For people who are done letting outside voices — technology, experts, cultural noise — drown out their own. Every issue explores how to reclaim your discernment, your body awareness, and your creative authority across the parts of life that matter most: technology, relationships, wellness, work, and creativity.
"I'm anti-AI and pro human"
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I heard someone say this in a call with writers the other day. It's understandable to be resentful of large language models (LLMs) when you're a writer and see the market flood with AI generated content. It can feel discouraging. Especially when you take pride in your craft as a writer. I totally get it. However, the stance "anti-AI, pro-human" gives me pause. For one thing, are you sure you're anti-AI? Do you use Google to search information? Do you check the weather? Do you use Netflix or social media and look at their recommended content? Are you aware of how much AI is in our infrastructure? I'd be genuinely curious if that person truly found a way to avoid AI. I'd be very impressed. At this point, in my eyes, it's unavoidable to do avoid AI. This "anti" framing concerns me less for what this person says about AI and more for what it says about the direction we're going in as a society. When we organize ourselves by what we're against, we stop being curious. We stop listening to others. And we lose the nuance that's require to navigate this complex landscape. It's not either or. We can work with AI and be human on purpose. When we embrace the technology with awareness of its pitfalls, we make a choice to take the middle path and get the best of both. AI can be a huge force amplifier for us. It can help us scale ourselves up in so many incredible ways. And…it can also lull us into atrophying our skills and outsourcing our authority to yet another entity. That's why I teach the renaissance approach: intentionally navigating both sides so we maintain our internal capacities and authority. I'm still navigating all this myself and am glad you're here with me! Rachel P.S. — If this resonated, I made something for you. The AI Reality Check helps you develop your own informed perspective on AI. Grab it free here: AI Reality Check.
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Renaissance Rachel
For people who are done letting outside voices — technology, experts, cultural noise — drown out their own. Every issue explores how to reclaim your discernment, your body awareness, and your creative authority across the parts of life that matter most: technology, relationships, wellness, work, and creativity.
A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law handed me a stack of pillows she wasn't using anymore. I took them home without thinking much of it. The following Sunday, she saw them sitting out at my place and told me, in Serbian, where they'd come from. One of them, her own mother had embroidered. I understood every word. I'm still learning the language, and that day, it landed. That pillow moment turned into something bigger: the same question I've been sitting with for years, long before "human...
Some of my most productive moments happen when I'm so focused that time disappears. I love when that happens. What I'm noticing lately is that working with Claude creates its own rhythm. I'll set it on a task that takes a few minutes to process. While it works, I could open two more tasks and start bouncing between them. Sometimes that works. Sometimes I end up scattered, getting less done than if I'd just waited. What's been working better: I step away from the computer entirely. Yesterday I...
Last evening, my husband and I went for a walk. Along the way, an elderly neighbor asked for help picking cherries from his tree. Long story short, we ended up with over a gallon of cherries and I had the opportunity to figure out what to do with them. It gave me a taste of what seasonal living is really like. I grew up having everything available year round at supermarkets. I often wonder about what life was like before modern conveniences. What did people do? Well, when your neighbor's...