Dear Writing, We take many things in this life for granted, one of which is the gift of you. You started of as mere scratches on walls, grew up into murals of Egyptians break-dancing on the walls of tombs of dead kings and now you are on inescapable in the form of our names on passports, marriage invitations, restaurant bookings, constitutions and fines on parking tickets. Through you, we have exchanged emotions, histories, discoveries, value, condolences, obituaries, news and dating profiles. Without you, we would never have discovered our histories, science, religon, medicine, law and technology. If not for you, where would we be? Through whatever magic it is that we bestowed upon you, you gave us the laws of gravity, evolution, Harry Potter and Jesus. Without you, how bland our lives would be? You are a descendant of our greatest invention: language. In effect, you are the first technology we ever created, and through you we gave birth to countless others. Accounting, Law, Physics, Astronomy and Biology wouldn’t exist if not for you, without you where would we be? Whatever language is, you are a symbolic representation of it. Whatever life is, you are the carving of it. Whatever the universe is, you are an imitation of it. Whatever we are, you are the creation of it. When grammar was limiting, you transformed into poetry. When rigidity was needed, you turned into code. When the truth was too much, you evolved into fiction. When reality was boring, you turned into pictures. When words were obscure, you became numbers. When sentences weren’t precise, you evolved into statistical tables. You turned into cryptographic keys, when things were meant to be kept secret. And when it came to arrange sounds, you morphed into sheet music. A crafty one aren’t you, darling? While we may not have the power to travel into the future, but through you, we have the power to make the past magically travel forward to us. You remind us where we’ve been, what we’ve done and what is yet to do. Through you, is how we will preserve ourselves for the next generation. To be honest, though, most of us don’t like you very much. You’re like the difficult but rich aunty with questionable breath who we only talk to at Christmas because we sort of have to. If you weren’t printed on money, would we even like you? No! Look at yourself, you are difficult, EXTREMELY hard to get right, and make us all feel very stupid most of the time. You make us look deep into the void which is our own mind, and force us to make sense of it all. How dare you? It is hard enough to think of things, but they become ten times as harder when they have to be committed to you. Why must you be like this, all difficult, labor intensive, mentally taxing and just ew? Why is it so hard to make you do, what we want you to do? We have YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Stories and TikTok Reels, who needs you anyway? Go away, please. You are no fruit, you have no nutrition. You are not a bed, you provide no comfort. You are no jacket, you provide no warmth. Why is it that we need you? Why is it, must we practice getting better at you? Perhaps like the Christmas Aunty, we will only miss you whence you are dead and forever gone. Through our journey together, one thing is clear: you have always understood us but we have never understood you. What we have never clearly understood is how we produce you, and what is it in us that lends itself onto to you. Perhaps, there is nothing special about you: you are but a figment of our imagination. What makes you special, is what you make our minds do when we produce you. Perhaps what makes you special, is what you make us do when we consume you. Perhaps, what makes you special is how we use you to imagine, understand, record and discuss things brewing inside our minds. Perhaps, we need you because you help us imagine new things, then help us make those things real. We need you because you help us solve problems. We need you in whatever way you mould yourself into, and in all of your bodacious forms: books, journals, poetry, code, articles, essays, washing machine manuals, tweets, instant messages and prompts. When now, there is so much of you lying around that it is impossible to read in one lifetime - you have chosen to evolve into prompts and ‘generative AI’. Some people think it will kill you, others think you are now unnecessary in this new evolution of you. For us, dear writing, we love you not as a product but as a process. A process in which magic happens and characters, concepts and symbols are born. A process in which we look inward, and bring to life something outward. A process which goes hand in hand with world progress. We love you, because you help us move proverbial gears in our mind. We love you, because you help us imagine. We love you, because you take us places that don’t really exist. We love you, because you help us connect. We love you because you are not important, but where you take us is important. Whatever form you take today, or in the future we will always love you. Because, dear writing, at the end of day for us, you are not a product but a tool to interact. And to that end, we strive to protect you not because of what you are but what you represent: an aftermath of strife, suffering, deliberation, focus and chaos that leads to perpetual individual and communal growth. Live long, and stay strong. Eternally yours, Civilization