15 Comments
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Esther's avatar

feels so surreal to me that schools don't simply have students... write essays by hand anymore.

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sea blue's avatar

Some do!

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Louise Tucker's avatar

That Quark example is brilliant. My brother asked me yesterday how AI was going to affect book editing and I said something a lot less precise: it’s not yet, because a reader’s/human’s taste is still essential in publishing. Human discernment is a much more succinct way of putting it!

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Dorothy Cook's avatar

I was working in print & graphic design when Quark (and 3B2, etc) came out. This analysis is spot on

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KP Parker's avatar

Old enough to have put together the student newspaper with tippex, pritt stick and letraset. It could be wonderful, if we make sure we remain active editors and creators. Sharing this essay with my 16 year old

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Jennifer Seligman's avatar

Thank you for this! Myself and my wonderful colleagues where I teach history are all doing this as we speak. I am going to share your piece with fellow educators—it’s spot on. You’re brilliant and discerning as always:)

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The Bard of Tysoe's avatar

Thanks for this: as one of those who made the move from Letraset, etc. to QuarkXPress – its keyboard shortcuts are still in my muscle memory, I used it so much…! – I found this a really sensible, pragmatic article: one that I will definitely return to.

As a writer, I have so far avoided using AI like the plague: angry at the theft of so much intellectual property. However, It will probably be denoising old digital photographs that drags me in to using it: as it is the best tool by far for such a job.

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Chris Moellering's avatar

I remember QuarkXpress! I worked in a small publisher for a while in grad school. By that time, Adobe was starting to be on the rise, but we still did a lot of stuff in Quark. My wife did proofreading for them for a while, too. That's how I learned about good typography by the things she had to look for. (I wasn't on the page-design side of things, I helped insert tags into DOS documents to make them pull in with formatting better....

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Jared Brown's avatar

Great post and probably the most sober take I’ve seen on how AI will shape up

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ANGELICA 🌹's avatar

Great stuff

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Dean Kiley's avatar

Hugely pragmatic & compelling & comprehensively doable. Thanks for this concise set if handson guidelines!

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H de Wolf's avatar

Brilliantly observed. Love the emphasis on descernment. You don't know just how timely this piece is for my own family... This is a great way to start the day. Its a concern for many people, especially those who are just starting out. Thanks!

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Moonraker's avatar

Get an apprentiship as a Stone Mason. Mate of mine does it,can pick and choose his jobs ,makes a nice living.Goes Snowboarding three times a year.

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Bill Vanderburgh's avatar

Great post. I posted something related earlier this week, if you are interested: https://substack.com/home/post/p-177862545

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Vayu's avatar

Perfect emphasis: AI is technology- a tool. Being human is discernment - and we need to learn perception . Thank you for this.

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