[xorgun]

Cutting trees for fuel and paper to send a letter burned resources. Nobody gained in that transaction

[Blackthorn]

I shouldn't have to explain this, but a letter would involve actual emotion and thought and be a dialog between two humans.

[kgwxd]

When the thought is "I'd like this person to know how grateful I am", the medium doesn't really matter.

When the thought is "I owe this person a 'Thank You'", the handwritten letter gives an illusion of deeper thought. That's why there are fonts designed to look handwritten. To the receiver, they're just junk mail. I'd rather not get them at all, in any form. I was happy just having done the thing, and the thoughtless response slightly lessens that joy.

[lukan]

You have never received automated spam letters?

[xorgun]

We’re well past that. Social media killed that first. Some people have a hard time articulating their thoughts. If AI is a tool to help, why is that bad?

[gcau]

I shouldn't have to explain this, but a letter is a medium of communication, that could just as easily be written by a LLM (and transcribed by a human onto paper).

[yes_man]

Someone taking the time and effort to write and send a letter and pay for postage might actually be appreciated by the receiver. It’s a bit different from LLM agents being ordered to burn resources to send summaries of someone’s work life and congratulating them. It feels like ”hey look what can be done, can we get some more funding now”. Just because it can be done doesn’t mean it adds any good value to this world

[gspetr]

Nope, that ship has already sailed as well. An AI-powered service to do handwritten spam: https://handwrytten.com

[xorgun]

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t immediately throw said enveloppe, postage, and letter in the trash

[devnonymous]

How is it that so many people who supposedly lean towards analytical thought are so bad at understanding scale?

[throw20251220]

Use recycled paper.