MR.RAJESH ACHANTA in fourth issue of Future Tense, shares what’s arriving and what questions we should be asking before the answers become obvious. The future is already here, just unevenly distributed.
Well,MR.RAJESH knows as much as any human being can know about AI and writes thought provoking,research based essays on AI.
“Common Creativity” essay itself evidences what has come and itself answers the question we should be asking about future. How !
Why MR.RAJESH writes an essay when he can type a few words and have AI generate one for him? Because MR.RAJESH is creative.
Great writing requires us to position our idea in a way that will resonate with the reader. Average writers start with what they want to say without considering how it will land with the reader.A world of common thinking available on demand will tempt people to outsource their thinking and disproportionately reward people who don’t.And, MR.RAJESH is rewarded as we readers, read,re-read and think about MR.RAJESH essays,even share with others.His essays,context and perspectives remain in my mind and I even save his essays inspite of being aware that I can always access on Substack.
—————-
Benedict Evans has been calling tech shifts for decades. Now he says forget the hype: AI isn’t the new electricity. It’s the biggest change since the iPhone, and that’s plenty big enough,because platform shifts happen every 10-15 years and then become just software.
The data advantage incumbents supposedly have is illusory, mainly because LLMs require vast amounts of generalized text, which is readily available, making data effectively a commodity.
—————-
In the new book—Creativity in the Age of AI—Wharton's Jerry Wind and his co-authors argue that AI can write, create images, compose music, craft videos, code, brainstorm, research, analyze, and more — capabilities that can supercharge a broad swath of industries.
“But here’s the crucial insight: AI doesn’t replace human creativity — it amplifies it exponentially.”
—————-
Historical Context: Why Creativity Matters More Than Ever:
Creativity, as we understand it today, has relatively recent origins. MIT Technology Review‘s examination of Samuel Franklin’s The Cult of Creativity reveals that our modern understanding emerged primarily after World War II in America.
Creativity became a response to society’s growing conformity and bureaucratization, providing what Franklin describes as “a way to unleash individualism within order, and revive the spirit of the lone inventor within the maze of the modern corporation.”
This historical perspective shows why creativity has become a fundamental value in contemporary society.
“Silicon Valley particularly exemplifies this trend, valuing creativity precisely because it combines novelty with utility — two elements highly prized in technology markets.”
As AI increasingly participates in creative processes, understanding this context becomes more relevant. Our definitions and practices of creativity continue to evolve alongside technological and social changes.
As always, you brought some new perspective that makes me think harder. I wasn't aware of the Franklin history: that "creativity" as we venerate it is a surprisingly recent invention; a post-war answer to conformity, a way to keep the lone inventor alive inside the corporation. Assuming that's right, AI isn't then threatening some eternal human essence. It's disrupting a 75-year-old cultural construct. Which makes the migration I describe less a loss and more of a continuation — creativity has always been redefining itself to fit the moment.
Ben Evans's framing of AI as the biggest platform shift since the iPhone — enormous without being apocalyptic — is roughly where I sit. And Wind's "amplifies rather than replaces" is exactly what I was describing with Beeple — the artist who didn't defend his old territory but redrew the map.
Thank you, as always, for reading and responding so generously.
MR.RAJESH ACHANTA in fourth issue of Future Tense, shares what’s arriving and what questions we should be asking before the answers become obvious. The future is already here, just unevenly distributed.
Well,MR.RAJESH knows as much as any human being can know about AI and writes thought provoking,research based essays on AI.
“Common Creativity” essay itself evidences what has come and itself answers the question we should be asking about future. How !
Why MR.RAJESH writes an essay when he can type a few words and have AI generate one for him? Because MR.RAJESH is creative.
Great writing requires us to position our idea in a way that will resonate with the reader. Average writers start with what they want to say without considering how it will land with the reader.A world of common thinking available on demand will tempt people to outsource their thinking and disproportionately reward people who don’t.And, MR.RAJESH is rewarded as we readers, read,re-read and think about MR.RAJESH essays,even share with others.His essays,context and perspectives remain in my mind and I even save his essays inspite of being aware that I can always access on Substack.
—————-
Benedict Evans has been calling tech shifts for decades. Now he says forget the hype: AI isn’t the new electricity. It’s the biggest change since the iPhone, and that’s plenty big enough,because platform shifts happen every 10-15 years and then become just software.
The data advantage incumbents supposedly have is illusory, mainly because LLMs require vast amounts of generalized text, which is readily available, making data effectively a commodity.
—————-
In the new book—Creativity in the Age of AI—Wharton's Jerry Wind and his co-authors argue that AI can write, create images, compose music, craft videos, code, brainstorm, research, analyze, and more — capabilities that can supercharge a broad swath of industries.
“But here’s the crucial insight: AI doesn’t replace human creativity — it amplifies it exponentially.”
—————-
Historical Context: Why Creativity Matters More Than Ever:
Creativity, as we understand it today, has relatively recent origins. MIT Technology Review‘s examination of Samuel Franklin’s The Cult of Creativity reveals that our modern understanding emerged primarily after World War II in America.
Creativity became a response to society’s growing conformity and bureaucratization, providing what Franklin describes as “a way to unleash individualism within order, and revive the spirit of the lone inventor within the maze of the modern corporation.”
This historical perspective shows why creativity has become a fundamental value in contemporary society.
“Silicon Valley particularly exemplifies this trend, valuing creativity precisely because it combines novelty with utility — two elements highly prized in technology markets.”
As AI increasingly participates in creative processes, understanding this context becomes more relevant. Our definitions and practices of creativity continue to evolve alongside technological and social changes.
As always, you brought some new perspective that makes me think harder. I wasn't aware of the Franklin history: that "creativity" as we venerate it is a surprisingly recent invention; a post-war answer to conformity, a way to keep the lone inventor alive inside the corporation. Assuming that's right, AI isn't then threatening some eternal human essence. It's disrupting a 75-year-old cultural construct. Which makes the migration I describe less a loss and more of a continuation — creativity has always been redefining itself to fit the moment.
Ben Evans's framing of AI as the biggest platform shift since the iPhone — enormous without being apocalyptic — is roughly where I sit. And Wind's "amplifies rather than replaces" is exactly what I was describing with Beeple — the artist who didn't defend his old territory but redrew the map.
Thank you, as always, for reading and responding so generously.
Your comments are always insightful and inspiring. Thanks 🙏