Don’t try on thoughts

There are many reasons to write by hand, instead of using AI. A classic reason is that writing is thinking — in other words that if you're not writing, you're not clearly thinking. But here's another reason: when you write with AI, you're trying on thoughts and seeing what fits "close enough". You give AI a jumble of thoughts, and ask it to polish and put things together. Since all transformations of text are lossy, some things change. A tone shift here, an idea inserted there, an emphasis smoothed out. You read it and you don't like it. You ask for another draft, a bit more like this. You and AI go back and forth, until you reach something that conveys your idea. But it's not the same as your idea. Much like a clothing store, you went to the Thoughts Store and tried on thoughts in the fitting room until one felt good enough — good enough tonally, good enough emotionally, good enough substantively. But thoughts and emotions are not like clothes. You have the full range of human…