical errors and giving you pointers / suggestions. But they don’t replace you. Well not yet anyway.

Starting this blog series in the era of LLMs may seem unproductive. If the purpose of writing is to write en masse, generically and without any trace of the human soul then sure it is a failed endeavour. But that’s not why I am writing this. I am writing this to share things from my head — LLMs by definition don’t, and can’t, know anything not available to them to be trained on. I am writing this to find my voice, to meet (and build) a community of like-minded people. To share my message out there and make it clearer in here, i.e. in my head.

I am not a writer by training or by profession. And I think that’s a good thing. In today’s day and age, we are encouraged to be specialists. We are pigeon-holed into a specific cog on a specific machine as a specific part of a specific section of society. You are ‘x’, doing ‘y’ in ‘z’. You are a data scientist, doing consulting work in Zimbabwe. You are a pastry chef, making desserts in Downtown NY. Or are you?

Nobody is a specialist, everyone has varied interests, likes and knowledge. You are more than the specific thing the world knows you to be. We should encourage generalists because you need to be good at a broad range of things to be a successful human. Specialization is great for broader society. Generalisation is important for the individual human soul.

In these blogs, I will cover a wide-range of topics which interest me. In the past I have written (very briefly) about the simple life and I will revive this. I will write about the books I like, about philosophy, technology, coding practices, data science, nature, investing and health. This may seem like a wide range of eclectic topics and to some extent it is. But there will be a common theme running through it all. I hope you can discover that essence which is what makes me ‘me’.

Lastly, dear reader, I implore you to no longer just be a reader. I implore you to write, to share your thoughts with the world. It may be flawed, it may be incomplete, it may be worse than other writers out there but it’s still yours. Keep it original, keep it heart-felt and not from an AI model, it’s the ‘you’ that others want to hear. I endeavor to do this with these blogs and I hope to read you as well.

Thanks for reading.

Sukhi

Originally posted on medium: https://medium.com/@sukhiahlu/why-write-c800724d7dce

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