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Couldn't all this be reduced down to "You're talking about memories..."? (Phrase deliberately chosen to trigger a relevant reference!) See also: https://open.substack.com/pub/brainpizza/p/where-is-my-memory

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Aug 22, 2023·edited Aug 22, 2023Liked by Andrew Maynard

You write, "But it still begs the question of how we attribute and respect the sources of our ideas, or whether this is a rather outmoded idea — especially as generative AI is increasingly a part of the mix of influences that inform and modulate our thinking."

As many have commented, it seems what we're seeing is an accelerated development of a unified global mind. The boundaries between this and that, mine and yours, me and you, are gradually melting away. But, perhaps this is not so much a development as it is a revealing of what's always been true. We are one.

The ironies involved here are intriguing.

It is thought which divides the single unified reality in to conceptual parts, giving birth to all the divisions which characterize the human condition. But it is also thought, expressing itself in the form of various technologies, which is now steadily dismantling these divisions.

It seems too soon to label attributions and respect for sources as an outdated idea, but we do seem to be headed in that direction. I could relate to your article, because at age 71 it's ever less clear which of "my ideas" are in fact truly mine. The illusion of ownership remains from long habit, but it does seem to be dissolving. Sometimes it seems thinkers, writers and creators are less idea generators than we are translators, taking existing concepts and rewording them for emerging audiences.

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