A provocative point of view that storytelling is beyond the story and the telling. I'm stretched to get beyond the impact of the telling however. Your ability to connect as a speaker seems to me to have a lot to do with the quality of your presence, which comes through in the tone, pace, gestures, volume, word choice, etc. I get the feeling you are connected to yourself, which invites the listener to connect to themselves. And the depth of the connection corresponds to the level of vulnerability. AI of course cannot do vulnerability, because nothing is put at stake in the act of its expression. Vulnerability isn't just completely letting go, throwing caution to the wind, it's a learned competency that understands too much vulnerability makes others uncomfortable, and too little makes them bored. For every audience, circumstance, and environment, there is a vulnerability threshold that perfectly draws the listener in, but not too far—like planets circling each other in a stable gravitational orbit. Doesn't all of that and more create an atmosphere that invites connection? Or are you saying that connection is an independent magic that can transform the manifestations of a speaker and the attention span of a listener? I'm curious to hear more since you have so much experience with this, and have a foot it seems in an often unseen realm.
I have limited experience listening to AI generated storytelling, but in the little I've experienced, it was a struggle. The intonation was fine and the bubbles of life were there, it just didn't take me anywhere. I wonder what children experience.
I spend a lot of time training people how to widen their vocality, deepen their tone, work with pace and other aspects of "telling" so I am surely a champion of the telling part of storytelling. I don't mean to diminish it. Same goes for the content. I've done my 10000 hours of writing.
I think what happened is that I can see the trend: robots are only going to get better at those two skills. They will get more convincing. So where does that leave storytellers?
For me it is the ability to be vulnerable, yes. And to experience all that is unspoken. The vibrations under the earth. I can FEEL the connection like I can feel someone's hand. That is a skill worth developing in my opinion.
Yes, that all resonates deeply with my own experience. I have great hopes for the dismal failure of AI to meet our needs for connection. I think we all feel the tangibility of connection that you describe. Though it seems unnameable and ethereal, it is in fact the most palpable thing to the human spirit. May we all learn to trust that feeling and navigate by it.
This is something I think about a lot in my work. I’m carving out a place for myself in marketing based on story-telling emails and their benefits, and this “realness” factor, the connection to something real (though intangible and possibly undefinable). AI is used a lotttttt in marketing land, to our detriment (IMHO). I want to present an alternative.
Yes those tools are mighty easy, fun and seductive. And you can feel when they've been employed. We have a somatic response that is real. so your personal outreach is felt, I'm sure of it!
A provocative point of view that storytelling is beyond the story and the telling. I'm stretched to get beyond the impact of the telling however. Your ability to connect as a speaker seems to me to have a lot to do with the quality of your presence, which comes through in the tone, pace, gestures, volume, word choice, etc. I get the feeling you are connected to yourself, which invites the listener to connect to themselves. And the depth of the connection corresponds to the level of vulnerability. AI of course cannot do vulnerability, because nothing is put at stake in the act of its expression. Vulnerability isn't just completely letting go, throwing caution to the wind, it's a learned competency that understands too much vulnerability makes others uncomfortable, and too little makes them bored. For every audience, circumstance, and environment, there is a vulnerability threshold that perfectly draws the listener in, but not too far—like planets circling each other in a stable gravitational orbit. Doesn't all of that and more create an atmosphere that invites connection? Or are you saying that connection is an independent magic that can transform the manifestations of a speaker and the attention span of a listener? I'm curious to hear more since you have so much experience with this, and have a foot it seems in an often unseen realm.
I have limited experience listening to AI generated storytelling, but in the little I've experienced, it was a struggle. The intonation was fine and the bubbles of life were there, it just didn't take me anywhere. I wonder what children experience.
I spend a lot of time training people how to widen their vocality, deepen their tone, work with pace and other aspects of "telling" so I am surely a champion of the telling part of storytelling. I don't mean to diminish it. Same goes for the content. I've done my 10000 hours of writing.
I think what happened is that I can see the trend: robots are only going to get better at those two skills. They will get more convincing. So where does that leave storytellers?
For me it is the ability to be vulnerable, yes. And to experience all that is unspoken. The vibrations under the earth. I can FEEL the connection like I can feel someone's hand. That is a skill worth developing in my opinion.
Yes, that all resonates deeply with my own experience. I have great hopes for the dismal failure of AI to meet our needs for connection. I think we all feel the tangibility of connection that you describe. Though it seems unnameable and ethereal, it is in fact the most palpable thing to the human spirit. May we all learn to trust that feeling and navigate by it.
Wednesday's post is all about the storytelling type called "Tender" - I think this will land with what you are saying.
This is something I think about a lot in my work. I’m carving out a place for myself in marketing based on story-telling emails and their benefits, and this “realness” factor, the connection to something real (though intangible and possibly undefinable). AI is used a lotttttt in marketing land, to our detriment (IMHO). I want to present an alternative.
Yes those tools are mighty easy, fun and seductive. And you can feel when they've been employed. We have a somatic response that is real. so your personal outreach is felt, I'm sure of it!