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Whatup Reader!

I wrote the email below this past Sunday while cleaning the house with Lex and listening to a podcast about ChatGPT. It be like that sometimes. When the Muse hits, I listen, and what we created is perhaps a bit…sharper than some of my other emails, but it’s my whole truth, so I’m sharing it.

As always, take what serves you and leave the rest.

Real quick before we get into it, as promised, I put together a list of the charitable organizations that you fine folks recommended. You can smash the Maestro Green Button below to view and download the list. A big thank you to all of you who contributed.

DOWNLOAD THE LIST

Alright, let’s get into Sunday’s stream of consciousness:

ChatGPT is going to force us to reckon with the notion (read: reality) that what we do might not be all that special. That it might not be that unique. That it might not actually be that important. That it can in fact be done by someone else. That we are replaceable.

I truly believe that in many cases people are pushing back against AI with such fervor because, quite simply stated, they’re offended.

They refuse to believe that their work isn’t OBJECTIVELY and ABSOLUTELY special. That it objectively and absolutely matters. That no one or nothing else could ever do it.

I’m seeing this across the board.

AI will force us all to answer the question, “How much does what I’m doing ACTUALLY matter?”

For many tasks, objectively, the answer is not very much.

When we introduce subjectivity and personal experience, the answer softens and we’re left with an understanding that most things only matter as much as they matter to us.

And when I say us, I’m referencing the person who’s doing the reflecting.

If “us” refers to society as a whole, then objectively what matters is what keeps the society functioning. I believe those things to be relationship, and often (read: unfortunately) the jobs that pay the least.

Unfortunately, what we’ve been conditioned to believe matters is usually just what benefits corporations and super-wealthy individuals.

Not to be the bearer of bad news or anything, but when it comes to these corporations and super-wealthy individuals, what they contribute typically matters the least in terms of keeping a society functioning. Though bootlickers would argue otherwise; largely owing to blind admiration and subsequent confusion about the difference between a well-functioning society and a dysfunctional society that is (barely) able to continue functioning despite its many shortcomings.

But what about the rest of us? The majority of the population that is neither a corporation or part of the uber-wealthy elite?

There is magic in helping others, there is so much value in simply being human, there is so much value in relating...but what about the individual tasks themselves? How much do they objectively matter?

I do believe that brings us back to that whole, “It only matters as much as it matters to us” notion.

What’s valued, how much it’s valued, the rules, the regulations, they’re all made up, by someone or a group of someone’s, and then society decides to accept and adopt it, or not.

The lines on the street are made up and agreed upon. There is no actual wall there, stopping a car from crossing over or passing through.

We accept these made-up rules largely because it is mutually beneficial to do so, and partly because we don’t want to deal with the repercussions and punishments, which, of note, are also made up.

Last week I saw a post on Reddit, written by a teacher, that said ChatGPT had ruined their life in that they couldn’t read a single paper from a student without wondering if AI wrote it.

A clever responder wrote an incredibly simple solution: Have the students deliver presentations and answer questions.

Boom.

A cynical responder replied that it would take too long to do that.

Another clever responder replied, verbatim: “This is the crux of the problem. The solution to the ChatGPT problem is simple if you actually reduce class sizes to where teachers can actually teach individuals and assess individual learning. But ChatGPT has come at the same time as pressure to teach more students with fewer faculty and TAs.”

And again, we see it boil down to a question of what actually matters…and to who.

If understanding the information is what ultimately (and solely) mattered, then it wouldn’t be such a big deal if kids used ChatGPT, because written regurgitation wouldn’t be the only way that understanding was tested. (If you’re wondering what matters, based on the current model, it’s test scores and funding. If you thought, "Matters to whom?", now you're cooking with gas.)

Perhaps a bigger, and more uncomfortable question is whether or not the subject being tested even matters.

Again, it’s all subjective and matters only as much as it matters to the individual.

The problem that comes up time and time again is that we live in a shared reality that requires money in order to survive, so we are often forced or required to care about things that don’t matter at all to us.

Which, to me, is a great time to lean on the robots. Let them do the shit that I don’t care about so that I have more time for the things that do matter to me.

Perhaps that previous sentence made you raise an eyebrow (if you possess that skill).

Rightfully so.

ChatGPT allows me to skip over things I don’t care about, but what happens when those things matter to you?

Teachers want students care about the subject they’re teaching.

Bosses want workers to care about their productivity.

Corporations want consumers to care about their products.

Business owners want consumers to care about their skill.

Health care providers want people to care about prevention.

People who are affected what other to care about what is affecting them.

Who gets to decide what an individual cares about? Who gets to decide what matters? What actually matters?

ChatGPT is going to force us to answer these questions, and I for one am here for it.

Happy Tuesday, Reader. Thanks for welcoming the sharpness.

Maestro out.

PS – 5,374 taco points to you if you understood the preview text reference. 😉

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