{"id":11837,"date":"2026-09-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/?p=11837"},"modified":"2026-07-01T16:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T20:35:22","slug":"humans-have-always-been-remixers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/humans-have-always-been-remixers\/","title":{"rendered":"Humans Have Always Been Remixers. AI Didn\u2019t Invent Influence."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Years ago, when I worked as a waitress in what was known locally as one of our city\u2019s best family restaurants (The BoPeep), I met two men who became regular customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not just occasional customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Regulars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The kind of regulars you got to know a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The kind who started chatting with you as though you were more than the person bringing coffee and plates to their table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And no, not in a creepy way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More like big brothers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One afternoon, they asked me if I had ever read a really good book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I answered immediately with, \u201cYes, as a matter of fact, I have.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The book was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.abebooks.com\/servlet\/BookDetailsPL?bi=31525144043&amp;dest=USA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>A Stone for Danny Fisher<\/em> by Harold Robbins<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That surprised them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apparently, Harold Robbins had become better known for a very different kind of book by then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s just say his reputation had shifted somewhat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, they asked me what this particular book was about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When I told them, they were surprised again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of them said something along the lines of, \u201cHe must have hired a ghostwriter for that one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I have never forgotten that conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the bigger reason I never forgot the book itself goes back even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My father was the one who recommended it to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was in high school at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe around sixteen years of age\u2026 though I cannot be completely certain now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was not what I would call an avid reader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And this was not a thin little book by any stretch of the imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The version I had was a thick pocket novel that looked intimidating before I even opened it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My father, however, was always reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He devoured pocket novels by the shopping bag full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He used to say he got to go around the world through books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, when he told me that I would love <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ebay.com\/itm\/800167921942\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Stone for Danny Fisher<\/a><\/em>, I trusted him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And he was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What amazed me most was not just the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was how Harold Robbins made me feel what Danny was feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember being interrupted while reading this book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My mother would call me to help with something, as mothers tend to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And each time, when I had to put the book down, I noticed something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever mood Danny was in when I stopped reading, I seemed to carry that mood with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Danny was angry, I felt unsettled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Danny was hurt, I felt heavy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Danny was desperate, I felt pulled into that desperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That impressed me deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To me, that is the mark of powerful writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not merely telling the reader what happened, but pulling the reader into the emotional weather of the story so completely that the feeling lingers even after the book is closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember talking about that with my father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And because he was such a reader himself, he understood exactly why that mattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Years later, I read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/en\/book\/show\/203073.The_Apprenticeship_of_Duddy_Kravitz\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz<\/em> by Mordecai Richler<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And I remember feeling genuinely startled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not because it was the same book word for word. It wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The setting was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The author was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The details were different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the bones of the story felt awfully familiar to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A young Jewish man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A working-class struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ambition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moral compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hunger to become \u201csomebody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One story had its own world.<br>The other had its own world too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the resemblance felt impossible for me to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, I am not interested in turning this into a literary courtroom.<br>That is not the point of this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The point is what that memory made me think about years later, as I watched people argue over artificial intelligence and originality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because today, AI is often accused of stealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Borrowing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reworking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reshaping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reintroducing older ideas in newer clothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And every time I hear that argument presented as though AI invented this behaviour, I think:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wait a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humans have always been remixers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI didn\u2019t invent influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every writer, artist, marketer, speaker, teacher, business owner, and creator carries pieces of what they have read, heard, watched, admired, questioned, rejected, remembered, and absorbed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes the influence is obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes it is subtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes it is intentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes the person may not even realize how much of an earlier idea stayed with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We read something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It leaves a mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We hear something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It plants a seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We watch something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It shapes how we think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then later\u2026 sometimes years later\u2026 we create something of our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But is it ever created in complete isolation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I doubt it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why I find some of today\u2019s outrage around AI a little hard to swallow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not because the concern is fake, but because the outrage can sound awfully one-sided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Writers, artists, photographers, musicians, educators, and creators have every right to care about how their work is used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ownership matters. Credit matters. Consent matters. Compensation matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the broader habit of borrowing influence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is not new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI may not have created the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe AI made the old human habit harder to ignore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And maybe that is what makes people so uncomfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because AI\u2019s process is easier to point at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Human influence has always been easier to hide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A human can read ten books, watch five documentaries, follow three experts, listen to a dozen interviews, absorb years of other people\u2019s thinking, then sit down and write something \u201coriginal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And sometimes it is original enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because the person added something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their lived experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their humour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their frustration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their grief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their own way of connecting the dots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is where the real difference lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The issue is not whether something was influenced by what came before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of course it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The better question is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Did the final result add anything real?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did it add lived experience?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did it add judgment?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did it add context?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did it add honesty?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Did it add a point of view?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because that is where useful content still earns its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is also where business owners need to be careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using AI to help write content is not automatically dishonest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Using AI to produce empty, generic, copycat material and pretending it came from deep personal expertise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s where credibility starts to weaken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The same would be true if a human did it without AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Generic content is generic content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Exaggerated content is exaggerated content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Borrowed thinking without personal judgment is still borrowed thinking, whether a human typed it alone or used AI to help shape it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why I do not believe the smartest conversation is \u201cAI versus human.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I believe the smarter conversation is:<br>What did the human bring to the work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because when a business owner uses AI well, they are not asking it to replace their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They are using it to organize their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Challenge their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clarify their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Put structure around their thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Help them say what they meant to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the truth still has to come from somewhere real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lived story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A tested opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lesson learned the hard way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A customer conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A business mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A moment of doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A belief that has been earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why I keep coming back to that thick Harold Robbins novel my father handed me when I was a teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That book stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The conversation in the restaurant stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The later comparison stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now, decades later, all of it helps me explain why I do not buy the idea that AI suddenly introduced borrowing, blending, influence, or remixing into the creative world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Humans were already doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have always done that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI simply made the process more visible.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/humans-have-always-been-remixers-image01.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11839\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So maybe the better question is not, \u201cWas this influenced by something?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe the better question is:<br>\u201cWhat did you add that made it worth publishing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is not the credibility problem.<br>Empty content is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<br\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><strong>Credit for Images:<\/strong> <\/strong>created with ChatGPT Images by OpenAI, with prompting and direction by \u00a0the author, Trish Parr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years ago, when I worked as a waitress in what was known locally as one of our city\u2019s best family restaurants (The BoPeep), I met two men who became regular customers. Not just occasional customers. Regulars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11838,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"<div class='yasr-small-block-bold'><span class='yasr-visitor-votes-must-sign-in'>You must sign in to vote<\/span><\/div>"},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11837"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11881,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11837\/revisions\/11881"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eparrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}