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Comment by mcmcmc | Hacker News Reader

This just makes me think how now, more than ever, it really pays to develop your own distinctive writing voice. It’s not just a way to make yourself stand out, but given how much the way you write can influence your thought process, I worry that all the students ChatGPTing their way through language arts classes will be ultimately more susceptible to groupthink and online influence campaigns.

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Developing such a voice really requires you to read other writing voices minimally lest you be influenced by other voices. I think outside of news, I would be perfectly happy reading only pre-2022 publications. I just don't know how sustainable this is.

I disagree, I think a successful writing voice involves reading a lot of different styles and picking the elements that really speak to you.

It requires writing a lot, more than reading a lot.

I disagree respectfully. Before I write anything substantial, I re-read the few books that I really like to let me subconsciously absorb their elements. If I read modern journalism right before I write, whatever I write will be just like modern journalism: bland and boring. At least for me, there is a very large but temporally proximate influence between what I read and what I write.

Reading selectively makes sense, but I’d argue there can still be value in critically reading content the style of which you’d rather not emulate directly. For one, you may not always have a choice if you need to research something specific and there’s no high quality source available. You can also learn to pick out distinguishing characteristics of modern writing in order to subvert popular convention or adjust (not abandon) your style to be more accessible for the target audience.

I don’t agree with this. Quick assessment: what makes someone more susceptible to groupthink? To propaganda? Is it the way they write? That doesn’t sound right. It is not an LLM/ChatGPT-borne ailment. So I would not paint these tools as such a boogeyman.

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