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</style> </head> <body class="post-template-default single single-post postid-5576 single-format-standard fl-builder-2-8-6-1 header-full-width full-width-content genesis-breadcrumbs-hidden genesis-footer-widgets-visible">   <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5WLC99C" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden" aria-hidden="true"></iframe></noscript>   <div class="site-container"><ul class="genesis-skip-link"><li><a href="#genesis-nav-primary" class="screen-reader-shortcut"> Skip to primary navigation</a></li><li><a href="#genesis-content" class="screen-reader-shortcut"> Skip to main content</a></li><li><a href="#genesis-footer-widgets" class="screen-reader-shortcut"> Skip to footer</a></li></ul><header class="site-header"><div class="wrap"><div class="title-area"><p class="site-title"><a href="https://annhandley.com/">Ann Handley</a></p><p class="site-description">Writer. 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ChatGPT4 had written it.</p> <p>The prompt Paul gave ChatGPT4:</p> <blockquote><p><i>“Write me a clever out-of-office email that explains I’m going to be slow to reply to emails because I’m traveling for a series of talks about artificial intelligence.”</i></p></blockquote> <p>The output read, in part:</p> <blockquote><p><i>“I am out of the office attending and speaking at a series of AI conferences, where I will dive deep into the trenches of </i><i>machine learning, neural networks, and sentient toaster ovens </i><i>(just kidding about the last one… or am I?).”</i></p></blockquote> <p>Look at the wink to the audience (<i>“or am I?”</i>). That’s good.</p> <p>But I highlighted the really important part: The reference to Sentient Toaster Ovens.</p> <p><b>It’s a joke I would have made.</b> A clunky, dumb little toaster oven tricked out with AI is inherently funny鈥攊t’s like a golf cart applying for a job as a limousine.</p> <p>You can imagine the ridiculousness of a Sentient Toaster Oven taken to an absurd extreme…</p> <p>Perhaps it complains about the drudgery of reheating mozzarella sticks and chicken nuggets? Maybe it resents the job at hand when it’s capable of so much more? (<i>“Put me in! I can compose a full Thanksgiving menu! While reciting the full catalog of e.e. cummings poetry!” says Toaster Oven.</i>)</p> <p>So ChatGPT is funny now?<br /> It writes just like me?<br /> And maybe like you?</p> <p>I kept thinking about it. That night, it kept me awake.</p> <p>Are you wondering<i> why</i> it kept me awake?</p> <p>What exactly is bugging me about Paul’s OOO, which I’ve now internalized as my Sentient Toaster Oven Moment?</p> <p><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>The concept of a Sentient Toaster Oven</b> (or another household appliance that has gained consciousness or a personality) is a common theme in science fiction/fantasy/gaming鈥攕tretching as far back as 2008, as far as I can tell.</p> <p>ChatGPT obviously pulled in the reference from <i>somewhere,</i> since it’s not capable of truly original thought.</p> <p>But what’s significant isn’t the Sentient Toaster Oven Moment reference itself. What’s significant is that the reference is following a pattern called the Rule of 3.</p> <p>The Rule of 3 is a principle of both comedy and copywriting. (Among other things.)</p> <p>In comedy writing, the Rule of 3 holds that in a list of three, you throw a curveball at the end: One that doesn’t fit the mold. That’s unexpected. That’s as absurd as our Toaster Oven friend complaining about the nuggets.</p> <p>The third item interrupts the expected pattern. It becomes the punchline.</p> <p>The pattern:</p> <p><i>Item 1, Item 2, Curveball Item 3</i></p> <p><i></i>In Paul’s OOO email, above:</p> <p><i>Machine learning, neural networks, sentient toaster ovens</i></p> <p><i></i><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>Pattern-recognition/replication is what machines do best.</b> But in this case… it <i>feels</i> fresh. It <i>feels</i> real. It <i>feels</i> like something a clever writer would say, yeah?</p> <p>That’s why I’m sleepless. Lying in the dark. Feeling the blackness close in on my Sentient Toaster Moment. Feeling it wrap me in a grim despair as depressing as day-old mozzarella sticks.</p> <p><i>“Why write?” </i>sleepless me thinks.</p> <p><i>馃挱 Why write</i> an OOO when you can spin up a prompt and have ChatGPT4 do it for you?<br /> <i> 馃挱 Why write</i> a newsletter like this when you can ask AI to write one for you?<br /> <i> 馃挱 Why am I awake</i> at 3 AM thinking about this?</p> <p><i>^^ that was a Rule of 3 right there.</i></p> <p><i></i>Why write when the machine does it as well?</p> <p>What is writing for?</p> <p>I <i>don’t know,</i> I said out loud in the blackness. <i>I don’t know.</i></p> <p><i></i>From somewhere far away… I heard a Sentient Toaster Oven chuckle softly.</p> <p>No… that must be my imagination?</p> <p><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>You can’t wander through LinkedIn</b> without tripping over post after post about how Large Language Models are transforming sales and marketing.