Russell Davies

Too pointy

The FT's HTSI 'what's your personal style signifier?' is often a source of hollow laughter in our house. But I enjoyed the specificity of taste at the end of this sentence:

"I’ve worn Chuck Taylors every day for 20 years, but in 2015 they made the toe cap too pointy and I can’t live with it, so I only wear the older style."

The opposite of interesting is not boring it's ChatGPT

A kind correspondent has pointed out that the list of 10 ways to be Interesting generated by ChatGPT and featured in yesterday's post only contained 9 items. Of course! I had not noticed.

AI is going to be the very devil to edit because it's so smooth that it's hard to read properly. We just bounce off it. I presume, because it's basing almost everything on 'what's the next most probable word?', we feel like we can tell where it's going and make unconscious assumptions about where it'll end up. 

That strange way with language used to be strange and interesting. It threw up unexpected words and beguiling ideas. Now it's just strangely, dangerously bland.

I am not a robot

When I first thought about doing Do Interesting I assumed it'd be easy. I've spent a long time thinking about this stuff. There's the blog post from way back when, there are the conferences, there've been occasional workshops. I own the twitter account. For a while when you typed 'how to be interesting' into google you got me. And Oliver Burkeman once said I was interesting..""Start a blog," the designer and blogger Russell Davies recommends, but as experience shows, only interesting people – Davies included – start interesting blogs."

But then I got worried. This space - as a tech consultant might say - has commodified. The internet is full of advice about how to do all this. Be more productive/creative/imaginative in that kind of influencey, guru-y, sort-of-useful, sort-of-soul-destroying way.

I love Morning Pages. It's a lovely and useful idea. When Morning Pages becomes a lifestyle app subscription model notecards thing something goes wrong. I didn't want to write that kind of book. And even if I'd wanted to, it's too late.

So I thought I should get help. If I was rewriting that original blogpost now I'd instantly add 'find people you love to work with'. The BIGGEST lie about sort-of-creative work is that you do any of it on your own. You don't. It's always a collaboration. Even if just with your eventual audience or with Past and Future Yous.

I won't tell you about the people I've found yet because I've not asked their permission. But one of them (Ben) immediately proved my point by doing a genius thing. He typed this prompt into ChatGPT:

“Write me a short blog post, 500 words, on 10 ways to be interesting.”

ChatGPT wrote this:

Being interesting is an important quality to possess. It can make conversations more engaging, help you stand out in a crowd, and even make you more attractive to others. Here are 10 ways to be more interesting:

1. Be curious. Ask questions, seek out new experiences, and learn about a wide variety of topics. Being curious shows that you are engaged with the world around you and that you have a thirst for knowledge.
2. Have a passion. Whether it's a hobby, a sport, or a cause that you care about, having a passion can make you more interesting. It gives you something to talk about and share with others, and it shows that you have depth and complexity as a person.
3. Be adventurous. Try new things, go to new places, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. Being adventurous shows that you are brave and willing to take risks, which can be very interesting to others.
4. Be creative. Think outside the box, come up with new ideas, and express yourself in unique ways. Being creative shows that you have a fertile imagination and that you are not afraid to be different.
5. Be a good listener. Listen carefully to what others have to say, ask follow-up questions, and show that you are genuinely interested in their thoughts and experiences. Being a good listener shows that you are considerate and empathetic, which are attractive qualities.
6. Be confident. Believe in yourself and your abilities, and don't be afraid to speak up and share your opinions. Being confident shows that you are self-assured and comfortable in your own skin, which can be very interesting to others.
7. Be open-minded. Be willing to consider different perspectives, learn from others, and change your mind when new information becomes available. Being open-minded shows that you are intellectually curious and flexible, which can be very interesting.
8. Be well-informed. Stay up-to-date on current events, know a little bit about a lot of different subjects, and be able to hold your own in a conversation. Being well-informed shows that you are knowledgeable and engaged with the world, which can make you more interesting.
9. Be a good storyteller. Share interesting stories about your life, your travels, or your experiences, and tell them in a way that is engaging and entertaining. Being a good storyteller shows that you have a vivid imagination and the ability to captivate an audience, which can make you very interesting.

It's OK, right? It's not very interesting or useful but it's a pretty good summary of the internet consensus about this stuff.

(I think for the book we'll have to do a shorter version. It's hard to read when it's this long. Like a Medium post.)

What was more alarming is the tone. It's quite like I write. It's Internet Modern. Short sentences. Plain. Be this. Do that. That was chastening. That made me even more determined to get other people involved and to make the book more various, more odd and more (of course) interesting.

I think we're getting there but it's an interesting needle to thread.

I will post extracts and Work In Progress for your perusal.

  

New Do who this?

I first talked at the Do Lectures in 2007 when it wasn't called Do. It was called Little Big Voice. Then I talked again in 2008 (with Matt Jones) and then I went back in 2009. But I don't remember talking. 

And in 2011 I went and did a How To Be Interesting workshop under the Do umbrella.

And then, last summer, I was fortunate enough to be asked to go and talk again. I think I got the vibe a bit wrong, to be honest, the 'Do community' was feeling a lot of post-pandemic fervour, I was banging on about the challenges of AI, but it was still the most fascinating few days. And, while I was there I bumped into Miranda who runs Do Books and she asked me if was interested in doing a Do book. And so I said, of course.

There was already a Do Present and I'd just written a book about PowerPoint so I had to fall back on the only other thing I'm qualified to write about. And so I'm writing Do Interesting.

We're aiming for it to be on sale in September 2023. I think. That seems very soon now.  But, if you stay tuned, over the next few weeks and months, you'll be able to follow along with a series of posts about how it's all going. It seems like a good thing to blog about writing. While I'm writing about blogging.

Keeping busy

Anne has started a new blog project. It's excellent. Hie yourself to some RSS.

Another lovely mix

From Fred via Guy

Play it loud in your Nissan Micra

This is magnificent stuff from Iain. He describes it like this:

"I attempted to capture a journey across London in a mixtape. These tracks are a mixture of what I was listening to and how I was feeling during a trip from East Dulwich to Regent Street by bus / underground / foot. I didn't set my microphone up properly so there's less field recording than I was intending (so I filled in with some extra sampled dialogue)."

Interesting 2023

Here we go again. Interesting 2023 tickets are available now. Still only £30. Still at The Conway Hall. In the evening this time - Wednesday 17th of May.

First 100 ticket buyers get a free sticker!

More details will follow. And I'll post updates on my mastodon (and on the @interesting twitter for as long as that seems, you know)

On reading on reading

Nick Parker writes the marvellous Tone Knob. He also wrote and published this lovely little book. Get one of limited edition hardbacks from Nick, you get a lovely little print with it too.

It's full of good ideas:

Threads

Alby does these lovely threads of things he's enjoyed every year. Always something new, always something I very much like the look of, always something I can't imagine anyone enjoying.

(Also on Mastodon)

And now you can get it as a newsletter too.

This is the best bit..

And then's there also his thread of things he's learned.