Sometime around November 2022, Quora showed up on my radar screen, as things tend to do, causing me to diverge from my usual routine and invest a lot of time into something unplanned. I actually signed up for Quora in 2011 and received a daily digest in my email which I enjoyed reading. Then out of the blue, I received an email from Quora suggesting that I set up my own space. It’s not that I am special. I suspect that tens or even hundreds of thousands of such emails went out to sleepy readers who rarely contributed answers. But it caught my attention as I was planning to increase my Internet presence in order to sell some books.
So, I set up a space and started answering questions. I haven't made any money so far. But that wasn't really my goal. Monetizing is tricky and I would rather have a slow build than a spike. Further, Quora is in the process of making changes. It is better to be a prince with promise than a dying king. So, it is best for me to be patient.
My goal was to get my name out in front of people to increase my book sales. I have figured out, after several months, that this may not be the best way to boost book sales. I am slowly realizing that you need to use Amazon's paid advertising in order to attract readers. Doing this is fairly complicated and it represents yet another hurdle to get over on my path to selling books. But, as I reflected on the time I spent writing answers to questions on Quora, I realized that even if I never make a penny on my space and don't sell any more books from my presence on Quora, it still provides a huge benefit.
Writing answers for Quora is GREAT writing practice. At the beginning I answered 10-20 questions a day. So far, I have answered over 1,700 questions. My answers have received Over 92,000 views with 875 upvotes and 454 comments. This is not only feedback, but it is recognition and engagement as well. People will say that you should write every day and I agree with that. But what do you write about? With Quora questions you can answer questions about anything that you know something about. And you will find out quickly if you write clearly and whether or not people like your writing.
I started out answering questions on topics about which I have written books
such as The Meaning of Life and Predicting the Future. Soon I drifted to
answering questions about writing and lately I have answered a slew of questions
about artificial intelligence. At one point a question popped up about ChatGPT
which I was not familiar with. So, I got a few Kindle books and started
answering ChatGPT questions as well. Many writers are concerned that ChatGPT
will make writers irrelevant. And I have assured many on Quora that this will
not happen. Granted writers will have to learn how to use ChatGPT. But it will
not replace them. I have answered many questions from programmers who have the
same concerns. Increasingly, people in customer service, law, accounting, medicine and finance are starting to see the threat as well.
When I retired three years ago, I was worried about getting behind in emerging technologies. But answering questions on Quora has kept me up to date and engaged. Not only have I refined my writing skills, but I have refined my learning and thinking skills as well. I do hope to make a few bucks at some point. But, even if I don't, it has been a great experience and I am glad that I stumbled on to it.
And as an added benefit, I have sharpened my ideas on such things as whether or not AI presents any kind of a danger. It will almost certainly disrupt the job market although that is nothing new when it come to technology. But the fears the people have from watching science fiction movies like The Terminator are unfounded. I have watched The Terminator several times and have enjoyed it enormously. But, it has not kept me awake at night worry about Skynet become aware.
I have figured out a couple things in the process of writing hundreds of answers on AI. First, there is fear that AI will eliminate all jobs. This is not true. AI will disrupt a lot of jobs and people will have to learn how to use AI in order to do their job just like they had to learn computer skills decades ago and how to use the Internet more recently. Second, many are concerned about AI becoming sentient and enslaving humanity. AI will not become sentient. Our sentience is due to our biology which in turn is due to our DNA. We share 60% of our DNA with bananas. We share 0% with computers. So, it is more likely that bananas will become sentient than it is for computers to become sentient.
If you are interested, you can find my Quora space at https://DrJohnArtz.Quora.com and you can find my 1700+ answers at https://www.quora.com/profile/John-Artz . And while I am handing out urls, you can always find out more about what I am doing at https://DrJohnArtz.com .
