Daily Blues & Views

 Hovering out on the ragged edge of civilization right now is the phenomenon we’re suddenly hearing so much about called AI. Thinking and conceptualizing beyond the human mind. Already teachers are becoming increasingly wary of who or what is doing the writing on tests and assignments. Is the intelligence human or artificial? Think of it as Photoshop for the mind. Just as you can take a simple photo of a dog and instantly put him in a desert, a ship at sea, or in outer space, so too can essays and treatises be written by tapping into the vast database of what exists or what is possible. Like most of us, I barely understand all this myself. However, what seems to be screaming at me is the question, how on earth will we ever be able to tell what is real and what is not? Think of the consequences. Will our collective personalities become increasingly skeptical or paranoid? What a life huh?  Much like the inception of nuclear energy, human nature is truly going to be put to the te...

 In a recent interview, author Nana Kwame Adjei Brenyah talked about transcending cynicism. He says we have to be willing to do that. I couldn’t agree more. But finding the will to act is no easy matter. The reasons we’re experiencing what feels like an epidemic of cynicism are many. some days it feels like piling on. Daily we see people instantly becoming the victims of mass shootings (200 already this year), we see the senseless war in Ukraine, the thousands swarming the Southern border, and the breakdown of the political process in our country. The difficult economic times have always triggered a sharp rise in hate speech, racism, and violence. When a package of crackers costs almost $8.00 and a cup of coffee is over$2.00 it’s easy to be cynical. Just when we think we’ve rounded up these big issues, others appear fully blown. The climate crisis and the rise of AI both bring new stress lines to our faces. Animals continue to disappear and water looms as the challenge for future s...