The Edge of the Bell Curve

I get pretty tired of seeing shiny, happy depictions of life through the media.  All the interesting grit of experience smoothed away to present a “perfect” view of a “perfect” life.  The curated version of whatever, made to make you feel just a little uncomfortable and possibly unhappy with your own life circumstance.  Just enough to lure you into buying whatever it is that is for sale.  

And it’s not just ads. 

I mean, I could run this short essay through an AI editor.  The ultimate fine sanding on a mostly completed work.  It would likely appeal to a greater audience by way of mainstreaming the content.  Because isn’t that what AI is?  A mainstreaming tool?  Taking information and morphing it into an average.  An average of all of the information available on the World Wide Web?  

Average.  No highs or lows. In fact, skewing results by NOT acknowledging, and certainly NOT embracing, the edges of the bell curve.  

Well, I won’t be doing that.  Ever.  My writing is me.  Every grammatical error, every bias, every run-on sentence.  Or non-sentence.  

What you will always read here is mine.  And, with that, I will always try to bring my true self forward. 

 It may not be pleasing.  It may very well be on the low end of the bell curve.  

In truth, that’s what I’m shooting for.

The edge.

2 responses to “The Edge of the Bell Curve”

  1. I love this!!!

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  2. I will admit that I use AI a bit at work. It’s good at number crunching, wringing information from spreadsheets, making sure that I don’t forget anything, and drafting certain “form” emails when I’m too busy/tired to do so. Of course, I can’t let AI do “whatever” as it can make mistakes, so I have to carefully review everything. On some tasks that takes more energy than just doing it.

    But I don’t and won’t use AI in my own writings. I like writing and want what’s said in my blog to be in my own voice.

    I’ve seen other blogs start to use AI and it disappoints me. When I confronted someone about it, they said that it made it easier to organize their thoughts. While there is a grain of truth to that, AI-optimized writing is all about algorithms and SEO optimization, in other words trying to “win” at the internet. And really, what’s the point with a blog? Monetization? Influencing? There are other parts of the internet better for that.

    And often when these folks are confronted we get the response of “This is the future and we need to get on that wagon or be left in the dust.” This reasoning reminds me of that scene in They Live, where Nada/Roddy Piper confronts one of the humans collaborating with the aliens and the collaborator’s defense was “We all sell out every day.” Use computers to make your life easier, but don’t let them take over your whole life, especially the things you enjoy doing and that make you you.

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