Sadly,
it seems possible that there may be very few—if any-- truly great writers
arriving on the scene in future years. How many great young writers are extant
today? Not many. By comparison, Mark Twain was 11-years-old when he published
his first work, and around 22 when he started writing professionally. Ralph
Waldo Emerson was also in his early 20s when he started writing in earnest.
Edgar Allan Poe was a prolific poet by the age of 13. Shakespeare wrote several
of his famous plays before he turned 30. Etc.
I
have no problem with the progression from quill pens to typewriters to
keyboards, but rather with the writing itself. In fact, communication overall
is suffering; oral, written and even non-verbal. And A.I. will be a culprit
going forward, in that humans will rely on it ever more heavily. On the
surface, A.I. compositions can appear more than adequate for a number of
applications but are not-- and cannot be--truly great. Great writing is like
great art or great beauty, you know it when you see it. It inspires. It has
heart. It has soul. It grabs us by the core and brings us along for the ride,
perhaps even changing us for the better as it does so.
All
of the afore-mentioned writers are dead, as are some of my other favorite
scribblers, such as Winston Churchill and P.J. O'Rourke. Others, such as Mark
Steyn, Steve Rushin, and James Lileks are, like myself, no longer spring
chickens.
If
we eventually lose the ability to write well, it will be the death knell of
sites like this one. And the acceleration of our decline as a species.
As
someone once said, “All we have to fear is fear itself.” But crappy writing is kind
of a bummer, too.
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