The Human Tax
Trying to write 200 pieces, Nick Cave style ChatGPT written songs, and quantity needing quality
I never missed a week of writing, crafting, and hitting send for over 100 weeks. No matter what life handed me, I was in your inbox. I was proud of it, most notably when I reached the year one milestone. Churning out pieces week after week was my north star. I told myself everything else would fall in line. I began the journey in August of 2022, but I didn’t exercise some commitment to writing until six months later. That was when I got in my groove.
Starting a newsletter used to be the thing to do. Everyone on X seemed to be doing it. Most people adhered to the typical cadence of posting once a week. Anything less, and it was easy to convince myself I was falling behind. I began my journey thinking if I could churn out 200 pieces, ideally once a week over four years, I might grow in ways that my younger self dreamed of. I lived by the idea that the only way to mitigate not being successful was to not quit. Pairing that with never knowing what could be successful, focusing on volume would get me on the path to where I wanted to go. I wasn’t misguided either, but what was once signal turned into noise.
Flash back to November 2022, ChatGPT is released. At first, it targeted AI enthusiasts and researchers. Very AI forward folks were early adopters, treating it beyond being a search engine on steroids. Soon, more people catch wind of its power, exploding usage of the LLMs. It’s now 2025. Everyone is using AI. AI infused threads on X, emails marked by AI sent to coworkers, and AI curated posts on Substack are littered everywhere. Its adoption has hit an inflection point. User growth shifts from linear to exponential. It is not only in our daily lives, but complements our professional careers. AI is here.
September of 2025, I preached the need for quantity over quality. I claimed, “If you always prioritize quality over quantity, it is easy to spend your whole life never creating and doing much of anything.” However, the signal that once shined bright has dimmed with the rise of AI. What once used to be a way to impress by churning out volume transitioned into a contra signal. I could post pieces every day. AI could write the piece for me, but that does nothing for me.
Nick Cave wrote a piece in the Red Hand Files talking about the many Nick Cave style, ChatGPT written songs sent to him. Speaking of one of the songs, he says,
“What ChatGPT is, in this instance, is replication as travesty. ChatGPT may be able to write a speech or an essay or a sermon or an obituary but it cannot create a genuine song.”
The world doesn’t need more AI slop because that was not what AI was made for. It doesn’t need to see how much more efficient I can make my writing process because I decided to use Claude to write the first draft. Creative pursuits are meant to improve me beyond how I currently stand, to push me to reconcile with who I am and what the world is presenting before me. AI is great. It is a transformative technology that will change the trajectory of many aspects of our lives, but it is more than a glorified slop cannon.
Perhaps, it is best described through a work analogy. AI serves to automate repetitive, mundane tasks to free up time to chase more important, exciting possibilities, responsibilities, however you desire to see it. It isn’t for creative endeavors that help serve me by advancing my career. The once plentiful oasis of pure quantity has shriveled up into a dry, barren desert.
It may sound like I am quick to change my mind, only preaching the need for quantity over quality nine months ago. However, life is always changing, always evolving. I can’t resist the new information as it comes in. Darwin was onto something when he says the one who survive are the ones who are most adaptable to change. I am someone who likes to consider myself somewhat of a writer because it helps me to consider what life is presenting before me. With the pace of change of the world, I change my mind because I see how the information changes before me. As Carl Jung said,
“People do not realize just how much they are putting at risk when they don’t accept what Life presents them with, the questions and tasks that Life sets them. When they resolve to spare themselves the pain and suffering, they owe to their nature. In so doing, they refuse to pay Life’s dues and for this very reason, Life then often leads them astray.”
The reconciliation of what is presented before me is a tough business. It is what makes writing so difficult. The bouncing around of ideas in your head, staring at a screen and stuck on where to start. The denial of what I don’t want to be true, but most definitely is. The era of quality is being ushered in. A healthy dose is necessary to complement the sheer volume. Maybe Nick Cave said it best when talking about songwriting,
“It requires my humanness. What that new idea is, I don’t know, but it is out there somewhere, searching for me. In time, we will find each other.”
Yes, “In time, we will find each other,” because anything worthwhile takes time. I can’t rush that process because, in time, I will get to where I need to be.
Appreciate you being here.
- Scantron