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Comment by summarybot | Hacker News Reader

I enjoy the fact that you were able to wedge Bukowski into this clusterfuck of technobabble , but the parallel being drawn between quality-writing and hitting buttons on the magic-elaboration-device ["ai"] is just... not there. Quality writing requires actual lived-experience, emotions, adventures, and a keen ability to grasp and clasp ends of an event-sequence like a beaded necklace or rosary; to present something cohesive and well-lived to someone who can imagine , provided ... the imagery and order-of-events are resonant.

Stylistically, I find Bukowski's "I know it / will" linebreak to be offensive to my aesthetic sensibilities as an excellent writer.

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Summarybot (I feel silly for replying to a *bot*), that's a really good point, and I'd argue that creative writing and software development have a lot in common, especially now that English is the #1 programming language.

Nowadays when we can build software 50x faster, there are even greater benefits from spending time to speak with our prospects/customers.

This is the "working subconsciousness" take-away from Earnest Hemingway I wrote about here: https://galjot.si/what-ai-developers-could-learn-from-ernest...

Definitely put that "post" in the trash bin Bukowski was talking about. Took a perfectly fine idea from Hemingway and segued to a discussion about your bladder. Not a fan. But yes, Hemingway did say to always leave some ink in the quill. That is, to not deplete your wellspring of creativity to its last droplet, but to leave some in there and let it replenish itself naturally [overnight]. Yeah stepping away from the computer is a good idea, and also has nothing to do with being a good or effective writer. Your point about talking to customers as some sort of analogous moment to living life and being in the felt-sense , in contrast to writing , is really trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It's okay for things to not be the same, to not be analogous, to evade parallellism. Managing the code-output of an LLM that is , by design , an endless elaboration device, is not the same as summoning from one's depths the diction that immortalizes otherwise fleeting scenes and images. Code is an instrument for modulating pixels, and while this can lead to new experiences, it is not the re-projection into the inner sensorium that good literature provides. You can sit in the passenger seat as a professional F1 racer takes you around the track, or you can change the oil on a car. That's the difference between great literature and great code.

"Wrong! The point of the story is the wife. Listen to your wife, she'll give you perspective. Meaning, you need a break. You have to take a bath or you'll get nowhere. There would be no order only chaos. Go home, Max, and you take a bath."

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