I came across a YouTube clip from ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006) where Meryl Streep’s character gives a monologue in response to Anne Hathaway’s character thinking that obsessing over the color of two similar belts is unnecessary.
Here’s the climax of the monologue for me:
“…it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room.”
I think one can also say the same thing about reading and writing in the post-LLM age. You may think there’s no need to read and write when you can plop a book into AI and get the gist in the form of a polished summary. But remember: You may think you are exempt from the world of books, but your ideas and preferences are selected and shaped by people who have spent time reading and writing