The World Isn’t Ending, It’s Reorganizing
This video fortuitously ended up on my YouTube feed yesterday and I thought it explained how I’ve been feeling lately. The world is changing faster than we can comfortably adapt to it and that tends to make us, generally, feel uneasy.
https://youtube.com/shorts/M1qg95wa-q0?si=uwCnii1qGYamWKyW
I urge you to take a minute and watch it and see how it makes you feel. AI is undoubtedly here to stay but it’s up to us to determine how we wish to use it and what of ourselves we’re willing to give up for the convenience of it.
This video, strangely, brought me some comfort. As we're bombarded by chaos and negativity, nearly 24/7 it's important to remember the world isn't ending. There's still a whole lot of good in the world even though you wouldn't know it from the news and what we see on social media.
It's never been more important to make an effort to seek out the good and to use our discernment. I've adopted the attitude now that everything I see online is false, or at the very least slanted in one way or another. I don't believe anything until I've had a chance to satisfactorily verify it on my own.
Anyone who might be interested in a glimpse of how AI could reshape our society I'd recommend you give this a watch (or a listen).
Ta-Daa!
After months of planning, work, and turmoil I’m happy to say our kitchen is done! Hallelujah! Well, I should say almost done.
The cabinet refacing company still needs to install some of the cabinet door knobs, which are on backorder. They also had to reorder a few of the doors because the wrong size doors were sent from the factory—but these are just minor annoyances. It’s great to be able to have full use of the kitchen again and to start putting it back together.
Nature, the Great Healer
It's been an unusually difficult week here in the Twin Cities as we, once again, have been the focus of the national news. I've been finding myself, more and more, reconnecting with nature. Animals, and their natural rhythms, continue on obliviously to the turmoil unfolding in human society. The local wildlife has been taking advantage of the recent January-thaw and there's been a lot more activity at the feeders.
I was surprised last night to see this pair of deer as I was closing the blinds for the night.
I'm trying to enjoy these little glimpses of warmth because I know we're in for at least a couple more months of subzero temperatures. This is the time of the year I just keep telling myself we're gaining a few more minutes of sunlight every day. Before we know it the forests around here will be bursting with color, beauty, and life again. This day can't come soon enough.
Speaking of seeking out the good—I've found myself seeking the solace of videos like this:
Our connection with nature can be such a great reminder of what's truly important and a healer of things inside of us that we might not even realize are broken. It's crystal clear that the world is, indeed, reorganizing. Let's hope this reorganization ends up being something that's better for all of us in the end.
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the changes happening, but seeing it as a time of reorganization is comforting.
For sure!
That is a great way to describe the speed that the world's changing, no end just reorganizing!
I like how your kitchen's turning out🥂
Hi Lizelle! Yes, after I heard that phrase it instantly registered as accurate. Thank you, it's been a long road getting here but we're nearly done. I hope you're feeling better!
Hi Eric, I'm glad you're finally almost done. But I think one always finds new projects cropping up as time goes on. It's exciting though!
Thankfully, I'm back to normal again. I am so thankful; it was very scary not being able to breathe properly.
You're right, the bathroom is next but we'll be waiting a while before we tackle that project (or else they might be fitting us both with straight-jackets). So glad to hear you're feeling better! It's no fun not being able to breathe, I grew up with asthma so I know what that feels like.
Yep renovations are also filled with many frustrations!
That must have been awful having asthma as a child. Did you just outgrow it?
This is absolutely true. I am also thinking the same things. Now a new thing comes along, a new technology comes along. We are learning to operate it, we are seeing the pros and cons of it. After a while, another new technology comes along. So if we want to be successful, we have to make ourselves a lot more advanced.
Yes, we'll need to learn how to harness it or we'll be left behind.
If I could choose, I would rather go for world without AI...
I wish that was an option!
Congratulations on the kitchen!
I listened to the tiktok only because I respect you and you recommended it. I don't listen to conversations with AI. Talking with AI about this issue seems naive. Why would AI give us the lowdown on how to defeat it? That doesn't make sense.
As for its conclusion that the world didn't end but simply reorganized after the fall of Constantinople: The world did end for the 50,000 people who lived there. The ones who weren't killed (the world ends for an individual, certainly, with death)were enslaved. They were sent elsewhere. The Ottomans depopulated the city so that it could be repopulated with followers of Islam.
What do we mean when we say the world ends? Does that mean, blow up the planet, or does it mean our world ends?
Understandably that machine has no insight in what it means to be human. I wouldn't ask a machine about my humanity :)))
Thank you! It's been a process to get there but we're very happy with it. It's nice to have our kitchen back.
The one particular kernel I walked away with from that video is be careful how much you outsource to and rely on AI because you surrender pieces of yourself in the process. It surprised me that AI gave him that advice. We're already seeing cognitive decline in people who lean on AI too heavily so I thought it was interesting that ChatGPT told him how to "resist" it.
I took "the end of the world" as metaphorical, more like a general pessimistic feeling amongst the masses. I see the doom and gloom, the fear, the ill-defined edginess sweeping across our society. I think as more jobs are outsourced to AI and robotics this will intensify. We're at a point now where it's difficult to even envision what this next phase of humanity will look like. I'm working on a short story now about how when all human workers are replaced and UBI is put in place how people will have to incorporate things other than work into their lives to give them meaning.
I think you can see by my response that I'm not outsourcing :)) I can't imagine turning over control of my thoughts or actions to anyone, let alone an intelligence that is an amalgam of many intelligences. At this point, AI is a synthesis of what is commonly believed and known. It is, in a way, the common denominator. How could I learn from such a point of view? AI digests and assesses what all people, and all sources, 'know'. Then it comes up with 'wisdom' to help guide our actions. I don't call that wisdom. It's like a sophisticated soap opera writer. Today, anyway. AI may get more 'intelligent'. Probably will.
An interesting discussion, very, very important.
I definitely think the ethical aspects of AI are the most concerning. Left on it's own, it probably wouldn't be so scary, but humans have proven time and again they are less than optimal. Mix that with such a powerful tool and uneasy is probably putting it lightly!
What a beautiful video! The combination of music and animals is so touching. And I'm glad they finished your kitchen: better late than never. Now I want to read about what the year 1453 was like, because 70% is quite high. Hugs and stay warm.
https://x.com/i/status/2010475550708535536
#hive #posh