Weird, inexplicable things do happen, I agree. Like omens, or life imitating art, or art imitating life. I haven't had weird stuff happen to me except for omens, most of which I missed. Tolstoy knew about omens, and sprinkled them throughout "Anna Karinina". Yet he died as she died in the novel (spoiler alert) and even then, he probably didn't see (as he lay dying in a train station, having fled his family, as Anna did before him in his novel) it as a case of life imitating art, art he himself created. And then there are aliens, which I think do exist (i.e., I think intelligent life exists beyond earth), but which I can't explain so try not to worry about.
I prefer the internet age to the 70's and 80's I'm afraid. No more struggling alone (or with one's spouse) alone in the car with billowing maps (which are hard to refold), and getting lost and yelling at eachother ("You said turn left! I should have turned right! Why can't you navigate?"). It is much easier to buy (or rent) things, including real estate. Would we want to live without Amazon? Nope. Or Zoom? Nope. But AI is worrisome, I agree. I am trying to stay out of AI as much as possible, I will not read AI created "writing", novels, articles, etc., but then, how would I know? I don't want to listen to AI created music or look at AI created art. Computer-assisted design, yes, but completely computer created writing, music or art? Nope, it doesn't have "soul". Show me your art, I'm looking into your mind and your soul. Don't show me something created exclusively with coding please. I prefer human-created things--they have a little mystery, enchantment and beauty to them.
That's computer aided design because it is part of a narrative you are creating. AI can write entire novels or term papers now with virtually no human input except perhaps to name the topic. You are personally involved beyond coding in your substack. You choose what to write and what pictures to post to accompany the narrative. So whatever you are posting reflects you, and that is what makes it interesting to another. Would you want to read a sonnet created by a computer, totally created by a computer? What compares with this, by William Shakespeare, probably written to his wife?
Steve, Have you seen the movie "My Dinner With Andre?" It is largely concerned with a growing "cyborg" culture that has forgotten what it means to be human. It is a 1981 film but on this theme has great relevance. I would love to read your comments on it.
Also, I wanted to say that I think your best writing concerns the cult-like dynamics of Trad Catholicism and a podcast on this subject in particular but more generally on cults would be fascinating and helpful to many people. I believe there are other podcasters doing similar things with regard to Scientology and other cults but I imagine you would be a great interviewer of people who have had similar experiences as you whether in the Trad world or outside of it.
Weird, inexplicable things do happen, I agree. Like omens, or life imitating art, or art imitating life. I haven't had weird stuff happen to me except for omens, most of which I missed. Tolstoy knew about omens, and sprinkled them throughout "Anna Karinina". Yet he died as she died in the novel (spoiler alert) and even then, he probably didn't see (as he lay dying in a train station, having fled his family, as Anna did before him in his novel) it as a case of life imitating art, art he himself created. And then there are aliens, which I think do exist (i.e., I think intelligent life exists beyond earth), but which I can't explain so try not to worry about.
I prefer the internet age to the 70's and 80's I'm afraid. No more struggling alone (or with one's spouse) alone in the car with billowing maps (which are hard to refold), and getting lost and yelling at eachother ("You said turn left! I should have turned right! Why can't you navigate?"). It is much easier to buy (or rent) things, including real estate. Would we want to live without Amazon? Nope. Or Zoom? Nope. But AI is worrisome, I agree. I am trying to stay out of AI as much as possible, I will not read AI created "writing", novels, articles, etc., but then, how would I know? I don't want to listen to AI created music or look at AI created art. Computer-assisted design, yes, but completely computer created writing, music or art? Nope, it doesn't have "soul". Show me your art, I'm looking into your mind and your soul. Don't show me something created exclusively with coding please. I prefer human-created things--they have a little mystery, enchantment and beauty to them.
The irony is, I use AI art for the featured images on most of my posts, including this one.
That's computer aided design because it is part of a narrative you are creating. AI can write entire novels or term papers now with virtually no human input except perhaps to name the topic. You are personally involved beyond coding in your substack. You choose what to write and what pictures to post to accompany the narrative. So whatever you are posting reflects you, and that is what makes it interesting to another. Would you want to read a sonnet created by a computer, totally created by a computer? What compares with this, by William Shakespeare, probably written to his wife?
SONNET 18 by William Shakespeare
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
"The line in the silicon, if it was ever going to be drawn, needed to be drawn before cell phones." <-this feels sooooo true.
Steve, Have you seen the movie "My Dinner With Andre?" It is largely concerned with a growing "cyborg" culture that has forgotten what it means to be human. It is a 1981 film but on this theme has great relevance. I would love to read your comments on it.
Also, I wanted to say that I think your best writing concerns the cult-like dynamics of Trad Catholicism and a podcast on this subject in particular but more generally on cults would be fascinating and helpful to many people. I believe there are other podcasters doing similar things with regard to Scientology and other cults but I imagine you would be a great interviewer of people who have had similar experiences as you whether in the Trad world or outside of it.