I’ve been working with AI systems across workflows, pushing the boundaries to see where the gears grind. During this process, a series of moronic abstract thoughts began to coalesce into something one could call a theory. If one got extremely drunk and covered one eye, that is.
Anytime I brain fart a theory into existence, I design a test. My test for this theory was collaborating with AI to write a Sci-Fi novel, ‘Project WTF’. I love to write, not that I care if you read it; I think of it more as taking my logic and imagination to the gym.
Sci-Fi provides a canvas for abstraction. It allows you to discuss real-world issues without the human emotional response system blocking out the message. If you read Dune, you accidentally learned a little history of western oppression of the Middle East for the purpose of resource exploitation. The book tracked for me, having been assigned as one of Uncle Sam’s oil mercenaries in the region many moons ago.
The Synthesis Loop
In this workflow, I am not "prompting" a machine to do my work; I am architecting intent.
The Source: I provide the raw resource, my cynical observations of human systems.
The Refiner: The system provides a ‘fictional skin,’ taking those systemic critiques and abstracting them into world-building mechanics.
The Plot Test: The system creates ground rules for the world. It then tests my concepts, stories, and characters against those rules. If you’ve played D&D, this all rang a bell.
The Result: 'Strategic distance’, making a harsh truth palatable through fiction without losing its teeth.
Why Do You Care?
Let's abstract the process:
Knowledge Worker (The Source): Provides the intent (desired outcome) along with context and constraints.
The AI System (The Refiner): Produces a framework for collaboration designed for an outcome.
The Result: The knowledge worker and AI system become the ‘Engineers of an Outcome’.
Moving Beyond Platitudes
"The future is not something we enter. The future is something we create." - Leonard I. Sweet
We're at a unique point where the incentive structure, the technology, and the goal of building the future are all aligned. It’s in our best interest, it’s best for society, and it will be highly profitable. We should be using AI as a collaborator with empowered humans to unlock the trapped potential in the people we already employ.
Knowledge work has become an assembly line, move an endless pile of similar problems from one side of the desk to the other. No wonder you don't get 100% of what your people have to give. We don’t need to replace them. We need to get out of their way.
The future won’t be led by a spreadsheet in a boardroom. That spreadsheet is designed to account for decades of bloat and inefficiency. The future will be driven by those who reinvent the process by using the AI tools they’ve been handed the way we’ve always used tools: in our own hands, to create a better output.
