Most humans find it easier to speak than to write. Writing is a much more difficult task because it forces you to transform your ideas into letters and think about structure. With little to no preparation, you can give a ten-minute monologue about your favorite topic and not stutter. The reason is that the barrier to action is very low; you don’t have to think about context, paragraphs, structure or spelling to execute. However, with writing, you must think through rhythm, structure, and tenses before you start. Writing engages more neurons in your brain than speaking does.
In today’s world of artificial intelligence, where you can outsource everything in your life to AI, do not outsource writing. Writing, here is a compound word that refers to thinking, structuring and transmitting. Writing involves all three; it’s the easiest way to exercise your intellect. When ideas come to you, write them now, just as raggedy notes, but as structured thoughts. The more you do this, the more your brain is trained to think through original thoughts.
AI experts say LLMs have run out of human-generated data to train on and now rely on synthetic data, which is data created by AI from its pre-trained data. But I think the people who say this are limited by the physical world. The depth of thought, creation and imagination that the human brain can evoke is something that even the best-trained models cannot fathom. The human brain is still the best bet when it comes to intellect; what the models have in determination is only good because humans are hampered by laziness, not ability. Even if you must outsource your thinking to AI, do not outsource your writing.
Writing is also a way to manage emotions. It’s an excellent way to let out steam when life throws you curveballs. When you write, you release something from your insides into a world that can be touched and felt. Writing is a good way to preserve ephemeral thoughts; when you write them down, they’re never lost even if your brain forgets. When you learn how to transfer emotions through written words, you become a better human being to those around you as writing helps you filter your emotions.
One more reason why you should write is because it is a hard thing to do. Very few people do hard things and Bayesian theorem should already tell you that doing the harder thing, where there are fewer players, increases your odds of success. There’s a reason why it’s easier to start a podcast today than have a blog. So many people can talk, but very few can write.
Finally, writing preserves our world. We know so much about history today because it was written. Everything we create and build today is done on top of the knowledge we have gleaned from the past. Writing is your chance to contribute to the future. Wouldn’t you be interested in building the future? Write.
Miracle.