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A good ChatGPT whisperer understands how to sequence commands in order to get a machine to do its bidding. That’s a genuine skill, but one that eludes me as well as some other humanities types I know. The best ChatGPT prompters I know tend to be good systems thinkers or at least well-organized people—the kind who might create a series of automated protocols and smart-home integrations to turn their lights on and off.
One Year In, ChatGPT’s Legacy Is Clear
Galaxy Brain
This machine-approximated version of bokeh signifies amateurism rather than craft. Hobbyists who dislike such technological tricks might seek out older digital cameras, or they might flee back to film. But the new iPhone cameras, more than most users realize, are forging a template that is reshaping the nature of image-making along with our expectations of what a photograph should be.
Have iPhone Cameras Become Too Smart?
newyorker.com
The Stalinist interpretation of socialism has made it possible for socialists and capitalists alike to agree on how to measure the level of development a society has achieved. Societies in which most people depend for most of their goods and services on the personal whim, kindness, or skill of another are called “underdeveloped,” while those in which living has been transformed into a process of ordering from an all-encompassing store catalogue are called “advanced.”
Tools for Conviviality
Ivan Illich
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