In a recent post, I lamented the feeling that what I write becomes part of some anonymous glob that feeds “search AI” [Will anyone read my words?]. I admit that when I do a Google search I first read the AI response and that may provide just what I was looking for. So, ignoring the feeling of personal invisibility that comes with this reality, I began to think about what, in my comments, offers something of value to others. What in following bloggers using RSS did I lose in this transition from following a writer on topics of personal interest did I really lose in being able to apply AI search to address personal interests?
As I considered this question, my mind flashed on an argument I made several years ago in an attempt to justify textbooks and other long-form informative texts. [Why a textbook?]. Ignoring the cost issue and whether or not college students actually study assigned textbook material, I recognized that, mostly to save students money, profs often felt it helpful to create a course syllabus/outline with the reading assignments linked from elements in the outline to free online content. My counter argument was that learning is about each student building a personal model of understanding and there was unique value in a single integrated source as this source was a model of how an experienced learner (the author) had tried to export his or her model of how the many ideas in a course fit together. If I had to argue with myself, I would probably suggest that the job of the professor in creating the outline and presenting on his/her model of the course repeatedly was trying to do a similar thing. I have since decided that, now that I must function as a self-directed learner, I benefit from exposure to a book that provides a more complete and integrated model of some topic. For example, Ahrens’ book – How to take smart notes – offers a better integrated model of the whys and hows of notetaking than the many individual comments I might find searching online.
How do I explain this opinion and why I think it has value? I have decided that what I want is a perspective, and this is what you get from a single source sharing long-form content (perhaps in the form of multiple posts). Elements of information can be combined in multiple ways, and perhaps this is the difference between how we use the concepts of information and knowledge. Knowledge is the way a given individual has organized selected elements of information to provide meaning or usefulness.
Perhaps you can anticipate then how I see the difference between the output of AI search and the more idiosyncratic perspective of a single writer. Both provide information, and on most topics, when there is something specific I want to know, the homogenized summary of many inputs offered by AI may be accurate and possibly superior. However, in building my own personal knowledge of a complex topic, I think it is useful to follow how one knowledgeable individual selects and organizes information. Could a diligent individual create personal understanding from either source? Definitely. I still think there is something unique and useful in following how one individual I trust puts ideas together.
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