WOW #051: Takeaways From A Year Of Writing

Quote of the Week:
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
- Benjamin Franklin

Welcome to the penultimate issue of “Wisdom on Wednesday.” 

It's true, next week I'll conclude a full 52 weeks of producing this Newsletter. 

Today I wanted to focus on a commercial that's been assaulting the Olympic airwaves. You've probably seen it. A spot from Google Gemini where a father asks AI to help his daughter write a fan letter to 3-time Olympian hurdler and sprinter, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

The voiceover in the ad (from Dad) says he's “pretty good with words,” but the letter needs to be “just right” for his daughter, (or for Sydney…or for him)?

I’m certainly not the first person to clap back at this ad (and I won't be the last), but I find all of it pretty disturbing.

In the ad, the Dad also says “my girl has always been a runner, just like me.” Everything is set up for an amazing teachable moment, a time to help and encourage her, share some tips, and write a heartfelt, handwritten letter to her hero.

Then Dad enters a text prompt and Google Gemini spits out a letter in seconds. One I’d  assume to be as personally moving as a junk mail credit card offer from Capital One.

Back to the newsletter:

Wisdom Casts A Wide Net. There's always something to learn, capture, and share. No matter how much knowledge you pick up along the way, or experience on your own, there's always plenty of meat left on the bone.

Which brings me to this thought: is the very concept of wisdom changing right before our eyes? If so, how so?

Two things to chew on:

• Knowledge is Ubiquitous and Accelerating Exponentially (smartphones, Google, 24/7 content creation, fiber and semiconductor production).
• Experience Has Ceilings (technological changes, trendy best practices, keeping up with the Joneses, global connectivity, movement in the markets). 

So where does all of this leave wisdom?

I wish I knew.

I’m not certain where it's going or that I like where it’s going.

I will say, there's more noise in the system than ever before. Artificial Intelligence is outpacing Actual (produced) Intelligence at Olympic speeds that would make Michael Phelps blush.

I'll also say this. Wisdom is Personal. It's created that way, shared that way, and ultimately, experienced that way.

2 Takeaways:

1. Writing and Creating Are Hard, But The Juice Is Worth The Squeeze. For this first takeaway, I have a visual in my head of Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone receiving a letter from the girl in the Google ad. Misspells. Outsized ambitions in kiddo penmanship. Hastily folded with corners that don't meet. The way it should be. Maximum effect. Sticking your head in the sand when it comes to AI doesn’t make much sense. Completely abandoning your originality and authentic self makes even less sense. 
   
   
2. Lean In To Adult Hobbies, They Are True Treasures. My friend from high school and I have had this ongoing debate,“what counts as a true adult hobby?” Watching college football? Nope. Beer tastings? No. While I enjoy those, neither are what I’d call true hobbies. We lose hobbies as adults, but writing is one of mine and I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you through this newsletter. Whatever creative, artistic pursuits you have that engage your mind (outside of work and business), I hope you’ll cling to those amusements. Hang on to them.

1 Action:

Find Me On Medium.
While I won’t be distributing this newsletter anymore after next Wednesday, I invite you to find and follow me on Medium. 

I won’t be writing weekly anymore, but I will drop some knowledge from time to time.

And whether it’s considered wisdom or not, I promise it’s AI-free and coming from a good place.

See you next week,

Hubert