I am going to start with a joke. I asked AI which baseball team is the overall best throughout history. AI (not being an idiot) started with an answer calculated to avoid offence. “There is no single universally agreed-upon "best team" in baseball history”. It then mentioned the fact that such a judgment would depend on too many variables, but then admitted that “the title is almost exclusively awarded to a few historically legendary squads”. I dutifully clicked the “more” button. There I found a list of five teams named as examples of “a few historically legendary squads”. The New York Yankees appear three times (for three different seasons.) Four other teams are mentioned once. The team from Boston does not appear.
Now for the serious part. This piece is by far the best single thing I have read about AI, and it should be widely distributed and promulgated. I will discuss this with you shortly. Reading it, I was picturing you (seated on an aisle seat) typing the words into metaphors, homilies, exhortations, warnings, and lists upon lists. The presence of the Holy Spirit’s influence on paragraph and sentence formation, geared to shake the world, is obvious.
What I am trying to say is that this is a masterpiece of writing, Jim. (Much like your soon-to-be-released book). I encourage everyone reading it to share it and spread the word. I believe that a great deal depends on it, and I give enormous credit to the Pope for his Holy wisdom in addressing what is soon to become one of the most important issues in modern human existence.
Thanks Sy. I was actually stuck in a middle seat for this trip, because I changed flights that morning and that was the only thing available. I'd like to think the suffering of that experience had something to do with the outcome -- another thing AI can't do: suffer for its art. Let me know what you have in mind.
Too bad you didn't ask your AI who the best club of the 21st century has been. There the answer is clear and objective.
Touche. I never write on planes since the last time I tried to, and the woman sitting next to me kept snorting and chuckling while staring at the words appearing on my computer screen. And no, I was not writing anything funny. At least to me.
Thank you for sharing this, Jim. As I recently heard from Alan Noble, "efficiency is not a fruit of the Spirit." It's ironic how, in our desire to expand our capabilities —know more, be more "connected"— our actual ability to love has been hindered. Decision paralysis, cognitive overwhelm... I've opted for embracing my human limitations and loving right here where I am, building slowly and as faithfully as I can, trusting God will make my efforts bear good fruit.
Thank you again for helping us think deeper about these issues.
Thanks Ana. Your comment reminds me of what Mother Teresa said (and I quote as often as I can): we were not called to be effective; we're called to be faithful.
Keep up your faithfulness! (and I suspect that in the long run we'll see that has been the most effective way too)
I am going to start with a joke. I asked AI which baseball team is the overall best throughout history. AI (not being an idiot) started with an answer calculated to avoid offence. “There is no single universally agreed-upon "best team" in baseball history”. It then mentioned the fact that such a judgment would depend on too many variables, but then admitted that “the title is almost exclusively awarded to a few historically legendary squads”. I dutifully clicked the “more” button. There I found a list of five teams named as examples of “a few historically legendary squads”. The New York Yankees appear three times (for three different seasons.) Four other teams are mentioned once. The team from Boston does not appear.
Now for the serious part. This piece is by far the best single thing I have read about AI, and it should be widely distributed and promulgated. I will discuss this with you shortly. Reading it, I was picturing you (seated on an aisle seat) typing the words into metaphors, homilies, exhortations, warnings, and lists upon lists. The presence of the Holy Spirit’s influence on paragraph and sentence formation, geared to shake the world, is obvious.
What I am trying to say is that this is a masterpiece of writing, Jim. (Much like your soon-to-be-released book). I encourage everyone reading it to share it and spread the word. I believe that a great deal depends on it, and I give enormous credit to the Pope for his Holy wisdom in addressing what is soon to become one of the most important issues in modern human existence.
Thanks Sy. I was actually stuck in a middle seat for this trip, because I changed flights that morning and that was the only thing available. I'd like to think the suffering of that experience had something to do with the outcome -- another thing AI can't do: suffer for its art. Let me know what you have in mind.
Too bad you didn't ask your AI who the best club of the 21st century has been. There the answer is clear and objective.
Touche. I never write on planes since the last time I tried to, and the woman sitting next to me kept snorting and chuckling while staring at the words appearing on my computer screen. And no, I was not writing anything funny. At least to me.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for sharing this, Jim. As I recently heard from Alan Noble, "efficiency is not a fruit of the Spirit." It's ironic how, in our desire to expand our capabilities —know more, be more "connected"— our actual ability to love has been hindered. Decision paralysis, cognitive overwhelm... I've opted for embracing my human limitations and loving right here where I am, building slowly and as faithfully as I can, trusting God will make my efforts bear good fruit.
Thank you again for helping us think deeper about these issues.
Thanks Ana. Your comment reminds me of what Mother Teresa said (and I quote as often as I can): we were not called to be effective; we're called to be faithful.
Keep up your faithfulness! (and I suspect that in the long run we'll see that has been the most effective way too)