This is a continuation of the previous post “Crackup”.
Writing about AI today feels like being late to a crisis that already has a commission. It makes sense to start with literacy rather than prediction.
Literacy is the hidden force behind many of today’s public crises, including racism, sexism, violence, and the rise of technology.
Intelligence is divided into humans and machines. Education is becoming more personal, integrated and digital. Still, just because students grew up with phones and tablets doesn’t mean they understand the systems that shape learning and work.
Fluency in one system often reveals where another system falls short. If you only know one language, you may be able to speak it well, but you may miss the patterns of that language: what the language reveals, hides, or makes difficult to say. The same applies to religion. Learning about another tradition can help you understand your beliefs more clearly. Max Muller, a pioneer of comparative religion, said: “He who knows one thing knows nothing.”
AI works similarly. Just as learning about other religions is no substitute for faith, it is no substitute for human literacy. Instead, it shows that human skills such as judgment, concentration, patience, taste, conscience, and responsibility remain essential.
A good example comes from the Plains Indian tradition of “counting coups.” Honor is earned by touching the enemy or escaping to safety, not by killing or defeating the enemy. It was courage without conquest. Skill, self-control, and calmness under pressure ennobled the warrior while frustrating the enemy.
AI literacy fits into this tradition. That is, it is not about controlling the machine or letting the machine control us, but about using the machine while controlling ourselves.
Universities can help students transition from digital natives to competent digital adults. They understand AI and technology, but as humans they can think, judge, write, listen, debate, imagine, and take responsibility. This is important not only for young people, but for everyone living in a world shaped by digital systems.
Many critics, especially social psychologists, are quick to condemn the influence of AI. Many programs instruct people to avoid it. But trying to avoid AI is just as effective as eating only celery to lose weight or joining a gym out of guilt.
The idea of ”originality” is a modern form of pride. Literary critic Harold Bloom argued several years ago that creativity is born of “anxiety about influence.” Whether we realize it or not, we first find our own voice by wrestling with the voices of others.
Influence doesn’t stop originality; it enables it. Shakespeare didn’t create tragedy out of thin air. He took an old story and made it his own. Jazz musicians learn classical songs before modifying them. Painters study great artists before finding their own style. Even rebels need something to push against.
Bloom’s own thoughts show this to be true. His theory of originality is based on classical rhetoric, Romantic poetry, and Freudian psychology. Even theories about how writers break free are shaped by inherited ideas. Even the desire to be different from others arises from somewhere.
Intellectuals deal with this irony on a higher level.
AI makes this contrast even clearer. You can generate and combine convincing sounds very quickly. But it also shows what we cannot hand over to machines without losing something important: prudent judgment, steady caution, patience, good taste, a sense of right and wrong, and responsibility for our words and deeds.
This new combination of digital and human skills doesn’t just mean originality. It’s also about honesty and fairness. Honesty means knowing when we’re thinking something through and when we’re putting together something useful. Fairness is important because people without either type of literacy are more gullible.
Good education doesn’t have to teach students to avoid AI or treat it like something to be worshiped. It can show them how to use AI while preserving the human skills that help them test what is true, respect others, and live together.
The same goes for originality. It becomes a reality when we acknowledge that “we stand on the shoulders of giants” and acknowledge what we owe to others. We honor the past by creating something meaningful today. It’s about shaping your influence with judgment, gratitude, and responsibility.
Plains Indian traditions emphasized “counting coups.” Sometimes the best way to defeat your enemy is not to destroy him. AI is not an enemy in the usual sense, but it does test our courage and discipline.
The goal is not to eliminate AI, surrender to it, or act as if it does not change us. What matters is the skill, discipline, and confidence to leverage the strengths of AI without losing it.
The best way to deal with influence anxiety is to master it.
notes and reading
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Harold Bloom The Anxiety of Influence: A Theory of Poetry (1973, 2nd edition, 1997)—Bloom’s famous phrase names the struggle in which a writer finds his voice through the voice that has shaped him.
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Lionel Trilling sincerity and sincerity (1972) – Trilling traces the modern shift from honesty (being true before others) to authenticity (being true to oneself). A useful background for the modern cult of originality.
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walter benjamin Illumination: Essays and Reflectionsed. With a foreword by translator Hannah Arendt. Harry Zorn (1968), Thoughts: Essays, Sayings, Autobiographical Writings (1978). Benjamin’s “Works of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” has become indispensable for thinking about art, aura, and technical reproduction. “On the ability to imitate” adds a deeper point. Imitation is not just imitation, but a way humans perceive similarity, learn about the world, and create meaning. AI makes Benjamin newly useful by forcing old questions into new forms. What happens to judgment, presence, and originality when reproduction becomes easier?
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“Originality” – Plato and Cicero – Plato’s republicespecially Book X, treats art as imitation, sometimes dangerously divorced from truth. Cicero’s de oratore Treat imitation more leniently. Treat borrowed excellence as being formed by exemplary models until it begins to become your own.
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Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900) – German-born philologist, Sanskrit scholar, and pioneer comparative religion scholar.
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“We’re counting a coup.” Great Plains EncyclopediaUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln. On viewing the coup d’état as an act of courage and prestige in Plains Indian warfare.
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“The future of AI” Built-in—AI will automate repetitive tasks, but creative, judgment-based work is more likely to be enhanced than eliminated. You can’t go back to your pre-AI workplace. The most powerful role will be held by those who use AI to further advance human talent.
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AI cost and environment—The growth of AI data centers is raising serious concerns about power demand, water use, emissions, and strain on local power grids. The industry is beginning to respond through cleaner power, more efficient cooling, better siting, and waste heat recovery, but public pressure is essential to grow AI without imposing costs on communities. look international energy agency“Energy and AI”, April 2025. brookings“AI, Data Centers, and Water,” November 20, 2025. Pew Research Center“What we know about energy use in U.S. data centers during the AI boom,” October 24, 2025.
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social media guidelines-Church example: Solid Foundation – UCC File.
reference. “Five mysterious writing systems that no one has deciphered” — Crystal Ponti historyupdated May 18, 2026. Ancient writing systems helped shape history through trade, ritual, and government. However, some remain undeciphered, such as the Linear A of Crete and the Indus script of the Indus Valley in present-day Pakistan and northwestern India.
In some cases, a single clue, such as a bilingual inscription, allows researchers to unlock a lost script.
The AI also has clues, particularly its questionable preference for em dashes.
crack up
deceived
Approximately 2+2=5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
