A premium essay by J.C. Howard · The Golden Manifest Journal
The Bridge Is Artificial. The Encounter Is Not.
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Why this essay matters
A disagreement over an AI-assisted email becomes a larger argument about authenticity, access, education, information overload, and the difference between technological assistance and surrendered judgment.
Opening lines
An established scholar agreed to meet with me because an AI-assisted email bothered him.
I had used generative AI to help locate people whose work appeared to intersect with my book, organize the possible connection, and initiate contact. My book is approximately 800 pages; the audiobook is nearly 30 hours. I did not expect a stranger to absorb the whole project before deciding whether one idea inside it might be worth discussing. I used AI to find a precise point of entry.
The email worked. It reached him. He responded. We met on Zoom.
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