A good and long term friend of the show gave me a quiet tap on the shoulder yesterday on one line that had gotten pasted into the article about Writerdeck. A classic “I left your original grammatical style and humour and corrected some spelling mistakes”. Yep, typical brown-nosing by AI after I asked it to check the spelling on my document. But the red flag was up! Was this an AI generated article? Is Knightwise.com succumbing to the grey goo of AI Slop that is permeating the internet ?
Rest assured my friends: The answer is no. Although I should not have taken the shortcut to “have AI clean it up for me” and used the spellchecker instead. Why? Because it’s one of the many reasons I write, and in an age of digital drudgery where the email from your girlfriend just passed the Turing test, it might be interesting to list them all up … because you might just find some inspiration in there.
I write for ME.
One of the questions I get a lot is “Do you make money with Knightwise.com?”. The short answer (aside from the occasional tip in the tip jar) is … No. I have never setup the blog to do that and I never will. Because this website is not a business and the day I turn it into one, it becomes just another project. I am a digital marketeer by day. Writing stories for other peoples businesses is my job. Knightiwse.com is my hobby. I want to keep it that way. Why is that important ?
I write to learn.
The best way to understand something is to explain it to others. Over the years Knightwise.com has been a place where I have learned so much about technology, about human interaction and about how to pair the two harmoniously. I was challenged to figure things out not because I wanted to solve them, but because I wanted to share it with others. That meant understanding it, documenting it and sharing it. This very website has changed the course of my career and has opened doors I never even imagined existed. And through it all I’ve learned so much. What can you cram on a USB stick, how do you run Linux on a Mac, How do you stay creative in an age where human engagement is commodified by giant corporations … By researching, experimenting, reflecting and receiving feedback from others … I have learned so much. (Including: English! Although I will still frack up then and than, where were and we’re, remember kids: I’m not a native english speaker). But I have ended up making fewer spelling mistakes in English than in my Native Dutch. (I spelled than, then … just so you know.)
I write to vent
Sometimes we just need to scream. For the fires of rage can only be quelled by expelling them into the void. Technology (and the way it flows through our lives) can sometimes frustrate me. Entice me to unleash a slew of expletives that can strip the barnacles off a the remains of the Titanic. I write to give those expletives (and the rage behind them) a place to live. Angry at how shitty my Airpods perform: Write about it. Feeling the urge to crash test my latest Linux experiment by having meet an unmoving object (wall) at hypersonic speeds? : Write about it. I draw the line at slamming or badmouthing people … but for the rest: Dear reader, behold my fury.
I write to be aware
As many wonderful ladies on Youtube who surround themselves in a world of Miffy-stickers and Unicorns can concur: Journaling is a reflective pool where you can read back what you think and what you feel. In that regard Knightwise.com is a place where for me not only to become aware of my thoughts, but also to look back on them and see how I have changed. The blog turns idea’s, hunches and feelings into something delimited by an alphabet, by rules that they need to be structured in a way that other sentient beings might understand it.
I write to connect
So why use a website? Over 20 years of nonsense could have easily been penned down in a collection of spiral notebooks and stuffed into a closet. I also write to connect with others. Over the years my mumblings, scribblings and occasional (video)graphic exploits have brought me in contact with people all over the world. Some of these have become good friends that I have met in person, others stay in touch online, forming a small but warm community around the output of an “azerty” keyboard and a usb microphone. These relationships matter to me. They are an inspiration, an audience and in this case a conscience that remind me of who Knightwise.com is and why it matters.
I write to inspire
And nothing brings me more joy than getting feedback in the lines of “I tried out such-and-such”, I experimented with “this-and-that”. Being able to find my passions reflected in the actions of others is a great joy (although somewhat awkward at first, if you do not know this person). But if my bumblings in Cyberspace have made your life better? So be it. It’s the least I can do. For I too have been rallied into convictions, projects and experiments through the words of others. Sure an AI model can make you pick your next writing app. But what if you make the choice based on something an actual person experienced. Throughout the years I have uncovered the secrets of technology through the shared experiences of other humans. I, in turn would like to do the same.
I write therefore I am
In an age where human attention is commodified and sold to the lowest bidders by giant tech firms, using a platform that was built by hippies to “stick it to the man” … one has to wonder: What if we stop writing, stop creating and resort only to copy-paste what the machines have to say.
Will we become mindless drones, scrolling down infinite timelines, written by artificial language models. Will we slumber in a world where John Conner never rises up to battle Skynet, because he is to enthralled in the latest AI Generated Tik Tok video? Dystopia might not be around the corner, but my GPS says that “You are nearing your destination”.
But until then : This post was written by a human. A flawed, imperfect being with unique insights in the world around us. It took longer to write this post than an AI-generated slop-story. But that is the way the REAL cookies crumble.