Definitely! All my sympathy goes out to teachers right now; so many people (even adults!) seem to have forgotten that there is actually a value to learning things, to knowing things on your own, to developing your own thoughts. I hate to imagine what these kids will be like in another decade or two...
I've always enjoyed the perspective and poetry of D H Lawrence, a visionary. The same man that told us the American character is hard, isolate, a killer. He was specifically referring to a character in a novel, but his point was well made and seems true today to some extent. Some of us are not content without a war, and damn the innocent lives lost or the far-ranging consequences. AI, of course, wages its own brand of destruction.
I agree, Oscar. There seems to be something inherently destructive about us as a country. It's so troubling to see how we repeat the same brutal, destructive patterns over and over. The AI race is just the newest excuse to wreck the environment, and destroy human lives, in search of fresh profit.
I just spent some time scrolling through comments on Linked In about how to redesign education and knowledge and decision-making to let AI run things better. I had the sneaking suspicion that over half of the notices on Linked In are from bots themselves. Where is the Exit from this theatre? Any suggestions DH? Can the swan save us? (I'm getting sad these days. And relieved that I'm not working any more.)
love that last clause--"reducing the locus of my concern till it's small enough for humans to seem lovable again." being seen up close (just skindeep) might just make us homo sap's deserving of some affection. for a bit.
but humans can even mess up campsites. trashy firepits, t.p. blossoming all around the locus. then the locus gets too big again. i'm going camping somewhere there aren't any saps.
Good call. That's what I do when this AI-loving world gets me sad too--not camping (though I see the appeal,) but just going for a walk, getting into some leaves, reducing the locus of my concern until it's small enough for humans to seem lovable again.
In the movie, Days of Heaven, there are scenes of huge farm machines rolling into the wheat fields, crushing the land and whatever vulnerable bird and nest is in the way. Gigantic iron wheels and steaming, heaving movement that dwarfs the workers and all that lives. This poem brings those scenes again to mind.
“…even the lambs will stretch forth their necks like serpents,
like snakes of hate, against the man in the machine…”
This is a passage to commit to memory, perhaps for use in the margins of students’ ai generated papers. 🤔
Definitely! All my sympathy goes out to teachers right now; so many people (even adults!) seem to have forgotten that there is actually a value to learning things, to knowing things on your own, to developing your own thoughts. I hate to imagine what these kids will be like in another decade or two...
This reverberates especially this month as we drive around Vt and see so many of mans follies being engulfed by nature lost in the vines and brambles.
I've always enjoyed the perspective and poetry of D H Lawrence, a visionary. The same man that told us the American character is hard, isolate, a killer. He was specifically referring to a character in a novel, but his point was well made and seems true today to some extent. Some of us are not content without a war, and damn the innocent lives lost or the far-ranging consequences. AI, of course, wages its own brand of destruction.
I agree, Oscar. There seems to be something inherently destructive about us as a country. It's so troubling to see how we repeat the same brutal, destructive patterns over and over. The AI race is just the newest excuse to wreck the environment, and destroy human lives, in search of fresh profit.
I just spent some time scrolling through comments on Linked In about how to redesign education and knowledge and decision-making to let AI run things better. I had the sneaking suspicion that over half of the notices on Linked In are from bots themselves. Where is the Exit from this theatre? Any suggestions DH? Can the swan save us? (I'm getting sad these days. And relieved that I'm not working any more.)
I'm going camping.
love that last clause--"reducing the locus of my concern till it's small enough for humans to seem lovable again." being seen up close (just skindeep) might just make us homo sap's deserving of some affection. for a bit.
but humans can even mess up campsites. trashy firepits, t.p. blossoming all around the locus. then the locus gets too big again. i'm going camping somewhere there aren't any saps.
I wish you luck!
Good call. That's what I do when this AI-loving world gets me sad too--not camping (though I see the appeal,) but just going for a walk, getting into some leaves, reducing the locus of my concern until it's small enough for humans to seem lovable again.
The photo says as much and wonderfully. Thanks for this today, Tonya. C.
Thank you, Connie!
In the movie, Days of Heaven, there are scenes of huge farm machines rolling into the wheat fields, crushing the land and whatever vulnerable bird and nest is in the way. Gigantic iron wheels and steaming, heaving movement that dwarfs the workers and all that lives. This poem brings those scenes again to mind.