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How to Be Human
It’s up to us to act in uniquely human ways that artificial intelligence can’t replace, writes Freya India. (Ernst Haas/Getty Images)
Go outside, say yes to things, be scared and excited and uncomfortable. Feel your hands shake before you speak, your legs ache after a long day, your face flush when asking her out.
By Freya India
02.08.26 — Culture and Ideas
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If I’m honest, I’ve been feeling hopeless lately. Sometimes I feel like giving up. What’s the point of writing when artificial intelligence will soon automate the book I just spent years on and generate my blog posts faster than I ever could? What’s the point of improving at anything? There is nothing impressive left to do or to learn. This is all there is: staring down the barrel of a life spent inputting and prompting. It feels like the worst time to try.

Then I started thinking about the next generation, and how bad that feeling must be. Why learn to drive when self-driving cars are coming? Why bother to code or start a company? Why learn to draw, why practice guitar, why study photography, why struggle through academic research? But as I thought about this happening in every direction, all at once, it began to look like an opportunity. When so few seem interested in being a person, isn’t that the best time to be one? Maybe this is a moment for optimism. You just have to be human.

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Freya India
Freya India is author of the Substack GIRLS and a staff writer for After Babel. She is also author of the new book, GIRLS®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything.
Tags:
Technology
AI
Philosophy
Artificial Intelligence
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