December 11, 2022

ChatGPT and LaMDA are two artificial intelligence platforms I recently became aware of. You can easily try out ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/). Here are two queries I generated for fun.

write a review of The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

The Parable of the Sower is a thought-provoking and powerful novel by Octavia Butler. The book follows the story of Lauren Olamina, a young girl living in a dystopian future where society has collapsed and people are struggling to survive.

Despite the difficult circumstances she finds herself in, Lauren remains optimistic and determined to create a better future for herself and those around her. She is a strong and intelligent protagonist, and readers will be drawn to her resilience and compassion.

The book is set in a world that is both bleak and frightening, but Butler manages to infuse it with moments of beauty and hope. The story is also full of important themes, including the dangers of greed and inequality, and the importance of community and empathy in times of crisis.

Overall, The Parable of the Sower is a must-read for fans of dystopian fiction and anyone interested in thought-provoking, socially-conscious literature. It is a powerful and moving novel that will stay with readers long after they finish the last page.

critique twitter

Twitter is a popular social media platform that allows users to share short messages and updates, known as tweets. While it has many positive features, including its ability to connect people and facilitate the sharing of information and ideas, it also has some drawbacks.

One of the major criticisms of Twitter is the limited amount of space available for each tweet. This 140-character limit can make it difficult for users to fully express their thoughts and ideas, and can lead to a lack of context and nuance in the information shared on the platform. Additionally, the fast-paced nature of the platform can make it easy for users to spread misinformation or engage in online confrontations and harassment.

Another issue with Twitter is the lack of moderation and control over the content that is shared on the platform. While the company does have policies in place to address abusive and harmful behavior, these policies are not always effectively enforced, and users may still be exposed to offensive or disturbing content.

Overall, while Twitter has its strengths, it also has significant drawbacks and limitations that should be considered by users.

A source for queries you get quick answers that may be interesting and accurate but current critiques mention serious inaccuracies. Should we look for the easy or look to do more queries and research using a better tool...our research educated brains? Twitter has been touted by some as a public square where we can come together and share common interests, observations, and groupie chats. Serious inaccurate information is posted often, propaganda is disseminated, and pseudoevents may be reported as actual events. One criticism has been that our group attention becomes overly focused with group dynamics playing a role so that our critical thinking becomes compromised. Taking time to reflect, digest, research, and cogitate always guides me to what I see and believe more independently rather than accepting someone else's opinions, observations, or manipulations. Attention in twitter can be narrowed and manipulated through likes etc. to make it harder unless you can step back like at a Quaker meeting and reflect silently before speaking. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/11/opinion/what-twitter-can-learn-from-quakers.html

Looking at the headlines of various newspapers I come across reports of mistakes that Elon Musk has been making regarding his purchase and supervised running of twitter. While twitter had been banning certain people from using their platform because of ethical lapses, posting of false information, and rabble rousing for violence, currently these attempts to block are being removed! Oh! Octavia Butler's two books the Parable of the Sower (see previous blog) and the Parable of the Talents does clearly describe how this type of misinformation discriminates, enslaves, and disenfranchises those not close to the autocrat. So I'll experiment with the AI tools (Musk owns a company associated with ChatGPT) out there but recognize that they can be used nefariously and can mislead for some political or power advantage. 

Change is ever present as described by Butler. The Hawaii Trail and Mountain Club has group trail leaders that lead hikes into our mountains, ravines, forests, and shorelines. Nathan Yuen died in a fall while hiking in the Waimano ridge area this August. I was involved in a rescue of a hiker who fell off a cliff edge trail in this area a few years ago. Luckily we were able to get to her and get a helicopter rescue so she recovered from her serious injuries. In another instance, another experienced hiker friend when returning down a ridge went off the trail thinking this was correct and wound up perched on a precipice after losing a hiking pole. Luckily her husband found her and was able to safely guide her down from her perch. Some years ago I was hiking the Aiea Loop Trail going to the bisectional ridge trail. Photographing a bee hive I lost sight of our group and I went down a ridge into a gully of fallens trees, boulders, and  thicket. Finally I got to a gully which was a continuation of a crossing point but I was disoriented so after trying to find our group going in two directions I bushwhacked up the steep slope making sure I didn't choke myself on the vines I ran into thinking I could find the trail but then with my whistle blowing I heard my name and saw my group way below me. So I choose an activity that can be dangerous and I have some experiences to back that up. Yesterday we hiked up a beautiful trail with some challenges negotiating steepness and obstacles we had to crawl under but all smiles with a successful adventure. My two friends who could not start with us wanted to continue to the Olomana first ridge which they accomplished but in their return they became lost finally exiting through a pasture with cows and bulls on restricted property. So we negotiate our environment with a lot of experience but mishaps, miss direction, and missteps occur. 

On our hike yesterday, a friend was sharing his knowledge about preventing cognitive decline (we're both octogenarians). 10000 steps per day lowers our risk 50% according to the Cleveland Clinic newsletter he read. I have three friends who are gone to Alzheimer's disease. My special memories of good times and joint work and interests with them are with me but new experiences are not possible. Fortunately, the other day on another hike along the shoreline of Oahu I hiked with a good hiking friend I have not seen for a number of months who was days from ninty years old. We managed some ways on the jumble of lava rocks while the ocean wind was blowing and the surf hitting the shoreline sent high fountains of water near us. We turned back but shared mutual interests and smiled while renewing our relationship. Entropy the second law of thermodynamics does affect us but we cannot predict how, when, and how severely we may be affected. I'm getting my steps in.