Category: CommunityCategory: Community

Substack rolled out an AI detection system using Pangram, and it’s kicked up more questions than answers.

​This is well beyond “did AI write this?”

​Did we opt-in to have all our writing scanned? Is our work used to train AI models? Where does that data go?

​When (not if) the detector gets it wrong, what are the consequences for the writer? Can we appeal?

​And underneath all of this, what kind of culture are we building? Are we putting our trust into the hands of Pangram? Are we building a paranoid creative surveillance state on an AI service? And who’s paying for it?!

​So many questions.

​We won’t settle all of this in an hour. This is a room to bring your reactions and feelings and talk about it with other people figuring it all out. There’s no right answer here, or perfect outcome, but we can get together with others as we look ahead.

Thursday, July 30 at 2:00 PM EDT → https://luma.com/fro6y0r8
Monday, Aug 3 at 9:00 AM EDT → https://luma.com/xo7xogcm

This from photographer Tom Bland, sharing a story of local promotion:

We have been leaving small homemade zines in our town’s info booth for the last year.

This week we had some visitors to our art stand who are based in Canada but frequently visit the Berkshires to meet up with family here. They had picked up one of our zines from the info booth last year but not opened it until they got home to Canada. Inside, they found information about our art stand and made a mental note to check it out next time they were in town.

Sure enough, almost a year later they came to the art stand and bought a copy of our First Frost / Final Bloom zine.

I happened to be home so we got to have a great chat. It really solidified for me how seemingly small local marketing ideas like this can stand out as being unique and make a connection with someone who is looking for something different/analog/human.

Social media is alluring because five minutes after you post something, they’ll probably be two likes, and someone left a heart emoji comment. Leaving some small handmade zines in your town’s info booth is a much slower affair, as you lose the near-immediate feedback.

Walking away from that instaneosus feedback loop is a challenge, for sure. But recognizing the mechanics of social media, and how they’re designed to suck you in, is one of the best ways to break up with these platforms.

It doesn’t have to be overnight. None of this is black and white. But putting your life’s work into the hands of companies who only seek to profit from your unpaid labor might not be the best long game to play.

From Seth Godin, on how being a bad boss to ourselves can limit our potential.

When we have the world’s worst boss, it’s no surprise that our work isn’t filling us with anything. The talk inside our head — the story we’re telling ourselves — undermines all of it.

We can find a friend or a group, start a circle, to change the way our boss talks to us. Because if there was a boss like that in the real world, you would never work for them. And you shouldn’t work for yourself if you’re undermining yourself that way.

Echoing Priya Parker, of course, this leans towards group help, instead of “self help.”

You can read all the Seth Godin (or Mel Robins) books in the world, but the breakthroughs and the magic happen in a group, with like minded people, where you can be safe and vulnerable and care for one another.

It’s risky, which is why so many people scoff at the idea. But then again, that’s exactly what a horrible boss would tell you.

I’ve seen some posts from people who understand the whole “social media is rigged” thing, going on about the unwritten rules of “don’t include links,” or “post often,” or “make videos.”

These folks buttered up the situation (“haha social media is horrible!”), but then they saw results – it’s a miracle!

No, friends. This is exactly how social media operates. As Cory Doctorow says, it’s the giant teddy bear at the carnival gambit.

At every county fair, you’ll always spot some poor jerk carrying around a giant teddy-bear they “won” on the midway. But they didn’t win it – not by getting three balls in the peach-basket. Rather, the carny running the rigged game either chose not to operate the “scissor” that kicks balls out of the basket. Or, if the game is “honest” (that is, merely impossible to win, rather than gimmicked), the operator will make a too-good-to-refuse offer: “Get one ball in and I’ll give you this keychain. Win two keychains and I’ll let you trade them for this giant teddy bear.”

Carnies aren’t in the business of giving away giant teddy bears – rather, the gambit is an investment. Giving a mark a giant teddy bear to carry around the midway all day acts as a convincer, luring other marks to try to land three balls in the basket and win their own teddy bear.

These posts entice folks back to filling up the feeds, always engaging, and replying to multiple DMs. This means that instead of writing your next newsletter, or working on your website, you’re back on social media throwing spaghetti at the wall and hoping something sticks.

Don’t fall for it. There are people on your email list, or reading your website, or subscribed to your RSS feed and they love what you do. Invest your time in those people.

And while you’ve got some downtime because you’re not spending 20+ hours a week on social media, I dare you to plan a weekly Zoom call with some weirdos in your creative orbit. I bet you’ll gain more in that hourly call than spending all that time trying to impress strangers.

I hosted two “Let’s Break Up 💔 With Gmail” calls last week, and one guest mentioned this as we were wrapping up on Friday:

“This was very helpful if for no other reason than just to know I’m not the only nut in the room.”

It’s such a relief knowing other people are facing the same challenges. That we’re not alone.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s not just about email, but also the lock-in with Google Calendar, collaborative docs, and photo management. This makes a move look harder to manage, and so then we never start.

And we landed on two big points:

1. The replacement will never feel “perfect” because Gmail feels so familiar – some of us were beta-users of Gmail back in early 2004!
2. Do we want to replace one “all in one” soultion with another? What will some of these companies look like in ten years?

A good place to start? Stop researching and just sign up for a free trial with another email provider like Fastmail or Proton (affiliate links) or Hey. Get a feel for them, because if the vibes are off, you’ll never switch over.

Start small. Switch something like your Netflix account first, then maybe a store account. There’s no need for a big announcement, to tell everybody about your move. Just update your email here and there as you migrate, and leave the critical accounts (like banking, work stuff) for later on.