It is so refreshing and encouraging—and rare—to hear a writer of such depth and imagination speak to the potential value of AI as a thinking and synthesizing partner instead of leaping on to the fear-based, bashing bandwagon. AI has come to be a valued companion to me in my process, serving alternately as scribe, mirror, and translator of my own inner world and working with me to find resonant ways to bridge or more clearly see the connections between that inner realm with the outer one. Thank you for offering a much more measured perspective than I usually see here or anywhere else among those who hold imagination as sovereign.
“Did you find any of this interesting, both the week-long experiment and this concluding reflection?”
Beyond interesting! I found it mind-blowing and fascinating. Lots of thoughts stirred, but no time to share them. So instead I will just thank you for putting this all together. It’s more beneficial to this living dark reader than you’ll know.
One quick note, I recently used chat gpt to interpret a dream I had, and I was kind of blown away by the results. Like you, I had been very apprehensive to do such a thing. But after having done so, I am quite glad and will definitely be using it as a tool again.
Also, as I was reading all of this, my husband hand-delivered an Amazon package to me which arrived yesterday. It’s your book! Very excited to read it in the new year… or before if time allows. (You might have warned me with a spoiler alert about the final words of your book in this essay!! 😉)
I'm glad you found the bibliomancy meaningful, Georgia. And that your AI-aided dream interpretation was meaningful. Feels to me like many bets are now off when it comes to such things. I'm glad Wellspring arrived! Hope it proves a good winter's companion. Sorry about spoiling the ending. 😊
I appreciated your intellectual backdrop of “literary masterpiece” framework for a week as a way to muse about and sus out meaning. A bit of a stretch but, It reminded me of my obsession of collecting found things in nature… usually small and pocket size (interesting rocks, pieces of colored glass, bullet shells, bits of rusted metal, even small feathers) that I place in my home on widow sills or in planter boxes… each hold a story of place, a feeling and a strange question of… “why did i pick up the object in the first place?” For me, these random pieces are the building or scripting of vignettes or snapshots of my journey through life… much like selecting a book to read which someone recommended, or that you happened upon in a quaint and funky bookstore.
Life is storytelling whether intentional or not. Someone else may tell your story for you. Get to the front of the line and write your novel before someone else makes a killing off it!
That an AI vehicle can produce such a succinct and insightful response to your experiment is astounding. I've enjoyed reading the entire process, although I am not a practitioner of divination myself. Looking at the beautiful artwork in my tarot collection is about as close as I come, and my own attempt at bibliomancy was a failure due to cheating on my part.
I'm glad you enjoyed this series. Regarding "cheating" at bibliomancy, I'm inclined to say everything is ultimately included in the unfolding pattern, including what felt like it was outside the rules.
Oh, I am really pleased to see that you have also found that AI can really stimulate some remarkable insight--and I say this as someone who was (even still is to some extent) very knee-jerk anti-AI. Symbols, dreams, Tarot cards -- it can really set you on some remarkable paths.
I continued my bibliomancy for all seven days as well although I have to say I got increasingly obtuse results. I haven't had a chance to really go back and review and ponder everything from Day 3 onward but I will, and it's certainly an experiment I'll repeat again at some point. Thanks for prompting it!
Glad we're seeing some of the same things about AI. Sounds like our takes and sensibilities definitely have some overlap. And glad the bibliomancy experiment was meaningful to you!
It is so refreshing and encouraging—and rare—to hear a writer of such depth and imagination speak to the potential value of AI as a thinking and synthesizing partner instead of leaping on to the fear-based, bashing bandwagon. AI has come to be a valued companion to me in my process, serving alternately as scribe, mirror, and translator of my own inner world and working with me to find resonant ways to bridge or more clearly see the connections between that inner realm with the outer one. Thank you for offering a much more measured perspective than I usually see here or anywhere else among those who hold imagination as sovereign.
Thank *you*, Dan. I wish you much fulfillment in your creative endeavors.
“Did you find any of this interesting, both the week-long experiment and this concluding reflection?”
Beyond interesting! I found it mind-blowing and fascinating. Lots of thoughts stirred, but no time to share them. So instead I will just thank you for putting this all together. It’s more beneficial to this living dark reader than you’ll know.
One quick note, I recently used chat gpt to interpret a dream I had, and I was kind of blown away by the results. Like you, I had been very apprehensive to do such a thing. But after having done so, I am quite glad and will definitely be using it as a tool again.
Also, as I was reading all of this, my husband hand-delivered an Amazon package to me which arrived yesterday. It’s your book! Very excited to read it in the new year… or before if time allows. (You might have warned me with a spoiler alert about the final words of your book in this essay!! 😉)
I'm glad you found the bibliomancy meaningful, Georgia. And that your AI-aided dream interpretation was meaningful. Feels to me like many bets are now off when it comes to such things. I'm glad Wellspring arrived! Hope it proves a good winter's companion. Sorry about spoiling the ending. 😊
All is forgiven. ☺️
I appreciated your intellectual backdrop of “literary masterpiece” framework for a week as a way to muse about and sus out meaning. A bit of a stretch but, It reminded me of my obsession of collecting found things in nature… usually small and pocket size (interesting rocks, pieces of colored glass, bullet shells, bits of rusted metal, even small feathers) that I place in my home on widow sills or in planter boxes… each hold a story of place, a feeling and a strange question of… “why did i pick up the object in the first place?” For me, these random pieces are the building or scripting of vignettes or snapshots of my journey through life… much like selecting a book to read which someone recommended, or that you happened upon in a quaint and funky bookstore.
Life is storytelling whether intentional or not. Someone else may tell your story for you. Get to the front of the line and write your novel before someone else makes a killing off it!
Love the way you put this, John. And also the practice of collecting that you describe. Very cool!
That an AI vehicle can produce such a succinct and insightful response to your experiment is astounding. I've enjoyed reading the entire process, although I am not a practitioner of divination myself. Looking at the beautiful artwork in my tarot collection is about as close as I come, and my own attempt at bibliomancy was a failure due to cheating on my part.
I'm glad you enjoyed this series. Regarding "cheating" at bibliomancy, I'm inclined to say everything is ultimately included in the unfolding pattern, including what felt like it was outside the rules.
Oh, I am really pleased to see that you have also found that AI can really stimulate some remarkable insight--and I say this as someone who was (even still is to some extent) very knee-jerk anti-AI. Symbols, dreams, Tarot cards -- it can really set you on some remarkable paths.
I continued my bibliomancy for all seven days as well although I have to say I got increasingly obtuse results. I haven't had a chance to really go back and review and ponder everything from Day 3 onward but I will, and it's certainly an experiment I'll repeat again at some point. Thanks for prompting it!
Glad we're seeing some of the same things about AI. Sounds like our takes and sensibilities definitely have some overlap. And glad the bibliomancy experiment was meaningful to you!