Prints are where we share essays that made us think differently, highlighting what resonated with us, our margin notes, and the insights worth remembering.

most recent essay is a fantastic example of why we thought up Print. Sari breaks down the need for a reduction in mindless consumption of the internet and how we all need to get back to curating our own knowledge and developing our taste.

Further discussing the idea of how you keep the human creative along with the simple algorithmic efficiency that is modern day AI/LLMs.

The Sublime

What matters in the age of AI is taste

The more I use AI, the more I realize ignoring its creative potential is like dismissing the ‘90s internet as a porn delivery system…

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a year ago · 69 likes · 12 comments · Sari Azout

The False Binary

"At first, I saw using AI as a binary choice between soulless efficiency or becoming a luddite and preserving your authentic human creativity."

"Soulless efficiency" perfectly captures how AI has been marketed to us. The internet seems trapped between "get rich quick with AI-how I made 50000 billion in one weekend with AI" schemes and outright dismissal. The nuanced middle ground rarely gets discussed.

Sari's expression, "Over the last few months, Claude has become my dream creative partner, and I haven't lost my soul. This broke my brain a little bit, " very much mirrors my own. I've looked for ways to localize my AI use where I can so that I can keep my context my own, but regardless, I cannot deny the creative partner that AI has become in the past year.

The Taste Limitation

"AI is powerful but taste-blind. It can make anything but it has no idea what's actually worth making."

"Clay of humanity's accumulated knowledge" is one hell of a phrase. It captures perfectly what we're given to mold with our own judgment. The focus on taste is a key call out; AI has no taste - it's more important than ever to develop your own!

The Curation Imperative

Now more than ever, we need to track what moves us. As Azout writes:

"But if you don't have a home for the references, quotes, notes, and highlights that moved you—what are you giving AI to work with?"

A knowledge base doesn't need to be fancy – it could be a Commonplace notebook (one of the oldest methods), your phone's notes app, or the Sublime app, which excels at this purpose; it could be something like Obsidian - It doesn’t matter, but you need to build one and keep it simple. The knowledge base should not become a second job.

The Organization Revolution

"YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE WHEN YOU REALIZE FOLDERS AND TAGS ARE A DUMB WAY TO ORGANIZE CREATIVE INFORMATION."

I scribbled in the margin: "have I been wasting my life?"

This hurt – I love my folders and will die on that hill. But I confessed: "I can see how I can start breaking them into what I'm thinking, vs what goes in them."

Azout suggests organizing by context you'll need information in, not by topic:

"...'references for my next essay,' 'inspiration for client work', or half-baked ideas you're still marinating on..."

The Digital Diet

That phrase "dopamine-drip algorithms" – I pictured us as hamsters at the water bottle of our phones.

Her recommendation to "stop mindlessly consuming the internet and start mindfully curating it" resonates with my intentional consumption efforts. These Prints issues are part of that – bringing digital content into physical space where I can truly engage with it.

Preserving What Can't Be Measured

"The more our world becomes measurable and quantifiable, the more we need spaces that preserve what can't be measured—the hunches we can't explain, the patterns we feel but can't prove."

I noted: "What brings you joy – what gives you questions that you didn't know you needed answers."

As AI continues to evolve, what can't be automated—our personal taste and discernment—becomes more valuable, not less.

Check out the full essay on The Sublime Publication – it's worth your time and highlights.

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What should I print next?

Let me know in the comments below.

poured his heart on the page and inspires us all to do the same.

I’ve been thinking a lot of about differentiation.

This is a problem we all face as writers and creators. In a world full of infinite content, why will someone bother to listen to me?

Prints is a new section in Indie Thinkers I’m introducing today.

The idea is simple.

I spend an obscene amount of time staring at screens, but I love to read essays online. From Noah Smith, to Emily Sundberg, to Paul Graham, and everything in between. There’s an incredible amount of brilliant writing on the interwebs.

I started printing out essays I bookmark throughout the week, mark them up, and capture atomic thoughts about why something resonated, how it relates to something I’ve experienced personally, and what you can take away from the piece.

Will also share screenshots of some of my favorite quotes.

I’m kicking things of with “This whole thing just came out” from Harrison Moore.

The New Workday

This whole thing just came out

Hey! Sometimes I share a personal thing like this about becoming a better writer. Subscribe if you like…

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a year ago · 20 likes · 6 comments · Harrison Moore

It’s a call to action.

Reject the pursuit of perfection of every single thing you share with the world.

In the artificial age, raw “anything” is rare and desperately needed.

There’s a place for essays to be polished as if they were products.

We need not abandon works of art.

But we need to balance that work with a peak behind the curtain.

The unfiltered, messy, vulnerable stream of consciousness.

Rough drafts can be just as or even more beautiful than their final equivalents.

You might need to take on new topics that your curious about but have been hesitant to tackle. Maybe you don’t know enough about economics, civics, or sociology.

Adopt a student mindset.

That’s all I’ve got for today.

What should I print next?

Let me know in the comments below.