The Golden Tree of Actual Life Springs Ever Green

“All theory, dear friend, is gray. But the golden tree of actual life springs ever green.” 

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 

The mark of a great writer is their ability to know, writing 200 years ago, exactly how it would feel to read a brand tracking study.

Pretty much every culture, religion, and Grammy-winning children’s author has a mythology around the tree of life, usually symbolizing 1.) the source (and limits) of human knowledge and 2.) the interconnectedness of all living things. How much a culture cares about #1 v. #2 says a lot. I’m just spitballing, but the big flaw of western culture could be that we’re obsessed with extracting knowledge from the tree, and not at all interested in the interconnected part. And now, as we face a technology that we’re told will escape the limits of all human knowledge, it’s easy to be a little pessimistic. 

But, through all the anxiety and gray theory about the future of AI, it helps to remember that there’s never been a bad time to come back to our interconnectedness, back to our ability to make deeply silly human things for each other. What better way could there be to stand out against the AI slop? Whatever AI is capable of, it can’t follow us into the woods. 

Have a great Wednesday, and don’t forget that actual life springs ever green.