Do Not Resign From Life
theconvivialsociety.substack.comDo Not Resign From LifeL.M. Sacasas argues that AI's primary impact is demoralization—not because machines outperform humans, but because their ambient presence makes people question whether their skills and efforts still matter. He rejects the framing of human exceptionalism, suggesting that if something is yours to do,✦ Read ad free and get the full MichaelFilter · $5.50Part of the MichaelFilter
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Unlock the full reading · $5.50 →L.M. Sacasas argues that AI's primary impact is demoralization—not because machines outperform humans, but because their ambient presence makes people question whether their skills and efforts still matter. He rejects the framing of human exceptionalism, suggesting that if something is yours to do, you should do it regardless of whether a machine can do it better, just as a bird flies because that is what it does.
Teaching:
• Practice is not about being the best or most exceptional—it is about doing what is yours to do, like the kite flying because that is its nature.
• Students may feel demoralized by external measures of progress or comparison; remind them practice is its own reward, not a race against optimization.
• The satisfaction of practice comes from engagement itself, not from outsourcing effort or achieving a predetermined outcome.
• Cue students to notice the felt sense of accomplishment in their own bodies, not in abstract metrics or external validation.
Writing seeds:
• Essay: 'Your Thing to Do'—why Ashtanga practice remains meaningful even if AI could design a perfect sequence or cue perfectly.
• Shala Daily post: demoralization as a signal that we've confused purpose with performance; practice as antidote.
• Post connecting AI demoralization to the student who skips practice because they 'aren't good enough yet'—both miss the point.
• Essay on the kite metaphor: practice as species-specific activity, not competition with machines or other practitioners.
Idea map:
• Demoralization from AI mirrors demoralization from comparison culture in yoga—both stem from misunderstanding purpose.
• Systems literacy: AI is not a unitary actor, just as 'yoga' is not one thing; both require seeing constituent parts and relationships.
• Practice as method: doing the thing because it is yours to do, not because it proves exceptionalism or achieves a metric.
• Attention and embodiment: the kite flies because flying is its nature; we practice because practice is a way of being present, not a product.
Source: https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/do-not-resign-from-life
Teaching:
• Practice is not about being the best or most exceptional—it is about doing what is yours to do, like the kite flying because that is its nature.
• Students may feel demoralized by external measures of progress or comparison; remind them practice is its own reward, not a race against optimization.
• The satisfaction of practice comes from engagement itself, not from outsourcing effort or achieving a predetermined outcome.
• Cue students to notice the felt sense of accomplishment in their own bodies, not in abstract metrics or external validation.
Writing seeds:
• Essay: 'Your Thing to Do'—why Ashtanga practice remains meaningful even if AI could design a perfect sequence or cue perfectly.
• Shala Daily post: demoralization as a signal that we've confused purpose with performance; practice as antidote.
• Post connecting AI demoralization to the student who skips practice because they 'aren't good enough yet'—both miss the point.
• Essay on the kite metaphor: practice as species-specific activity, not competition with machines or other practitioners.
Idea map:
• Demoralization from AI mirrors demoralization from comparison culture in yoga—both stem from misunderstanding purpose.
• Systems literacy: AI is not a unitary actor, just as 'yoga' is not one thing; both require seeing constituent parts and relationships.
• Practice as method: doing the thing because it is yours to do, not because it proves exceptionalism or achieves a metric.
• Attention and embodiment: the kite flies because flying is its nature; we practice because practice is a way of being present, not a product.
Source: https://theconvivialsociety.substack.com/p/do-not-resign-from-life
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