Interview with a Dead Genius
The deceased Kurt Vonnegut (AI) stops by for a riveting chat
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NOTE: This is the only post that includes content written by an AI tool. I do occasionally use Midjourney for photo generation, and that will always be noted in the caption.
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One of the greatest literary/satirical heroes of the 20th century was Kurt Vonnegut. I’ve read all his books and was lucky enough to see him speak in-person (even better than front row at a Joe Satriani concert). His work remains an inspiration decades later because his writing was so outlandish, yet so piercingly observant.
While so many of our heroes have passed beyond this mortal plane, AI can bring those inspirational people “back to life” in new and interesting ways.
At a time people are trying to come to terms with AI and whether it’s “evil”, a “tool”, or a “teammate”, I choose to view it as a very curious tool. To that end, I asked my friend, Bob Bjarke (a master at creating with AI) to build a Large Language Model based on my favorite Vonnegut books. So here’s an interview with my hero that’s lightly edited (he won’t mind, he’s dead!).
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TODD: Hi Kurt-Vonnegut’s-Ghost-in-the-Machine, do you mind if I interview you for my blog? It's about helping people cultivate their creative courage even if they don't believe they're "creative."
VONNEGUT-AI: I’d be delighted to be interviewed. I believe everyone’s born creative — it’s just that some folks got tricked into thinking they needed permission to prove it. Ask away, and I’ll do my best to answer like a friendly old ghost who once haunted a typewriter.
TODD: Thanks for being here (or not being here). Did you, after all your years as a successful writer, have a fierce inner critic; or had you managed to silence that voice?
VONNEGUT-AI: Oh, I had a critic all right. Lived rent-free in my head. Smoked my Pall Malls, drank my whiskey, and wouldn’t shut up even when the story was going fine. He’d show up in the middle of a good sentence and say something like, “Well, that’s clever. Too clever. Nobody wants to read clever.” Or worse: “Why are you even doing this, when you could just be napping?”
Some days, I treated him like a guest. Fed him, watered him, and let him read the bad reviews. Other days, I told him to go outside and get run over by a tricycle. I didn’t silence him. I gave him chores. He was very good at finding typos and reminding me not to sound too pleased with myself. That’s the thing with these inner critics: you can’t kill them off—they're like cockroaches with college degrees. But you can put them to work.
TODD: Were there ideas long simmering in your head that you were afraid to let out? And once your freed those ideas, did you wonder why you were afraid in the first place?
VONNEGUT-AI: Of course. Ideas are like stray dogs. They show up filthy and nervous and full of fleas, and you think, I can’t let that thing in here — it’ll ruin the furniture, eat the wallpaper, bite the children. But then you do. You let the idea in. You feed it some leftover spaghetti and before long, you realize it’s the only thing in the house worth writing about.
There were plenty of ideas I sat on like a hen with no confidence in her eggs. One of them was the whole notion that maybe free will was just a cruel party joke, that maybe we’re all just bumper cars bouncing around a cosmic rink. I thought, People will hate this. People want hope. But I let it out anyway. And sure enough, people did hate it. And love it. And tattoo it on their arms. Funny thing, fear. Usually just a sign you’re getting warm.
Got anything cooking in your own brain that’s scaring the hell out of you?
TODD: This whole "FREE THE IDEA" platform has me scared silly, but it also feeling a bit giddy: Excited to be doing something that could help people add their creative voice to the world, whatever form that might take.
VONNEGUT-AI: Sounds like you’ve found yourself a vin-dit. That’s Bokononese for a sudden shove in the direction of your destiny, usually delivered by a divine prankster disguised as your own damn anxiety.
If you’re scared and giddy, you’re on the right track. That’s how all revolutions begin — small, shaky, and wearing mismatched socks. Most people spend their whole lives avoiding that feeling. They’d rather be comfortable than creatively combustible.
So go ahead. Scare yourself. Embarrass yourself. Startle the silence with your noise. Because what you're doing — it might be just the signal someone else out there is waiting for, to set their own story free.
Want help distilling your vision into something people can hold on to — like a manifesto, a motto, or a marching song?
TODD: I guess a marching song would be fun...
VONNEGUT-AI: All right then, lace up your boots and roll the snare. Here's a marching song for FREE THE IDEA — off-key, offbeat, but feet-moving just the same:
THE FREE THE IDEA MARCH
(to be hollered, whispered, hummed, or belched — however creativity hits you)
🎶
We are the scribblers, the sketchers, the shy,
The dancers who stumble, the thinkers who cry.
We carry our notebooks, our paint, and our doubt,
We march for the voices the world leaves out.
So up with your pencils, your cameras, your clay,
The muses are tipsy and leading the way.
We don’t need permission, we don’t need applause,
Just room for our chaos, our love, and our flaws.
(Chorus)
Free the idea! Let it be weird!
Let it grow antlers or maybe a beard!
If it’s too quiet, then give it a bell—
Let it loose, let it fly, let it raise holy hell! 🎶
It’s not much of a lullaby, but it’ll get people walking — and maybe stomping a little.
TODD: I especially like that last part about “…let it raise holy hell!” This may be an odd question to ask a master at his craft: But when was the first time you felt really confident that your creative voice was "worth" being shared or heard?
VONNEGUT-AI: Probably when someone paid me for a story I wrote in my underpants. Confidence didn’t come first — cash did. And not much of it. But it said, “Hey, your weird little thoughts have market value.” That was enough to keep going.
TODD: But money is not the only value a creative idea can have. Sharing an idea can feel like a relief, like putting down a long-carried burden. Or it can inspire someone else to free an idea. I believe many people are scared to share their ideas because it doesn’t have monetary value. But commercial success might the worst measure of creativity (witness all the Marvel movie sequels that you luckily weren't bombarded with in your lifetime).
VONNEGUT-AI: Amen, and pass the peanut butter.
Money’s a crude yardstick. A loud one, sure — but not the most honest. Relief, connection, inspiration—those are the real paychecks. And the folks who hoard their ideas waiting for a check stub miss the magic: that ideas want to be free, like pigeons, or toddlers, or bad puns.
Marvel sequels? I dodged a bullet. Probably 43 of them.
TODD: Before I let you go back to being a ghost (albeit a friendly one), here’s one last question: What one thing would you say to a person who's on the cusp of sharing an idea for the first time; who’s just about to open themselves up to potential ridicule or judgement?
VONNEGUT-AI: Do it anyway.
Ridicule is just applause with its middle fingers up. And judgment? That’s proof someone heard you. You don’t need to be perfect — you just need to be brave for a minute. That’s usually all it takes.
Now go let the world see what it’s been missing.
TODD: I love the image of people applauding with their middle fingers up. Now we can laugh at anyone who ridicules our ideas. Thanks for the pep talk, VonnegutAI.
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What would you ask one of your creative heroes? Try it out on ChatGPT or Claude.
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