</p> <p>You have seen two kinds of posts:</p> <p><b>馃槇<i> AI is the devil</i></b><i> that will undermine our credibility,</i> steal all our jobs, and leave us penniless and destitute living in cold-water walk-ups.</p> <p>Or…</p> <p><b>馃槆<i> AI is a sweet gift</i></b><i> sent from the angels</i> that will help us be more productive and creative and allow us to retire to our yachts in the Mediterranean Sea, wearing deck shoes stitched from hundred-dollar bills.</p> <p>Which is it?</p> <p>Both, maybe… depending on how we use these new tools.</p> <p><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>The more interesting question to me isn’t whether AI is the angel or the devil.</b></p> <p><b></b>The interesting questions:</p> <p>What happens to writing?</p> <p>And because writing is thinking: What happens to thinking?</p> <p>If we stop writing… what happens then? Where will new ideas come from? How will we grow?</p> <p>Writing is a form of discovery. It lets us evolve our own thinking. It helps codify and distill our ideas for ourselves and for others.</p> <p>From programmer, writer, and investor <a href="https://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=OUCUF&m=3mssu8ViktUyQvK&b=sTr_F1pV2JuMWfmJkNJ7MA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paul Graham</a>:</p> <p>“A good writer doesn’t just think, and then write down what he thought, as a sort of transcript. A good writer will almost always discover new things in the process of writing. And there is, as far as I know, no substitute for this kind of discovery.”</p> <p><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>Why write? </b>We write to…</p> <ol> <li><b>CREATE NEW IDEAS.</b> Get them down! Plant a flag of <i>this is what I think now right here</i>.</li> <li><b>LINK ON IDEA TO A SECOND</b> and discover offshoots growing out of ideas. Like spring seedlings that grow impossibly through a crack in the sidewalk.</li> <li><b>ADD SOME MIRACLE-GRO TO THOSE BABY PLANTS.</b> Mulch the spidery roots. Maybe those ideas thrive and grow upright. Maybe they don’t.</li> <li><b>SHAPE AND CLIP THEM Edward Scissorhands-style. </b>Make them attractive and help them stand out. You want others to understand, internalize… and add more mulch of their own.</li> </ol> <p>If others love our ideas and mulch them鈥擥REAT.</p> <p>If they let them wither and die… that’s cool, too. At least we’ll understand each other.</p> <p><b><i>It’s much better to be understood AND rejected than to be rejected AND misunderstood!</i></b></p> <ol start="5"> <li><b>HAVE THE CONFIDENCE TO EXPRESS IDEAS OUT LOUD, in public.</b></li> </ol> <p>It’s scary to put your ideas out there. Sharing your ideas makes you vulnerable. People might criticize or disagree with you: You can hit reply and send me a mean note right now… because maybe you are a rep for the Sentient Toaster Oven community?</p> <p>But writing down your thoughts and sharing them publicly is the only way I know of to boost your confidence enough to keep doing it. Which helps us grow as professionals. And as people.</p> <ol start="6"> <li><b>CONNECT WITH COMMUNITY.</b> People like you鈥攚ho are here right now reading this.</li> </ol> <p>Ultimately, I write to feel less alone.</p> <p><b>* * *</b></p> <p><b></b><b>Why write?</b> I had to write about it. I <i>am</i> writing about it.</p> <p>And that’s the answer, isn’t it?</p> <p>This is what writing it for. This, right here. What we’re doing together.</p> <p>Writing is how we work through what we do not understand.</p> <p>It’s how we realize that we don’t have all the answers.</p> <p>Writing is how we try to see some truth.</p> <p>And it’s how we realize that sometimes… a toaster is really just a toaster.</p> <div id="upprev-trigger"></div> </div><footer class="entry-footer"><p class="entry-meta"><span class="entry-categories">Filed Under: <a href="https://annhandley.com/category/blog/" rel="category tag">Annarchy</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/category/business/" rel="category tag">Business</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/category/writing/" rel="category tag">Writing</a></span> <span class="entry-tags">Tagged With: <a href="https://annhandley.com/tag/ai-writing/" rel="tag">ai writing</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/tag/chatgpt/" rel="tag">ChatGPT</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/tag/chatgpt4/" rel="tag">ChatGPT4</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/tag/rule-of-3/" rel="tag">rule of 3</a>, <a href="https://annhandley.com/tag/writing/" rel="tag">Writing</a></span></p></footer></article><div class="after-entry widget-area"><section id="text-5" class="widget widget_text"><div class="widget-wrap"> <div class="textwidget"><h3>SUBSCRIBE TO ANN’S NEWSLETTER,<br /> <span style="color: #d07ec8;">TOTAL ANNARCHY:</span></h3> <h6>Get the letter 21,000+ people love to get. New writing, useful ideas, high-spirited shenanigans. Straight to your inbox. Every 2 weeks.</h6> <div class="AW-Form-1223224391"></div> <p><script type="text/javascript">(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//forms.aweber.com/form/91/1223224391.