Julia Evans on Writing for One Specific Person
Simon Willison's Weblog43 days agoOpinionJulia Evans shares a focused writing philosophy: instead of writing for a broad audience, picture one specific person and write for them alone. That person is often "me, but 3 years ago" or a close friend. Simon Willison quotes this advice on his blog, highlighting it as a principle worth amplifying for anyone who creates technical or educational content.
Choosing to Stay Human★ 74
One Useful Thing (Mollick)62 days agoCommentaryEthan Mollick warns that frictionless AI use can produce hollow writing, weaken learning, and encourage cognitive surrender. He contrasts poor uses of ChatGPT that shortcut effort with tutor-like AI systems that improve learning by pushing students to think. The core argument is not to reject AI, but to intentionally decide which tasks to offload and which human capabilities to preserve.