Writing Is Critical Thinking, Even in the Age of AI

I make my living by writing, for as long as AI allows it, and one might think this article is an exercise in self-serving professional protectionism. It is. But it is also true.

More oral communication and less writing. That is the prescription advocated in The New York Times by the chair of the philosophy department and the program in cognitive science at Williams College. It is the sort of article that appeals to journalists and editors simply because it argues the opposite of what everyone else believes. The New York Times seems to have adopted a policy in recent years of constantly publishing provocative pieces that challenge the status quo, provided the views aren’t right-wing. Naturally, the Times isn’t going to publish an article debunking the utility of wind and solar power in halting climate change, or claiming that sex reassignment doesn’t exist, only amputation does. As a journalistic gambit, it is fine, at least for those who regard provocation as a form of thought rather than a waste of time. Regardless of the exercise’s entertainment value, however, the conclusion reached by the author, Joe Cruz, is depressing.

“But what if we are mistaken in treating writing as the highest cultivation of thought?” he asks, though he is stacking the deck: who actually considers writing the great engine of thought? Writing allows us to organize concepts, escape the dizzying pace of oral communication, anchor ideas much more deeply, and calmly find the precise word to deliver a message that is far more refined and sincere than most spoken discourse. Yet no one actually thinks it is the great engine of thought. I find it embarrassing to have to explain something like this to a distinguished academic.

Writing compels us to organize our ideas before blurting them out haphazardly. It allows for a second look at what we intend to say. And, generally speaking, it enables the construction of longer, more precise arguments. To write is to think twice. To speak is to think and go public on the fly. In fact, when we think through and memorize a script for a speech, we are already doing something very similar to writing it out.