Post by @Lana@beige.party

2026-09-02 02:51 UTC

One thing that keeps me up at night is the progressive certainty that we as a society are slowly but surely losing our ability to be bad at things. We are ceding that skill to AI. "You don't understand, without AI, I couldn't have drawn this/written this/designed this." says a person, certain that surely this, this argument right here is the nail in the coffin of the anti-AI argument. Utility: "Without this thing, I would have been bad at this task." Yes. Correct. You would have been bad at it. And that's ok. Not only because it's just... Ok to be bad at things in general. But also because being bad at a thing is the first necessary step to learning how to do a thing. Every musician you love has spent thousands of hours first being bad at being a musician. Every artist that brings you to tears has spent thousands of hours being bad at art. Every single designer with a master's degree in design has spent thousands upon thousands of hours designing things that are utter crap. We learn how to do a thing by first being bad at it. And then noticing what skills we need to acquire to be better at it. And then honing those skills on a million failed attempts. And THEN we are finally good at doing it. And being bad at things isn't just about learning how to do it yourself. It also teaches you how to listen more effectively to music. How to see art with the eyes of an artist. How to study a design for design flaws before it's even built. It teaches you good taste. How to perceive the humanity in the things all around you - things built by humans, for other humans. No, the biggest problem with AI isn't that it makes bad art - although it most assuredly does also do that. It's that it robs human beings of the legitimacy of creating bad art ourselves. How can anyone ever be expected to learn to do a thing if we can't ever be bad at it first?

Replies (19)

@401matthall@mastodon.xyz 2026-09-02 02:53

@Lana@beige.party 🔥

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@alienghic@timeloop.cafe 2026-09-02 02:58

@Lana@beige.party In the adventure time cartoon... one character shared the life advice "sucking at something is the first step toward being sort of good at something"

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@foxxtrot@dice.camp 2026-09-02 02:59

@Lana@beige.party I was just talking to a younger coworker this week about the power in not being afraid to fuck up.

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@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org 2026-09-02 03:00

@Lana@beige.party Thank you, very well said!

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@lauriekay9@mastodon.social 2026-09-02 03:26

@Lana@beige.party Well said!

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@AinsleyLowbeer@mastodon.social 2026-09-02 03:32

@Lana@beige.party Here's the thing. I don't have to be good at everything that needs to be done. I only have to be good at deciding what those things that need to be done actually are.

Open ##5159355
@CommonSparrow@mindly.social 2026-09-02 04:07

@Lana@beige.party "It teaches you how to listen more effectively to music..." Yes! This! I played violin when I was in school. Not very good at it. I was the only senior still in the second violin section with the freshmen. But it was fun and interesting to hear from the inside how an orchestra piece came together. For the rest of my life, I listen to music as if hearing it from the inside, and enjoy it more fully as a result, even if I never played violin as an adult.

Open ##5159359
@fullywoolly@mastodon.social 2026-09-02 04:25

@Lana@beige.party Also being allowed to say "I don't know"

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@et@mastodon.bayern 2026-09-02 04:36

@Lana@beige.party @sundogplanets@mastodon.social I did not realize this before. But this is very true. And it's not about AI. It's about society. These days I see a lot of "Why do you pick up a guitar and play when you are not half as good as the guy on this youtube video? Let's watch the video instead!"

Open ##5159362
@cyris@troet.cafe 2026-09-02 04:57

@Lana@beige.party So how many musicians do you follow and support who aren't good? How often do you offer your visibility with 6k+ followers to give unknown authors and artists a chance of gaining an audience, and how many of your followers would like it to get spammed with bad content? It's still capitalism. Less than 1% of artists or authors ever got enough money to live from this. Serious question. Because I am one of those authors who are currently giving up. Nobody misses it.

Open ##5159364
@pthane@toot.wales 2026-09-02 06:15

@Lana@beige.party Probably explains why I've always hated sports. When you're bad at sports you get abuse from the rest of the team and not picked to play next time. No chance to improve.

Open ##5159384
@doragasu@mastodon.sdf.org 2026-09-02 06:33

@Lana@beige.party For me, saving time by using Generative AI is akin to saving time by not going to the gym. Yes, you might save some time, but your skills will degrade, you'll feel worse and it will impact your health in the long run.

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@markn@mastodonapp.uk 2026-09-02 06:34

@Lana@beige.party LLMs used in this way feel to me just a new way to mainline a deep rooted long-standing fake insta life insecurity. We just need to get back to normalise being shit at stuff as a standard learning arc that brings joy. I've always been fond of the Beckett quote. Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Open ##5159389
@droidboy@social.cologne 2026-09-02 06:55

@Lana@beige.party If we think that idea consequently to the end, that would mean that every tool we ever used should not be used anymore. Where and why do you make a difference?

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@joannaholman@aus.social 2026-09-02 07:23

@Lana@beige.party @aspeed@lgbtqia.space amen to that. I think it’s connected to the idea that every hobby and interest must be made into a profitable side hustle. It’s okay to make badly recorded silly songs that make your siblings laugh but won’t get you even a dollar of streaming revenue, it’s okay to make slightly wonky crochet scarves that no one would buy but you like wearing.

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@fabienmarry@mastodon.social 2026-09-02 07:41

@Lana@beige.party @pikesley@mastodon.me.uk With AI, mediocrity is the best you’ll ever get. Without it, it’s just a temporary phase while you learn.

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@pikesley@mastodon.me.uk 2026-09-02 07:42

@Lana@beige.party Related: https://mastodon.me.uk/@pikesley/116416337325789892

Open ##5159398
@jaypeach53@calckeymusic.social 2026-09-02 08:26

@Lana@beige.party Amen to this whole thread. Being bad at some craft at first is just about inevitable; what you do about it is the determinant of whether you’ll advance or give up.

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@frawst@fedi.fraw.st 2026-09-02 09:56

@Lana@beige.party i agree, though id argue that AI is just a symptom of people not wanting to be bad at things rather than the cause of it the education system was long punishing being bad at things for years before AI ever existed, the idea has been hammered into people for most of their early lives AI is just an easy bandaid one can apply to let them ignore the issue altogether

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