Writing is not simply a way of expressing thought, but part of the process through which thought is formed. The danger is not that AI interventions make writing easier; it is that they displace the process by which thinking tends to occur: through the gradual articulation of ideas marked by hesitation and reformulation.
* When asked to describe Paolo’s writing, I observed the following patterns. He arrives at the abstract through one specific image, and trusts the image to do the work — a window in Naples, a pair of lost fingerprints, apamphlet stumbled across in Turin — letting the argument unfold rather than announcing it in advance. He builds long sentences that change direction mid-clause, often hinging on a semicolon. He places one unusual, precise word in each…