ChatGPT: A Partner in Unknowing – Dana Karout

Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”

“Read” is thought to be the first revelation the Prophet Muhammad received from God. Growing up Muslim, I had heard this story many times from different family members. But it is through working with Harouni, who expands on this quote in his book Unrevolutionary Times , that the meaning of “read” has shifted for me: from “read the pages of this boo... See more

The angel came to him and said: “Read.” He replied: “I am not a reader.”

The Prophet says: “He held me and pressed hard until I was exhausted, then he released me and said: “Read.” and I replied: “I am not a reader.” [...]

He then held me and pressed hard for a third time. Then he said: “Read, in the name of Your Lord who created, created man from ... See more

“Read” is thought to be the first revelation the Prophet Muhammad received from God

“If you run from technology, it will chase you.”10

I see that I’ve been in my ChatGPT mode. That is, I am writing a perfectly useless essay or giving a perfectly useless response.

ChatGPT didn’t say much that was useful at all. But—as the students reflected in their conversation after reading ChatGPT’s analysis—neither did they. One student noted that they were just saying “formulaic, buzzwordy stuff” rather than tackling the issue with fresh thinking. They were unnerved by how closely the empty shine of ChatGPT’s answer mir... See more

“to go back and forth between an icy plunge into despair and a rising into the heat of hope—to remain awake to both feelings at the same time.”1