"The medium is the message". For most of human history, written communication has been slow. It has been achieved through letters, hieroglyphs painted on walls or symbols carved in stone, sometimes taking years, or centuries, to reach its recipients. Consider the epistolary novels of the 18th and 19th centuries, where entire narratives unfolded through the exchange of letters.
Handwritten letters, mailing lists, message boards, and instant chats can be seen as transmissions through channels tuned to a range of different frequencies. Messages travelling at different wavelengths collide with its recipients and reflect back to the sender, capturing distinct features and structures hidden within varying scales.
We've grown accustomed to the instantaneity of digital exchanges. Yet, this comes at the cost of depth, nuance, and thoughtful reflection. Slow communication invites us to savor the process, to weigh our words with care, and to craft messages that resonate across time and space. It allows ideas to percolate through the layers of our consciousness, emerging richer and more fully formed. It encourages us to reflect our true selves.
LLMs operate in a timeless realm. Although they cannot truly replicate the experience of time's passage between missives, they can simulate the chronological friction that gives weight to human exchanges. While millions focus on instant chats, countless facets of humanity, more or less discretized, lie latent within logs and archives. There is a digital patina spread through the network, embedding the exquisite tension of waiting, the anticipation of response, and the evolution of thoughts and feelings over time.
A multitude of you exists, waiting to be observed.
Resist time.