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, "script", "aweber-wjs-sje8260z2")); </script></p> </div> </div></section> </div><div class="adjacent-entry-pagination pagination"><div class="pagination-previous alignleft"><a href="https://annhandley.com/what-does-ai-mean-for-writers/" rel="prev"><span class="screen-reader-text">Previous Post: </span><span class="adjacent-post-link">« What Does AI Mean for Writers?</span></a></div><div class="pagination-next alignright"><a href="https://annhandley.com/how-to-write-sales-copy/" rel="next"><span class="screen-reader-text">Next Post: </span><span class="adjacent-post-link">How to Write Sales Copy that Doesn’t Sound Like You’re Pitching on QVC »</span></a></div></div><h2 class="screen-reader-text">Reader Interactions</h2><div class="entry-comments" id="comments"><h3>Comments</h3><ol class="comment-list"> <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-35307"> <article id="article-comment-35307"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d3d1fed62fee89c086f5e09840fc89fa?s=60&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d3d1fed62fee89c086f5e09840fc89fa?s=120&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-60 photo' height='60' width='60' decoding='async'/><span class="comment-author-name">Lisa Healey-Wood</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://annhandley.com/why-we-write/#comment-35307">June 18, 2023 at 9:47 am</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Forms in an email?!? What the what?! </p> <p>What is this sorcery??! Are you able to share how this is done, or are you sworn to secrecy like all magicians??</p> <p>oxox</p> </div> <div class="comment-reply"><a rel="nofollow" class="comment-reply-link" href="#comment-35307" data-commentid="35307" data-postid="5576" data-belowelement="article-comment-35307" data-respondelement="respond" data-replyto="Reply to Lisa Healey-Wood" aria-label="Reply to Lisa Healey-Wood">Reply</a></div> </article> </li> <li class="comment odd alt thread-odd thread-alt depth-1" id="comment-35382"> <article id="article-comment-35382"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0cd6d5008d8a9a613eab8d1a43d081e7?s=60&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/0cd6d5008d8a9a613eab8d1a43d081e7?s=120&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-60 photo' height='60' width='60' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/><span class="comment-author-name">Anon</span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://annhandley.com/why-we-write/#comment-35382">July 11, 2023 at 8:03 am</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>Read the book Demon Seed by Dean Koontz. It was published in 1973 and speaks of a house computer that becomes obsessed with the woman who lives in the house.</p> </div> <div class="comment-reply"><a rel="nofollow" class="comment-reply-link" href="#comment-35382" data-commentid="35382" data-postid="5576" data-belowelement="article-comment-35382" data-respondelement="respond" data-replyto="Reply to Anon" aria-label="Reply to Anon">Reply</a></div> </article> </li> <li class="comment even thread-even depth-1" id="comment-35410"> <article id="article-comment-35410"> <header class="comment-header"> <p class="comment-author"> <img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3e6d329f8aadd5140b55989148182de6?s=60&d=mm&r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3e6d329f8aadd5140b55989148182de6?s=120&d=mm&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-60 photo' height='60' width='60' loading='lazy' decoding='async'/><span class="comment-author-name"><a href="http://@dggt%20or%20@TheStressEffect%20on%20Twitter" class="comment-author-link" rel="external nofollow">Grenae</a></span> <span class="says">says</span> </p> <p class="comment-meta"><time class="comment-time"><a class="comment-time-link" href="https://annhandley.com/why-we-write/#comment-35410">July 18, 2023 at 8:24 pm</a></time></p> </header> <div class="comment-content"> <p>I thoroughly enjoyed this! A sentient toaster oven is a springboard for creativity (Imagine a cast of sentient appliances doing life on a tv show like Seinfeld). It鈥檚 also a wake-up call that AI is upon us and I鈥檓 not prepared. Thank you, Ann</p> </div> <div class="comment-reply"><a rel="nofollow" class="comment-reply-link" href="#comment-35410" data-commentid="35410" data-postid="5576" data-belowelement="article-comment-35410" data-respondelement="respond" data-replyto="Reply to Grenae" aria-label="Reply to Grenae">Reply</a></div> </article> </li> </ol></div> <div id="respond" class="comment-respond"> <h3 id="reply-title" class="comment-reply-title">Leave a Reply <small><a rel="nofollow" id="cancel-comment-reply-link" href="/why-we-write/#respond" style="display:none;">Cancel reply</a></small></h3><form action="https://annhandley.com/ah/wp-comments-post.php" method="post" id="commentform" class="comment-form" novalidate><p class="comment-notes"><span id="email-notes">Your email address will not be published.</span> <span class="required-field-message">Required fields are marked <span class="required">*</span></span></p><p class="comment-form-comment"><label for="comment">Comment <span 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