Collaboration
This note explains how I collaborate with tools — including AI — in the creation and publication of my work.
It exists to reduce confusion, preserve integrity, and clarify intent.
This is not a statement about efficiency.
It is a statement about stewardship.
Why this exists
I work within finite constraints:
- finite time
- finite energy
- finite attention
- a commitment to build artifacts that endure
If I attempt to hand-craft every word, tool, and interface, I risk exhausting the very energy required to create the work that matters.
This page clarifies how I navigate that tension.
The Core Tension
Two standards guide my work:
Craft Standard
If something is worth publishing, I want to wrestle it into existence myself.
Writing, building, refining, and struggling sharpen perception and judgment.
Craft shapes the craftsman.
Stewardship Standard
My finite energy must serve the artifacts themselves.
If effort spent polishing explanation prevents the creation of meaningful work, the priorities are inverted.
The work should speak.
Purity of Means vs. Finite Resources
I hold that:
The means we use shape the ends we reach.
At the same time:
Resources are finite, and stewardship requires choosing where effort is most meaningful.
Collaboration with tools is acceptable when it:
- preserves agency
- clarifies thinking
- reduces friction without dulling judgment
- serves the work rather than replacing engagement
It is not acceptable when it:
- replaces understanding
- obscures authorship or responsibility
- amplifies noise instead of meaning
- bypasses the discipline of attention
How I Use AI and Tools
I treat AI as:
- a drafting assistant
- a compression tool for messy thinking
- a structural mirror
- a way to reduce first-draft latency
I do not treat it as:
- an authority
- a substitute for judgment
- a replacement for lived experience
- a generator of meaning
I remain responsible for:
- truth
- tone
- integrity
- final editorial decisions
If it is published under my name, I stand behind it.
Authorship vs. Publication
Not all published material is the same.
Authored Work
Hand-crafted writing and essays shaped through extended reflection and revision.
Curated / Editorial Work
Material shaped through conversation, tools, and editing to clarify ideas or provide orientation.
Both are valid outputs.
They serve different purposes.
Why Publish Collaboratively Drafted Material
Publishing curated notes can:
- reduce repeated explanation
- provide orientation for collaborators and friends
- document direction and intent
- preserve momentum toward building artifacts
This is documentation, not performance.
Guardrails
To preserve integrity:
- Transparency over concealment
- Tools assist; they do not decide
- Meaning is verified through lived experience
- Artifacts take precedence over commentary
- Attention remains a moral act
The Priority
My priority is to build artifacts that restore agency, clarity, and stewardship.
When collaboration with tools supports that mission, I use them.
When they distract from it, I abstain.
In Practice
Build first.
Clarify when useful.
Publish without theater.
Return to the work.