Published February 18, 2026
| Version v1
Journal article
Open
Writing As Thinking—By Proxy
Authors/Creators
Description
In this provocation, Jon Ippolito questions what human capabilities AI extends and what capabilities it removes. In doing so, he charts the evolution of human writing processes alongside technology while speculating on what future human writing practices will look like.
Files
writing-as-thinking-by-proxy.pdf
Files
(76.3 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:f7c92e244e7d391825b095527543a77b
|
76.3 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
References
- Bjork, Elizabeth Ligon, and Robert A. Bjork. "Making Things Hard on Yourself, but in a Good Way: Creating Desirable Difficulties to Enhance Learning." Psychology and the Real World: Essays Illustrating Fundamental Contributions to Society, Worth Publishers, 2011, pp. 56--64.
- Carlson, Scott. 'The Edge: Writing in the Age of AI'. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 5 Feb. 2025, <https://www.chronicle.com/newsletter/the-edge/2025-02-05>.
- Dasey, Tim. 'Why "Writing Is Thinking" Is a Flawed Argument'. LinkedIn, Oct. 2025, <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/timdasey_one-of-the-favorite-sayings-in-the-literacy-activity-7372253848461123584-CQep>.
- Elbow, Peter. 'A Collection of Quoted Passages About Voice'. Voice Archive, 25 Aug. 2017, <https://peterelbow.com/archive/index.php/2017/08/25/a-collection-of-quoted-passages-about-voice/>.
- Ferreira, João Batalheiro. 'Shaping Sentences, Shaping Thought'. Substack newsletter. The Important Work, 20 Mar. 2025, <https://theimportantwork.substack.com/p/shaping-sentences-shaping-thought>.
- Hepler, Reed. 'Why Writing Is Essential in Graduate Education'. LinkedIn, Oct. 2025, <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/reed-hepler-024648137_i-agree-with-tim-on-many-things-so-i-hope-activity-7372302723771387904-NNWu>.
- Improving Agents. 'Which Table Format Do LLMs Understand Best? (Results for 11 Formats)'. Improving Agents Blog, 30 Sep. 2025, <https://www.improvingagents.com/blog/best-input-data-format-for-llms/>.
- Jong, Wouter de. 'The Prism through Which to See the World'. Substack newsletter. Drakenvlieg, 15 Jun. 2025, <https://drakenvlieg.substack.com/p/the-prism-through-which-to-see-the>.
- Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing. The Belknap press of Harvard university press, 2016.
- Lackey, Ryan. '"Writing as Thinking" as Opposed to What?' Art of Writing, 15 Aug. 2024, <https://artofwriting.berkeley.edu/writing/writing-as-thinking-as-opposed-to-what/>.
- Lustbader, Wendy. 'Writing Is Thinking'. Psychology Today, 8 May 2025, <https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-gets-better/202505/writing-is-thinking>.
- McLuhan, Marshall, and Bruce R. Powers. The Global Village: Transformations in World Life and Media in the 21th Century. New ed., Oxford Univ. Press, 1992. Communication and Society Communications.
- Mintz, Steven. 'Writing Is Thinking'. Inside Higher Ed, 2 Nov. 2021, <https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/writing-thinking>.
- Niimi, Junichiro. 'Reference Points in LLM Sentiment Analysis: The Role of Structured Context'. arXiv:2508.11454, arXiv, 15 Aug. 2025. arXiv.org, <https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.11454>.
- Plato. 'Phaedrus'. The Internet Classics Archive, translated by Benjamin Jowett, 360AD, <https://classics.mit.edu/Plato/phaedrus.html>.
- Pryor, Adam. 'How AI Evolved from Grammar Zealot to Digital Writing Assistant'. LinkedIn, Nov. 2025, <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adam-pryor_ai-technologyevolution-machinelearning-activity-7379242040196468736-DYoQ>.
- Sava, Ashley Amber. 'Reply to Why Writing Is Essential in Graduate Education'. LinkedIn, Oct. 2025, <https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7372302723771387904/?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A7372302723771387904%2C7372320820414578688)&dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A(7372320820414578688%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7372302723771387904)>.
- Warner, John. 'Writing Is Thinking'. Substack newsletter. The Biblioracle Recommends, 24 Sep. 2023, <https://biblioracle.substack.com/p/writing-is-thinking>.
- Winter-Tear, Stuart. 'Why Writing Is Not Just about Output, but Cognition'. LinkedIn, Nov. 2025, <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/stuart-winter-tear_we-wont-lose-reading-we-might-lose-writing-activity-7377668960386846720-FO6J>.