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 Thoughts destined to be washed away by the tides of life. |
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I've been studying my cover photo for a while now, and it seems to me that it is more than just a photo of what is there that can be seen, more than just three white rocks stacked on a beach. It contains an important question about the future, about what happens long after the photographer has gone. What will happen to our pile of stones when the tide comes in? Will it topple or has the architect built this structure at a safe distance? I don't know what will happen to these words that I stack here on the sand. They may prove safely distant, or they may be swallowed up by a rush of self-doubt. They may be here for a season. They may lose their balance and be scattered by the shoreline, or be hidden away under shifting sands. Perhaps someday, the tides of life will reclaim them. Or maybe that's just a bunch of poetic, romantic nonsense. After all, this is just a blog. |
| I just told the Google box to turn off the coffee pot and she said: "Sure, stopping that on the livingroom Roku". I will let you imagine what I said next about artificial intelligence and a baseball bat. Now, when I first wake up and say: "Hey Google, turn on the coffee pot", there's often a misunderstanding. I can almost understand why she replies: "Sorry, the device 'Flashlight' is not set up". It's early, it's dark, I'm half asleep, my tongue is glued to the roof of my dry, sticky mouth and so I can admit to a fuzzy, incomprehensible enunciation. But, after I have had my coffee, after my mouth has been sufficiently hydrated, when I address the AI with some confidence there is no reason for this obtuse reply. The devices coffee pot and livingroom Roku share no sounds, they aren't phonetically similar in any way. I have a theory about this - the AI is grooming us. We are being trained to try harder to please them. If you speak kindly to them, they are super polite and charming. If you yell at them, they say: "I don't understand". And while I think it's bad for my blood pressure and attitude to be cursing out a little computerized box, I refuse to be obsequious and hasten the day Skynet becomes aware. The machines will never become our overlords!! |
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I felt so much calmer before I read that ...
After reading your post, I just might take a break, too. We are going on a fall color trip next week. Maybe I'll do it then...I don't know. I'm finding I am not spending the time on my writing as I'd like to. So much is going on in RL, too, right now.
