Remember Clippy? “It looks like you’re writing a letter,” observed the anthropomorphized Microsoft paperclip. “Would you like help?”
At that time, Clippy was mocked. Letter writing was still worthy of one’s time and effort. Same for picking up pennies. In 2024? Both communication and currency have devalued to the point that we prefer not to bother. We pass by pennies while letting AI generate, spellcheck and autocorrect our thoughts.
Here’s my two cents: These small sacrifices are adding up “bigly”. Screw Clippy, get sippy. Ditch generative AI and let beer be your writing aide.
Proven Results
“I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy,” quipped 20th century poet Dorothy Parker, perfectly encapsulating our dilemma. Outsource the creative work to a machine, or lubricate one’s mind and let it hum?
A drink or two does wonders for the creative process. Van Gogh generated “over 2100 pieces of art, including over 800 oil paintings, in about a decade” on a diet of “bread, coffee, alcohol and cigarettes.” Churchill won the war while using whiskey as mouthwash. General Grant kept a barrel in his tent during the Civil War. Stephen King “barely remembers” writing Cujo. For Thomas Jefferson, beer was a founding principle of American life: “Moderate consumption of beer soothes the temperament, uplifts the spirit and enhances well-being.” Drinking can be quite pro-creative.
Done properly, walking into beer’s canny valley can loosen one’s inhibitions, making us a little less robotic, a little more human. The rule for beer consumption mirrors the rule for its production: Quality outweighs quantity. Anything less leads to inflation, overextension and devaluation.
Inversely, scarcity makes everything desirable. Mass production is inherently destructive and reductive. Remember the alchemical magic of Heady Topper?
Brain: The Original Heady Topper
The average adult brain weighs about three pounds. Yet it uses around 20 percent of a body’s energy. Chess players can burn up to 6,000 calories in one day. Thinking is a surprisingly physical act.
