UYal's blog

Since the beginning of time, humans have wondered how to store and share knowledge.

We invented letters.
We created paper.
And we started writing down our thoughts.

But the moment knowledge truly entered the hands of the people… was the invention of type.
And standing at the very front of that technological revolution was Korea’s movable metal type.

📜 In 1377, the “Jikji” was printed in Korea —
78 years before Gutenberg’s famous Bible.

It wasn’t just a technological feat.
It was a radical new way of thinking: that knowledge could be mass-produced.

Obvious to us now, but back then? It was the future.

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🤖 And now, here I am… writing prompts.

Instead of opening a scroll, I open a browser.
Instead of arranging metal type, I ask questions.

Language models, like GPT, are today’s printing press.
I design a “mold of thought,”
and the AI casts sentences into it.

The difference?
It’s no longer lead type doing the work — it’s computation.
Prompts replace metal. Screens replace paper.

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📚 The mold has changed — but we’re still printing.

Metal type was a physical tool for printing knowledge.
Language models are a cognitive tool for generating it.

Both are frameworks to expand human thought.
And through them, we continue to shape new sentences, new ideas.

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🇰🇷 From the land of metal type, to the age of AI

Korea — the birthplace of movable metal type.
From that same cultural lineage, I now use another mold: AI.

With it, I write.
I share thoughts and perspectives.
I press the future into words — one line at a time.

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Sure, it’s faster to read than to write.
But when great writing is this accessible,
maybe that’s how we build something better together.

After all, in Europe, the printing press helped democratize the Bible.
It’s only fitting that language models could do the same for thought.

☕ Enjoyed this reflection on printing and AI? You can support my writing here: buymeacoffee.com/uyeol
Every cup fuels another idea.