Unsummarize: embracing depth at the age of brevity

"Summarize this 150 page report / this book / this 2H video" you command your AI assistant. Seconds later, you have a neat, one-pager synopsis.

Convenient? Undeniably.

Enlightening? To be confirmed.

As it might be one of the most frequent use case for AI assitant, it's a big deal to answer this question.

Is brevity the key to learning ? or are we sacrificing understanding ?

The Seductive TL;DR

We live in the age of TikTok, of executive summaries, Blinkist digests, Twitter threads.

We crave the intellectual shrink-ray, compressing the universe of knowledge into bite-sized, easily digestible nuggets.

While the benefits of brevity are clear—primarily the ability to convey more within a limited timeframe—the downsides are often overlooked.

I argue that these downsides are, in fact, critical.

It’s akin to comparing a nutrition bar to a proper meal. While a bar may contain similar nutrients, would you consider it a sustainable choice for a healthy diet? 

Why would it be different for your mind food ?

Here is a thought experiment to make the case.

A keynote in a tweet

Imagine 2007.

Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone in his iconic keynote.

But you are busy and couldn't attend.

Good news, Your AI offers a one-tweet summary of the video: "Apple reinvents the phone! iPod, phone, & internet in ONE device. Revolutionary multi-touch UI ditches clunky keyboards."

Factually correct, but utterly devoid of the magic.

The carefully crafted narrative with the build up and storytelling about 3 revolutionary devices becoming one, the "Yuck!" at the stylus, the palpable excitement of the room – all those lost in the compression.

You learn about the keynote, but you didn't have a chance to make your mind really understand the iphone. You haven't experienced the journey.

The Hidden Costs of Over-Summarization

Over-summarization dangers strike at the heart of understanding:

• Fleeting Knowledge: The effort of processing full text enhances retention. By following an author thinking, living his intellectual journey you get the point for real. Summaries are easily forgotten.

• Shallow Thinking: Summaries lack nuance. They're snapshots, not portraits.

• Lost Connections: Ideas are interconnected. Summaries sever these vital links.

• Critical Thinking Bypass: Fast information delivery doesn't leave you anytime to process and think critically about the content.

The Art of Unsummarizing

What if AI, instead of shrinking our intellectual world, expanded it?

Imagine an AI that doesn't summarize, but unsummarizes.

Confronted with a report on say economic performance of a country, it links the data to historical patterns, suggests related studies, poses challenging questions, and when prompted offers powerful visualizations.

This isn't simplification; it's amplification.

Unsummarizing is the fight against brief prepacked thinking. It’s about using AI not to condense, but to explore.

If you want to join:

• Summaries as starting point: they are not the endpoints. They are conversation starters.

• Seek Primary Sources: Go beyond the pre-packaged narrative.

• Use AI to Expand: Ask AI to look for questions, for counter narratives, not for answers.

• Embrace Complexity: The world isn't simple. Our thinking shouldn't be either.

An Unsummarized Future: Choosing Depth

Do you really believe the future belongs to those who consume the most information ?

If not, could you trade a bit of convenience for more understanding?

Let’s use AI to expand our horizons. Choose depth and unsummarize your world.

References

• Linkedin piece on why you should read full text.
• Another opinion on why you could go for summary
• The quora debate on that topic.

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Various AI helped Jean-Paul Paoli draft this post and its visual. Reach out if you believe part of this content infringes on copyrighted material