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  • Hacker News
  • > When the computing revolution first rolled around, some people perhaps tried to use MS-DOS as a writing tool (I’m guessing, I was five). We then built upon that to create the word processor.

    Cough, WordStar, cough...

    by andybak
  • I use paper not to record, but as a thinking process. This stems from videos I watched on Richard Feynman, who does it so.

    I tried his ways, and it worked great for me and been sticking with it for a decade.

    ---

    Apps like Excalidraw just does not cut it for me, as I have to switch my attention on which shape to use etc (it works ok for designining systems) but not for free thinking.

    by yipinwong
  • I haven't used paper for anything since I graduated college 10 years ago. Excluding education where I only used paper because I was forced to, closer to 20 years. I would much rather open a text editor or a spreadsheet on PC.
    by Aozora7
  • > This article was written with WriteMapper, a mind-mapping desktop app for thinking and writing available on macOS and Windows.

    So, one of the things many people use paper for has been replaced.

    Of course paper will never be replaced, I can't fold my computer into an airplane for instance. But it is still attacked from all sides. This article ironically is an example of replacing paper for note taking applications, it is also an example of not using paper for publishing, though that part is old hat now, to the point we are not even realizing it. Official documents turn towards digital signatures, e-readers are getting popular even to physical book fans, paper money use is declining, artists use tablets... It looks like paper as a support for writing is soon going to be like horses today, we still use horses, but only for very niche applications, and as sports/hobby.

    I don't expect paper to be phased out as a material though, for packing, building, etc... It is cheap, environmentally friendly, and good for many applications.

    by GuB-42
  • I did use to review the AI slop code on paper, it was extremely effective in quality, but extremely slow as a feedback loop: https://imgur.com/a/ZRg5x7t

    There is some science on this, how reading on paper activates different brain waves than a screen and how the physical layout of pages activates spatial memory recall: https://pg.ucsd.edu/publications/Papercode-printing-code-on-... and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L-TEaM0pn3IZjrvQMHUDDCtB...

    I am currently working on combining all of that into a code review tool to more effectively review slo.. AI pull requests. I am not sure if people here would be interested, but basically the idea is to not use the keyboard anymore to type your annotations, but only use a tablet / pen and voice (with transcription), so that code review is much more ergonomic. So you can "paint" on your code, make annotations, have a "physical" layout of your code, architecture overlays, etc. and then agents re-edit the code until it is what you want.

    by fschuett
  • Most feel-good pieces on AI make the same mistake, which is looking at where the ball is right now and not where it's going. If progress were to halt today, this article would be relevant and I'd upvote it.

    But since the richest and least-trustworthy people on earth are on track to make an ultraintelligent thinking machine, the risks I'm worried about are: killing most jobs, concentrating most wealth, and putting ourselves at risk of literal extinction. All I could think when reading this was, "this person really did not think this all the way through." I'm sorry.

    by alecst
  • The tech industry will continue to promise steak and deliver hot dogs.

    If you want to experience the height of paper as a technology, pick up some Tomoe River paper (https://bungu.store/products/tomoe-river-notebook-sakae-tech...) or a Hobonichi Techo and some nice Japanese gel pens, or fountain pens, even a cheap pilot Kakuno fountain pen will do, and you will understand why paper will never die.

    by speak_plainly
  • Usually these posts are about the benefits of using paper for your memory, focus, etc.

    But I think a blank page is even more valuable for its explicit emptiness. You are somewhat required to be original when using paper. Or at least use your imagination than when you’re using a computer and can easily browse the internet for inspiration, use a software program to evaluate your writing or make suggestions, and so on.

    It feels to me like culture generally has been unoriginal and echoing itself for a few decades now, and I do wonder how much of that is related to our choice of tools.

    by keiferski

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