Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” seems germane. I am more worried about the emerging tech autocracy, which seems wholly unconstrained by measurable reality. AI is creating its own economic weather. It copies and hallucinates, and the hallucinations are used to measure other things. Applicants are increasingly interviewed by AI. It’s the default for customer service. Many would like it to rule education. I can’t see anywhere good that this leads.
I share your worry (my first book, War of the Worlds, was about the hi-tech assault on reality), but I see the administration's weaponising of alternate realties as somehow aligned with the AI revolution: in the 90's, the chatter was all about synthetic, "fully-englobing" realities. Thirty years later, we seem to be sliding in that direction, one way or the other.
I am with young people every day (high school history teacher) and find myself having to remind them that 2+2 does = 4 and not lettuce :) Not all of them. But they are impressionable and absorbing their surroundings. When the leaders of the country can make up their own reality along with the machine in their hands, teaching them to discern truth and engage in critical thinking IS the work.
I mean this sincerely: Teaching students "to discern truth and engage in critical thinking" is the most important job in the world right now. Step by step, we have to regain the territory we've lost, especially since we're about to be hit by a technology that blurs the lines and inhibits critical thinking more effectively than any other. In my Dec. 13, 2024 post I had more to say about this (as I did in a Harper's essay titled "Dehumanized"), but writing about it and doing it, as you are, are two different things. Thank you. Really.
Amen to every word, Mark. The one thing I can say is that for all of Poland’s problems, I am all but ecstatic to be in Kraków for the next few months. I can more easily tune out the madness here.
Thanks, Steve, and I'm glad that being in Krakow has dulled the insanity for you a bit; wish I could say the same for us here in Prague. I guess maybe the difference is that Poland under Tusk seems to be going in the right direction, while the Czech Republic under Babis, ain't (though the resistance protests here are amping up in a major way).
That equation makes sense compared to the stuff we're seeing. What explains it? Mass delusion? Mass psychosis? Alien spores? I'll take Wonderland any day; it was more amusing, and the Queen of Hearts didn't have the nuclear codes.
Increasingly, I have to shut my eyes to such “things” insisting on life in a world I know and trust. Thankfully you portray the “things” in a way that doubles down on truth. And thus, it improves life.as I live it.
I appreciate that. Like you - like so many people these days - I'm just trying to find a sustainable balance. If something I say makes that even slightly more achievable, I've accomplished more than I thought.
I’m visiting the friend in Bend that I gave yiur copy of the book that got shuffled around in Czechoslovakia and intend to try again. I forget how I knew to try again, but if you would, could you message me with a Us address to send it to? Have you read any Jess Walter yet?
Cold Millions is probably my favorite, but I’m proud to have started a wee book club on Substack via Financial Lives of the Poets, and So Far Gone, the one I’m sending has the scene that led to all this.
Well, I went into academia about the time it started going to the dogs, so welcome to the club. For what it's worth, I admire you for teaching English. We need more people like you, not less.
And thanks for the kind words. I'll try to keep them coming.
Margaret Atwood’s “Oryx and Crake” seems germane. I am more worried about the emerging tech autocracy, which seems wholly unconstrained by measurable reality. AI is creating its own economic weather. It copies and hallucinates, and the hallucinations are used to measure other things. Applicants are increasingly interviewed by AI. It’s the default for customer service. Many would like it to rule education. I can’t see anywhere good that this leads.
I share your worry (my first book, War of the Worlds, was about the hi-tech assault on reality), but I see the administration's weaponising of alternate realties as somehow aligned with the AI revolution: in the 90's, the chatter was all about synthetic, "fully-englobing" realities. Thirty years later, we seem to be sliding in that direction, one way or the other.
Scarily accurate!
I am with young people every day (high school history teacher) and find myself having to remind them that 2+2 does = 4 and not lettuce :) Not all of them. But they are impressionable and absorbing their surroundings. When the leaders of the country can make up their own reality along with the machine in their hands, teaching them to discern truth and engage in critical thinking IS the work.
I mean this sincerely: Teaching students "to discern truth and engage in critical thinking" is the most important job in the world right now. Step by step, we have to regain the territory we've lost, especially since we're about to be hit by a technology that blurs the lines and inhibits critical thinking more effectively than any other. In my Dec. 13, 2024 post I had more to say about this (as I did in a Harper's essay titled "Dehumanized"), but writing about it and doing it, as you are, are two different things. Thank you. Really.
Amen to every word, Mark. The one thing I can say is that for all of Poland’s problems, I am all but ecstatic to be in Kraków for the next few months. I can more easily tune out the madness here.
Thanks, Steve, and I'm glad that being in Krakow has dulled the insanity for you a bit; wish I could say the same for us here in Prague. I guess maybe the difference is that Poland under Tusk seems to be going in the right direction, while the Czech Republic under Babis, ain't (though the resistance protests here are amping up in a major way).
Anything bringing you to Prague for a visit?
Well said, brother. Though the current unreality feels more like 2 + 2 = “wedge of lettuce.”
That equation makes sense compared to the stuff we're seeing. What explains it? Mass delusion? Mass psychosis? Alien spores? I'll take Wonderland any day; it was more amusing, and the Queen of Hearts didn't have the nuclear codes.
Alien spores would at least be falsifiable.
It really is hard to satirize a country that keeps beating you to the punchline.
Increasingly, I have to shut my eyes to such “things” insisting on life in a world I know and trust. Thankfully you portray the “things” in a way that doubles down on truth. And thus, it improves life.as I live it.
I appreciate that. Like you - like so many people these days - I'm just trying to find a sustainable balance. If something I say makes that even slightly more achievable, I've accomplished more than I thought.
I’m visiting the friend in Bend that I gave yiur copy of the book that got shuffled around in Czechoslovakia and intend to try again. I forget how I knew to try again, but if you would, could you message me with a Us address to send it to? Have you read any Jess Walter yet?
Haven't, no. Can you recommend a title?
I'll send on the address ASAP - thanks.
Cold Millions is probably my favorite, but I’m proud to have started a wee book club on Substack via Financial Lives of the Poets, and So Far Gone, the one I’m sending has the scene that led to all this.
At this point I think assuming there will in the future be such things as “history” and “books” is a leap.
It's a leap I'll take, but man are we going in the wrong direction. Currently our culture seems to be declaring war on both.
I mean, I picked this exact time to become an English teacher in America. Whatever. I ain’t going down without a fight.
Thanks for sharing your writing. I look forward to it every Sunday morning.
Well, I went into academia about the time it started going to the dogs, so welcome to the club. For what it's worth, I admire you for teaching English. We need more people like you, not less.
And thanks for the kind words. I'll try to keep them coming.