Comment by tailnode
6 days ago
And how exactly will studying (not even writing!) poetry address these crises? It's holier-than-thou bullshit written by a guy who has only gotten feedback from soulless status-seekers who were smitten by his position at Anthropic.
I would argue that simple acts of authenticity - writing a poem, growing a vegetable, creating art, walking in nature, meaningfully interacting with one's community - represent exactly the sort of trajectory required to address those crises generated by an overzealous adherence to technological advancement at any societal cost.
https://www.mrinanksharma.net/poetry
He’s published a book on poetry. So he does write it as well as study it.
He wants to focus on community building (as stated in the letter), wouldn't you say that communities in developed countries have been hollowed out? It's also one of the most important aspects of humanity, we are community builders first, that's how we always survived.
Being atomised hasn't improved how meaningful our lives are even though we created a lot of technology going that way. Can you say we have more meaning in life by being splitted apart? We have lots of entertainment and things to keep us busy but for a lot of people gratification comes from doing things together.
As a personal anecdote: I've personally enjoyed much more my times during summer helping a community of friends to build houses in their land than any time I was just travelling around. I pass by their houses every few weeks, have dinner with them here and there, and feel extremely happy to see those people living in structures I helped to build together with them. It's much more meaningful to me than any software I helped to develop used by literal hundreds of millions of people.
The lack of community untethers people from being humans, you can clearly see that in anyone that is chronically online.
Maybe that’s not his goal.
Did you read the resignation letter?
Yeah, he posted a low-resolution bitmap scan of it on Twitter a few days ago. I had to open it in Safari and rely on its OCR to actually paste the relevant passage that describes his reason for leaving, which only comes after four paragraphs of preamble.
> What comes next, I do not know. I think fondly of the famous Zen quote "not knowing is most intimate". My intention is to create space to set aside the structures that have held me these past years, and see what might emerge in their absence. I feel called to writing that addresses and engages fully with the place we find ourselves, and that places poetic truth alongside scientific truth as equally valid ways of knowing, both of which I believe have something essential to contribute when developing new technology.* I hope to explore a poetry degree and devote myself to the practice of courageous speech. I am also excited to deepen my practice of facilitation, coaching, community building, and group work. We shall see what unfolds.
:eggplant_emoji: