Why am I writing a blog in 2024? Aren’t AI/LLMs just going to replace blogs?
There does seem to be a lot of auto-generated noise out there. This little collection of thoughts is a mere droplet in a vast sea. Maybe writing a blog is futile.
Maybe I remember Wil Wheaton wrote a blog that got turned into a book and I’m envious.
Maybe I feel like I missed out when blogging was esoteric and cool (maybe only a little nerdy) before “web 2.0” and affiliate marketing commodified it.
But the inertia that has stopped me in the past has somehow been overcome.
I’m writing a blog for me, really. I don’t feel like I have something unique to say. I don’t even really think that anything I write will stand out in a sea of auto-generated marketing drek. And I don’t think AI can have a perspective so unique that it supplants the thoughts of real humans. Content consumers don’t really care about the quality of what they consume, just as long as there’s new dopamine waiting for them every day, whether is comes out of a brain or out of software. I’m not going to chase that dragon.
Quantity is quality
I feel like I haven’t been doing it all these years because I haven’t been doing it. It was always a daydream but never an action, even though the barrier to entry was absurdly low. In an interview I watched recently, Van Niestat says that “quantity is quality.” That is, the more material you put out, the more likely you will make something great. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can’t be perfect. Like, ever.
I have all these ideas that never see the light of day because of my inner critic who says, “no one is going to like this. Look, you messed this up, and you forgot something over here and that is just going to make people think you’re a moron.” That’s not mentally healthy.
If you don’t DO anything, then you won’t do ANYTHING.
So, I’m climbing to the top of the wall that’s kept me all safe and cozy in my comfort zone, and I’m chucking stuff over the top. I may climb up and peek over the side, to see where it landed, tinker a little bit. Or not. I might just keep chucking with no rhyme or reason.
Maybe writing this blog is futile in a business sense. There’s no marketability or SEO optimization. I’m not dancing to the tune of an algorithm.
But if a post appears here, at least I got that stupid inner critic to shut up that day.
Love this! I’ve got a half-baked post in my drafts file that explores the same questions—not only did you quiet the inner critic long enough to beat me to posting, you also brought up great points I hadn’t considered! I love the premise of quantity IS quality and just focusing on committing to the practice of creating for creating’s sake, regardless of the outcome.
Glad you liked the post! Regular blog posting is somehow both easier and harder than I imagined.