Signs of the human

Thanks to AI, anyone can write a perfect essay, email, speech, opinion piece, or whatever it is that people write for or about these days. Give it your idea and some direction and it will give you that well structured, perfectly grammaticized, piece of writing that I so rarely got right according to my teachers of the English language. Commas in all the right places, thoughts refined for their value and utility, and no run on sentences. 

It makes me laugh to imagine Jim Harrison, or Jack Kerouac stopping themselves and asking a robot for approval to continue on with their thoughts. As Kerouac roared away at his typewriter, do you think he was worried about mistakes? And as Harrison returned from the wilderness and sat down at his writing desk, do you think he was in any way concerned with something other than his own inner music?

"It's not the words that matter but what's behind them" I overheard one of Victoria's teachers mention during a lecture this week. And if AI does my thinking, imagining, and writing for me, then what is behind my words? More concerningly - what is behind me? 

Instead of fearing mistakes and imperfections, we should embrace them as a sign of our humanness. Because, if you are living through the same times as me, then I think you can understand just how important those signs are becoming... how important it is to cherish the gift we have for dreaming and the ability we have been given to express those dreams through our voices, our bodies, and our brains. 

Not perfectly - but humanly.....just as we do on our mats each week.

Keep it real,

Ryan

Photo of Jim Harrison by Andy Anderson