Generative AI and the psychology of failed experiments

Deciding that an experiment has failed, and throwing away the work, can feel bad. I suspect that it often feels worse to throw away a day of work than a year of work. Why might this be true? There are some psychological reasons: A year-long project probably felt successful, or at least partially successful, for a while. Or, at least, it felt real. Doing something for a year is satisfying and looks significant. There's a floating1 anecdote about a writer who says that he spent all morning insert...