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One of the world’s greatest Go players who was defeated by an artificial intelligence program warns that the technology may come with a rude awakening for humans as it advances.

Lee Se-Dolis a South Korean legend in the game of Go, which is widely considered to be a more complex game than chess. The game, which can be played in person and online, also once posed a computational challenge for AI researchers.

In 2016, the Go world was rocked after Lee was defeated by AlphaGo, an AI program made by Google’s DeepMind. Lee lost 4 out of 5 games.

The defeat was a huge upset and pushed Lee to retire from the game in 2019.

“With the debut of AI in Go games, I’ve realized that I’m not at the top even if I become the No. 1 through frantic efforts,” Lee told Yonhap News Agency at the time. “Even if I become the No. 1, there is an entity that cannot be defeated.”

Lee told The New York Times in a recent interview that his loss against AlphaGo had a profound impact on his life: “Losing to AI, in a sense, meant my entire world was collapsing.”

Now, he warns that the technology won’t just be coming after Go players.

“I faced the issues of AI early, but it will happen for others,” Lee said at an education fair in Seoul, according to The Times. “It may not be a happy ending.”

Lee told the publication that he can see AI creating new jobs as it takes away others. But a larger concern for the retired Go player is what AI will do to people’s appreciation for originality.

“People used to be in awe of creativity, originality, and innovation,” Lee told The Times. “But since AI came, a lot of that has disappeared.”

Since AI’s rise to the mainstream, artists and some leading intellectuals have raised doubts about the technology’s ability to be creative.

Noam Chomsky, a linguistics professor and philosopher, previously told Business Insider in 2023 that he was “skeptical” that artificial intelligence could make breakthroughs in studies like the arts.

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg said in an interview with Stephen Colbert that AI takes the “soul” out of creative work.

“I think the soul is unimaginable and is ineffable,” Spielberg said. “And it cannot be created by any algorithm, it is just something that exists in all of us.”

The inner Star Wars nerd in me wants to punch a hole through the wall.

Mainly cause I wish I had the force as a power since I was kid watching Star wars…

But today I’m talking about force but for creating cause that’s where people seem to get stuck

From writers block. To not knowing what to paint. Or how to frame their photos or come up with a hook for their new music.

This whole creative endeavour seems to grab people around the neck and strangle them to submission and when it comes to producing for deadlines. They are like a deer standing in front of a 18 tonne truck about to end their existence…

Anywho…

Forced creativity Vs Flow state creativity.

The names tell you everything there is to know.

The majority of creatives live for the deadline and beg the muse to help them out. Hours before they need to produce they are stuck forcing out something to create.

This is not good. This is anxiety inducing and can honestly drive you mad. You don’t ever want to be here.

Flow state in the other hand is having an abundance of ideas that you can riff off of at any given time.

There’s no Yoda-based-voodoo-magic ancient jedi teaching that’ll help you to get to this point.

It’s just you NEED to get to a point where you are disciplined enough to come up with 100s of ideas and stack them together. That way at any given moment. Deadline or not. You can go through your tome of ideas and pick something out that you’re feeling, and create a piece of content.

Instead of relying on creativity and forcing yourself to make something. You have so many ideas knocking about that you can turn them down for that point in time and come back to it later when you’re in the mood.

That’s the type of state you want to get into.

A flow state beats a forced state 10/10 times.

Jedi-mind-trick free.

Now if you want a continuation of the HOW TO of this.

Hit reply and tell me.

If not. That’s cool. I’m gonna go head out into the wild…

Stephen Walker.

Medium. You glorious, glittery trashfire of a platform.

Home to thinkfluencers, self-help gurus, techbros, and the occasional writer who actually gives a damn about the craft.

But mostly, it’s become an ouroboros of writers writing about how to succeed at writing on Medium.

Scroll through the hallowed halls of Medium these days and what will you find?

A metric fuckton of posts with titles like:

“How I Made $10,000 on Medium Last Month With This One Weird Trick”

“The Ultimate Guide to Gaming the Medium Algorithm to Score Fat Stacks”

“Medium is Screwing Over Writers Again With These Latest Changes”

It’s a cavalcade of craven capitalism and crybaby complaining.

The actual WRITING on Medium has become secondary to the constant meta-discussion about the platform itself.

You know what’s sexy? Actually giving a shit about the CRAFT of writing.

Spilling blood on the page to tell a kickass story or share an idea that matters.

You know what’s about as sexy as a bucket of lukewarm turtle barf?

Endlessly prattling on about how to optimise yourself to make a quick buck off your “content.”

Sure, some of the criticism of Medium is valid.

The overlords keep changing the rules on us poor writer peasants, tilting the game in favour of shameless grifters and away from those who want to create something of substance.

It’s frustrating as hell.

But instead of bitching about it or trying to hack it, maybe – just maybe – focus on actually becoming a better goddamn writer.

Tune out the noise, hit the keys, and put something original and worthwhile out into the world.

THAT is the only “one weird trick” that has ever mattered.

So to conclude my little rant:

Fuck the algorithm, and fuck writing for robots instead of humans.

Tell your story, sing your song, and to hell with all the rest.

The cream always rises, motherfuckers.

Get to work.
P.S. Build your own list (Just like this) or forward this one email on to a few of yo’ friends and direct them to https://cult.thesillygoosesociety.com/

Stephen Walker

The love hate relationship with social media continues.

But every now and then you come across a gem of a human who does some amazing work…

Josh, is lucky enough to bless strangers through the power of crowdfunding.

He lifts up the ones who are struggling and also helps out the local mom ‘n pop businesses who support his cause.

In a world filled with madness, I aim to be like Josh. Use the power of my words to help those where I can.

Check out one of Josh’s clips here

Stephen Walker