Today's threads (a thread)
Inside: Writing vs AI; and more!
Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2026/01/07/delicious-pizza/
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Discussion
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@pluralistic
You "go every year or two for six years"? You mean six months, maybe? Or weeks?
@dpflug No. Every year, or every other year, for six years.
When they made student debts irrevocable in the 90s, it was a huge red flag that something bad was coming. Then colleges began mandating health insurance in the early oughts. Then they began expelling students for peaceful protest of a genocide.
The students are right, college essays are mostly worthless (or as valuable as AI slop), but the point was to record a progression of more mature thought.
If what they're allowed to think is so filtered, is that a liberal college?
@pluralistic Did you mean to thread this article twice?
@Epic_Null It is not threaded twice.
@pluralistic I see what happened. I saw the essay was linked in a new post after I just finished reading the post without understanding ehat the new post was. Sorry.
I'm coming to Colorado! Catch me in #Denver on Jan 22 at The Tattered Cover:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cory-doctorow-live-at-tattered-cover-colfax-tickets-1976644174937
And in #ColoradoSprings from Jan 23-25, where I'm the Guest of Honor at COSine:
https://www.firstfridayfandom.org/cosine/
Then I'll be in #Ottawa on Jan 28 at Perfect Books:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DS2nGiHiNUh/
And in #Toronto with Tim Wu on Jan 30:
https://nowtoronto.com/event/cory-doctorow-and-tim-wu-enshittification-and-extraction/
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Writing vs AI: If you wouldn't ask an AI to eat a delicious pizza for you, why would you ask it to write a college essay?
https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/115854401486720282
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@pluralistic This is a great article.
As someone who teaches at a university, there's a lot to mull over here. I like the concept that writing can be alchemical, when done right. I get that. It's like magic when things connect in unexpected ways and new ideas emerge.
I'm also digesting your suggestion that by making writing assignments simple, prescriptive and easy to mark, we're training students to write like LLMs. Hmm. I'll think about how to do better.