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Steven Johnson has studied software and AIbased tools for thought for more than 35 years. His consensus? Large Language models and human creativity aren’t at odds. They’re at their best when they work in harmony.

Johnson has written thirteen books, many of which explore how tools and technologies expand what humans are capable of and transform societies. He created NotebookLM to help writers use AI to supplement their creative process — not to replace their thinking, but to amplify it.

In this episode, you’ll learn how to capture ideas without friction, how to seamlessly structure your work, how to leverage the element of surprise, and how to turn sheer information into unique insight — all while using AI, of course.

Ultimately, you’ll soak up Johnson’s 35 years of expertise and come away with actionable steps to make your writing process faster and your insights more surprising.

SPEAKER LINKS:
Website: https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/
Twitter:   / stevenbjohnson  
Book: https://www.amazon.com/StevenJohnson...
Google Research:    / @googleresearch  
Google NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/

WRITE OF PASSAGE:
Want to learn more about the next class for Write of Passage?
Click here: https://writeofpassage.school

PODCAST LINKS:
Website: https://writeofpassage.school/howiw...
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2DjMSbo...

TIMESTAMPS:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:31 Teaching Google
00:11:05 LLMs vs ChatGPT
00:16:05 Articles vs Books
00:20:30 Editing
00:27:20 Structure
00:35:00 Spark File
00:37:00 Jony Ive
00:38:20 Tools for thought
00:47:00 Google NotebookLM
00:50:30 Write faster
00:56:00 Writing on the level of sentences
01:05:10 The Infernal Machine
01:15:35 Writing curriculum
01:29:00 Core idea

ABOUT THE HOST:
I’m David Perell and I’m a writer, teacher, and podcaster. I believe writing online is one of the biggest opportunities in the world today. For the first time in human history, everybody can freely share their ideas with a global audience. I seek to help as many people publish their writing online as possible.