Curation is the last best hope of intelligent discourse. — Joan Westenberg

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the importance of human curation in the age of AI-generated content, arguing that it is crucial for maintaining the integrity and reliability of information in the digital landscape.

🙋 Q&A

[01] Curation as the Last Best Hope

1. What are the key issues discussed regarding the "democratization" of content creation enabled by AI tools?

• The article argues that the "democratization" of content creation is a misnomer, as it fails to acknowledge the underlying complexities and potential pitfalls of an AI-dominated internet:
  • It assumes equal access to and understanding of these technologies across different demographics, which is far from reality due to the persistent digital divide.
  • The control and development of these AI technologies are concentrated in a few major corporations and institutions, leading to gatekeeping, bias, and the commercialization of information.
  • The indiscriminate proliferation of AI-generated content will not empower the underrepresented or democratize knowledge creation, but rather further dilute and fragment the authenticity and reliability of information available to the public.

2. How does the article describe the current state of AI technology and its impact on the issue of misinformation?

• The article states that the current state of AI technology lacks the nuanced understanding and ethical judgment necessary to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the content it produces. This gap in capability opens the floodgates for misinformation to spread unchecked, fracturing discourse, heightening divides, and hampering decision-making.

3. What is the role of human curation in addressing the issues posed by AI-generated content?

• The article argues that human curation is now more critical than ever, as it is the only defense against the tide of misinformation and mediocrity generated by AI algorithms. Human curators bring nuanced understanding, contextual awareness, and ethical judgment to the table - qualities that AI, in its current state, is fundamentally unable to replicate.

[02] The POSSE Model and the Revival of the Personal Website Ecosystem

1. What is the POSSE model, and how does it interface with RSS to empower readers and creators?

• The POSSE model (Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) involves respected voices leveraging platforms like Mastodon and their own websites to share personally vetted links, analysis, and creations. By passing high-quality, human-centric content through their own lens of discernment before syndicating it to social networks, these curators create islands of sanity amidst oceans of machine-generated content.
• This distributed, decentralized model interfaces beautifully with RSS, enabling subscribers to follow websites, blogs, and podcasts they trust via open standard feeds, completely uncensored by any central platform. RSS returns agency to readers in determining their own information diet while giving creators direct relationships with their audience.

2. How does the revival of the personal website ecosystem contribute to addressing the issues of the "Large Language Grift era"?

• The article states that the personal website is the ultimate sovereign territory online, enabling creators to share content on their own terms. These sites provide clear origin stories and credibility signals, allowing readers to evaluate the narratives and their authors accordingly. The personal websites become operations bases and fortresses from generative excess, emitting only what the site owners deem high-signal based on careful consideration.

3. What is the role of these personal websites and the POSSE model in rethinking information democracy?

• The article suggests that the POSSE model and the revival of the personal website ecosystem represent a rethinking of information democracy as a shared, collaborative process anchored in trusted human judgment, rather than computational fiat. By elevating human-centric content and enabling sovereign voices to contribute to the broader knowledge ecosystem, this model aims to create a healthier information environment.