Stop writing poems. ChatGPT does that for us now.

What new thing will you write? Who could possibly want your poems when an AI can make them for you 100x as fast, in any possible style, at any moment in time?

You are irrelevant.

Well, only to the capitalist and maximalist complexes.

AI isn't just automating creativity; it's reshaping who holds cultural influence. The same forces that consolidate wealth and power now consolidate art and expression. If billionaires control the platforms and the algorithms, then they also shape what stories get heard, whose voices matter, and what creativity even looks like.

Technocratic modernity has got it wrong.

Output is not the Messianic aim of each individual. Maximum productivity is not enlightenment. We have traded the admiration and love of artists for worship at the pantheonic altar of billionaire demigods.

The Elons and Altmans are demigods by capital, sure, but there is an unspoken downside: so much consolidated power into individual humans corrodes most of them into empty oligarchs surrounded by smiling sycophants. The allure of such a position of power is as strong as a siren call—I certainly would not say no to suddenly becoming a billionaire—but just like the Siren captures the sailors, so too does becoming so rich distort the mind. No one with that much power can ever be socially checked nor corrected; their spirit is deprived of skin-in-the-game challenge with true downside; worst of all, it is so easy to become out of touch with the struggles and suffering of people in need. Such consolidation of power short-circuits connection.

Billionaire rant aside, the consolidation of technology and automation of daily activities have their benefits. They create so much ease and can amplify our abilities. But without care, we can get lost in the ease and lose touch with process, story, and struggle—key characteristics that make art... well, art.

Anthropic can make more and "better" poetry than you. Probably. Certainly by volume. But they don't have story. They don't have you. They don't have soul, the very thing that people look to connect to.

People don't want your poetic prowess. People want you, your story, your perspective, your connection. The prowess is just a bonus that, at its best, helps clear the way for your expression to come fully through as you.

Your poetry is beautiful because it's you. Even if it's not a great poem by some other standard. Your writing represents you. The poetry is simply a vehicle for shaping and channeling your expression.

Here's my invitation: the next time you feel that technology may be making you irrelevant, ask yourself: what about my art makes it an expression of who I am? What story am I telling through my poetry, my song, my painting?

Perhaps you'll find the value of you goes well beyond any LLM output.