The Joy of Writing (Without AI)

“The joy of the writer is imagining the words.”

That’s not exactly how 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗱 𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 put it in an interview with technology podcaster 𝗟𝗲𝘅 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗻, but it captures the creative sentiment.

In explaining how he uses AI (read the transcript), Hansson said he asks questions, gets second opinions and sometimes generates a draft, but he still types code himself. Otherwise, he said, “I can literally feel competence draining out of my fingers.”

Hansson compared the difference between letting AI code or using it as an assistant with playing the guitar versus listening to a great guitarist. “The joy is to command the guitar yourself," he said. "The joy of the programmer … is to type the code myself.”

The analogy also rings true for all artistic aspects of communications.

The joy of the writer is imagining the words. The joy of the photographer is capturing the perfect moment in time. The joy of the designer is sketching the vision. The joy of the filmmaker is weaving narrative through motion and sound. The joy of the animator is breathing life into static images.

You get the idea. AI can do all that and more, occasionally even better than humans. But as Hansson told Fridman, the human value of creativity is as much in the expression as it is in the outcome.

Remember that the next time you get ready to prompt Claude.

(𝘗.𝘚. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥, 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴.”

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦. 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳, 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 the point 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴.)