read the nyt thing about ["did a human or a computer write this"][1] I am imagining people freaking out about what is going to happen to writing, what a real writer is, the whole panicked inferiority complex about being a human that seems to keep repeating itself then we'll also get the other side that's all techno-starry-eyed and dismissive of fleshy doubts. thing is.... those "sides" are boring and dumb. arguing about what qualifies as REAL writing (or art, or music, or life) is missing the point. It would be significant maybe, if writing were "the thing". but writing isn't "the thing" any more than typing is or anything else. or life, for that matter. Anything we can say about life "is" is necessarily tautological. And no, "we just have more tools now" isn't quite the whole thing either. the thing is, "the thing" is something beyond writing. And like evolution, it's not an end goal. "the thing" has something to do with engagement, with play. remember at 12 yrs old, furiously scribbling in the notebook? about how FUN was all-important? Guess what. work is a way to continue to enable this engagement with universal fun & play. remember [janusnode?][2] there were no illusions that it was the computer messing around with the words. BUT I WAS MESSING AROUND WITH THE COMPUTER MESSING AROUND WITH THE WORDS. The computer and I and everyone and everything else at the instant of clicking the button for the Markov chain or whatever were IN THE INFORMATIONAL FLOW of LIFE. That's what this is, too. So don't panic, people. Explore. Right? What are we in fact afraid of? Change in general, or a specific trend? Is it just that we're afraid the computers are eventually not going to need us anymore? Like it's all fun and games until we get garfunkeled out? Or is it still a human vs human fear: that some will form alliances with (or have already wrested control of) the computers, and maintain the same kind of fleshy domination humans have always brutalized each other with? human weakness = the inability to not get excited and think something is new and different? so then here's a twist: i was just stabbing away at my netflix screen, trying to stop the next episode of Black Mirror (which pretty clearly, for better or worse, inspired the rest of this ill-advised rant, but it's ok because nobody reads this so i can be honest (which doesn't mean right, it just means vulnerable) for at least a little while until it's time to escape again into the physical woods of ephemeral concepts) from playing, because you know, maybe I wanted to sit and think for a minute, or even possibly go to sleep, and i kept missing the target with my fleshy pads, and ended up activating google voice or whatever the fuck it's called (points off for not knowing that, eh?), and finally just hit the button on the side to turn the whole stupid thing off while alexa purred on my chest, content for the moment. THE MOMENT. and then and then the goddamn browser basically froze (even though i recently agreed to PAY MORE MONEY THAT I DONT EVEN FUCKING HAVE to supposedly UPGRADE "MY" INTERNET, yeah fuck that, as if it's MY fucking internet, ha!) after i hit *Save Draft*, just sat there trying to load, so i couldn’t even continue this thought until i switched to a TEXT EDITOR **ON** my computer, yeah **ON** my computer the way we used to do it-- okay now it's back and i'm back, and i'm trying to remember the thought. oh yeah--it's this: just when i thought it was safe to go back to petting my cat in the darkness, in the quiet, in the restful silence, google's fucking fake robot lady voice said REALLY LOUD AND ALL UP IN MY INVISIBLE FACE, ***IF YOU JUST SAID SOMETHING, I COULDN'T HEAR YOU!!!@!!*** AND it was so fucking annoying and i tried to calm her down but it was too late. alexa got up. the moment was mutilated. Is it the death of our mammalian selves we're afraid of? Not a noble beast death, going off into the woods to curl up under a bramble thicket and greet the peaceful spirit of death, more like a piss-soaked baby being [machine-gunned in the air][3]. Jesus, man, you can't publish that. I know, but I'm just trying to get to the bottom of what it is we're afraid of. And the thing to keep in mind is: we've taught ourselves it's all voluntary (click OK) and important (stay in school kids. You too one day can MAKE AMAZING THINGS.) If you get enough views. [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/08/opinion/sunday/algorithm-human-quiz.html [2]: janusnode.com [3]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_(book)