Last week I mentioned reading Pathogenesis by Jonathan Kennedy. When I listened to the conclusion I was changed. It was a captivating book, sure, but the way it concluded took all of this work we had done together—the author reading in my ear, and me listening—and brought it straight home and into my reality.
Finishing this book reminded me how dangerous the AI we currently have could be.
Innocuous
I have done more serious reading since leaving school, so perhaps this is some mundane thing to you, but for me, I’ve been stunned at how reading has affected me.
In school, I proudly paraded the fact that I almost never read an assigned book from at least middle school through college, but could tout the highest marks in my English and literature classes.
It wasn't necessarily because I was obstinate or lazy. My reluctance to read what was assigned was largely because I’m an exceptionally slow reader. I don’t think I could’ve ever actually finished my reading even if I was especially studious and disciplined.
One time in an advanced English class, I decided I really did want to try and read the book, A River Runs Through It. Unfortunately for me, the book I checked out had two or three other stories by the author, starting with one that I spent all my time reading, only to find out a day or so before the test that it was absolutely not the right story. So, in desperation I leaned on the thing that had helped me out of all of the unfinished or unread books before: my writing skills and a SparkNotes summary.
After the test I got a comment on my essay: “Wow! I can tell you read the book.”
Feel free to judge me for my insolence and deceit. My only real regret is that I couldn’t be in the space to truly embody the things that I was being taught. The classroom always supplemented the book with discussions and ideas. It's not like I didn't learn anything from the book—it's just that it was second-hand and I missed out on experiencing the story.
I also don’t regret my actions, because I was playing a game. After all, I wasn’t technically cheating, because I still had to come up with the ideas I wrote about (at least at the time, SparkNotes didn’t give me much help besides a summary of the plot).
This game was set up by the institutions that should have been educating me, but instead, were challenging me to accumulate the most with the least effort. I was in it for the grades, not the development. It wasn’t time for that, and no amount of systems or tricks or instructional designs would’ve made a difference.
I’m in a much different place now. I also have access to technology (specifically audiobooks on my phone) that have made it possible for a slow-reading, obstinate, stick-in-the-mud like myself to actually derive value from dense, eclectic, or important books.
Imagine what I could’ve done with an AI chatbot that summarized everything for me in real time?
False Floor
As I wrapped up my audiobook this weekend, I felt different. I had been on a journey with Kennedy as we explored the impact of catastrophic plagues and pathogens on human history. My understanding of life has simultaneously become more deep and more murky. I have questions. I have incentive to pursue those questions, none of which will be satisfied with a Google search or lazy perusal of a few pieces of content.
I could have saved a lot of time by simply getting the summary of the book from ChatGPT. But that’s the trap.
So much of the current usage of generative AI is for summarizing texts, books, and other media. Maybe it’s helpful 20% of the time (and I’m being generous, here), but no one ever changed their life after reading a summary.
Stories are what change us.
No amount of summarization can compensate for the slow realization over the course of a book that everything I used to think needs to be reconsidered.
For change to happen, we have to put in work over time. It’s hard and slow, and we leave that process with meaning, purpose, and fulfillment. Without our involvement when the transformation opportunity appears, we’re stuck where we are.
Cyborg
I realize that I wasted much of my education gaming the system. However, I did learn a lot along the way. What really happened was I robbed myself of the opportunity to advance through my education.
AI isn’t inherently bad—it’s not good either. It’s yet another choice presented to us to either engage or disengage in our own personal transformation.
It may seem dramatic to call something like the choice to summarize or to read as a “transformation opportunity.” It absolutely is overly dramatic on the individual instance. The collective debt that adds up over time is where this becomes concerning. Like everything, there is nuance, intention, and wisdom that must be applied—and you must apply it.
My warning here is based on my less technologically sophisticated experience short-changing my education. I got the grades, good for me. But, for what, really? Neither of my fields of study give any credence to the actual grades I received. Arguably, I could have gotten exactly where I am now without even going to college (I do recognize my privilege weighs in here, too).
An AI assistant can help you in those tight spaces where you’re against the wall and have to come up with something now. It can also become a crutch that hampers your ability to move beyond. Even more dangerous is the potential decay and attrition that relying on AI may cause. It seems innocuous to summarize our current task in a project management software or summarize a book so we don’t have to bother with it. But what is the cost of using our mind more and more for seeking ease, and less and less for encountering challenge?
Ultimately, I love how my friend put it in a conversation just yesterday. Technology is a gift, a blessing, but we have to choose where it will be activated in our lives. What skills do I want to own for myself? Which can be delegated? Approaching technology with serious intention, rather than offering yourself to it to be possessed by it is the distinguishing factor.
There’s always a chance you’ll come back when you’re ready; when it’s the right time. Not every book is worth reading. You may need a summary to know if it might be worth reading. Summarize all you want, but everything has a cost, and it may be worth paying as long as you know that you’re paying it.