Beautiful photos! I love your garden spaces. I’ve been thinking about AI, too, in terms of writing personal narratives. I even did a little experiment that I might write about this week or next.
Thanks for this, Tom. It's going into my bookmarked reminders pile for when I walk into a place that used to be served by people and is now served by yet another faceless robot kiosk and I need a breath of humanity in my lungs.
I like you considerably more than I like AI. And you hold a decent rank among the actual humans I associate with, too.
The creative life has always been a catwalk along a cliff that hurdles into the abyss. AI is just making you more aware of it. What I’m saying is; the uncertainty of work is a corner stone of the lifestyle. Focus on creating for the sake of it, because that’s what you’re supposed to do anyway.
It stinks to see behind the veil, but such is showbiz. Just grateful I’m not in a job that’s historically known to be “safe and secure” because a lot of those people have a storm on their horizon. At least as creators we’ve accepted the possibility of being broke and jobless.
Great piece, Tom. This is exactly the kind of counter-narrative commentary which acknowledges that AI will wreck many things without spiraling into hysterical doomsaying.
Every new technology creates big problems. But every new technology also creates new avenues for creativity and innovation. And some of the simplest facets of life -- like planting food, or taking care of loved ones -- will remain essential, and show exactly why the doomsday prognosticators are certain to be wrong.
I've been looking for an avenue to write about AI in my own neck of the woods, and I've been leaning much more toward something like this. Well done.
Excellent read! I'm afraid of AL too. But just like you, I deal with all the local Farmers and the Mom and pop shops if I can't find it locally then I do without until I get to a bigger city where there is another family-owned business.
Thanks for sharing my continued bird infatuation. Joking aside, you’re speaking to the converted. I don’t care how well we train AI and algorithms, it can’t react with the layers of personality, experience, and emotion, that we can.
I’ve been more mindful of my purchasing, too, fuelled greatly by the pandemic. I don’t want bulk manufactured crap. I want the knowledge and experience that buying a bag of compost from the local greenhouse affords me.
Tom, you express beautifully the idea that human connections matter--human beings doing work, writing essays, painting scenes/objects/concepts, and making things that bring joy to others and satisfaction to the creators. Your reflections here strike me as more trenchant than most of the stuff written about the AIpocalypse. Thanks.
May 14, 2023·edited May 14, 2023Liked by Tom Pendergast
“slaving away inside the bullshit machine” love that! Quit that years ago too!
Great piece! And you are absolutely right.
When I was in the bullshit machine, it was the field of engineering software, or software for engineers to create mechanical things. I get how AI works. AI is only as good as what it’s fed. In the early days of computing, there was an acronym we used, GIGO, garbage in garbage out. Much of what I’ve seen and read regarding AI has been garbage. AI is an “it” thing right now and hopefully it will go the route of mutton chops and bell bottoms. I think if it doesn’t, we’ll end up in WALL-E’s world. Ever seen WALL-E?
Al is amazing technology for the future... My daughter was showing me how she uses it every day in her business, when she was here on vacation... And like the way you explained how one can enjoy life without it.. like the beautiful game of soccer (football) watching Brighton play superbly and beat arsenal 3-0... try that Al..
Fantastic garden and that tree! Majestic. AI isn’t really intelligent... will it ever be? It’s smart algos and scripts, very complex and all, but even *if* we ever reach a “general intelligence” level AI it will still not be “intelligent”. As Einstein said: The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
There was a great podcast on how huge that gulf actually is and how small the likelihood is we ever are able to have "general intelligence" (I don't have the link handy). AI is a buzzword that has grown in popularity over the years. In 2018 I did a talk at the AI & Robotics conference in Paris on “The Way AI & Robotics has changed the Gaming World” and I had a slide on AI in games from 1970-2018 (From Scripts to Player Models). We tried live subtitling with neural machine translations for one of our events (6 languages simultaneously) and had to have humans correct the results, which ended up being more of a hassle than a time safer. Still, of course there will be advances and time will be saved and redundancies will happen, as always with progress, which is why it is imperative to be open to change.
Bravo, Tom! 🙌😊⭐️ You’ve expressed this absolutely brilliantly!
(And your garden is beautiful.)
Thank you ... I could well have mentioned you too as one of my inspirations
That's such a compliment, Tom - thank you. 😊
Beautiful photos! I love your garden spaces. I’ve been thinking about AI, too, in terms of writing personal narratives. I even did a little experiment that I might write about this week or next.
Looking forward to it!
Thanks for this, Tom. It's going into my bookmarked reminders pile for when I walk into a place that used to be served by people and is now served by yet another faceless robot kiosk and I need a breath of humanity in my lungs.
I like you considerably more than I like AI. And you hold a decent rank among the actual humans I associate with, too.
Well written. Well played. Well done.
Aw thanks! Not only better than pirates but even some people 😀. I’ll have to tell you about the genesis in this one; you were part of it.
Neat. Looking forward to learning more about how crucial I was to your success. 😉
Indeed ❣️
The creative life has always been a catwalk along a cliff that hurdles into the abyss. AI is just making you more aware of it. What I’m saying is; the uncertainty of work is a corner stone of the lifestyle. Focus on creating for the sake of it, because that’s what you’re supposed to do anyway.
Well said! I’ve been reading Rick Rubin’s book on the side, he offers a similar perspective.
It stinks to see behind the veil, but such is showbiz. Just grateful I’m not in a job that’s historically known to be “safe and secure” because a lot of those people have a storm on their horizon. At least as creators we’ve accepted the possibility of being broke and jobless.
Great post, Tom! Sometimes the little things are actually bigger and better than we realized... :)
Great piece, Tom. This is exactly the kind of counter-narrative commentary which acknowledges that AI will wreck many things without spiraling into hysterical doomsaying.
Every new technology creates big problems. But every new technology also creates new avenues for creativity and innovation. And some of the simplest facets of life -- like planting food, or taking care of loved ones -- will remain essential, and show exactly why the doomsday prognosticators are certain to be wrong.
I've been looking for an avenue to write about AI in my own neck of the woods, and I've been leaning much more toward something like this. Well done.
Thanks buddy. I’d been really jammed up on this, until the very simple realization that I came to. Looking forward to yours.
Excellent read! I'm afraid of AL too. But just like you, I deal with all the local Farmers and the Mom and pop shops if I can't find it locally then I do without until I get to a bigger city where there is another family-owned business.
Yeah, I think that desire to keep it real, to keep it human, will be our salvation.
Thanks for sharing my continued bird infatuation. Joking aside, you’re speaking to the converted. I don’t care how well we train AI and algorithms, it can’t react with the layers of personality, experience, and emotion, that we can.
I’ve been more mindful of my purchasing, too, fuelled greatly by the pandemic. I don’t want bulk manufactured crap. I want the knowledge and experience that buying a bag of compost from the local greenhouse affords me.
Your gardens look great, btw!
Funny isn’t it that one of the greatest boons to us birders is also a triumph of AI: the sound ID in the Merlin app? No one said it isn’t complicated!
Thanks on the garden; it’s a real pleasure of mine.
Tom, you express beautifully the idea that human connections matter--human beings doing work, writing essays, painting scenes/objects/concepts, and making things that bring joy to others and satisfaction to the creators. Your reflections here strike me as more trenchant than most of the stuff written about the AIpocalypse. Thanks.
Oh, thank you, that’s nice ... I’m just trying to hold on to something that feels like it matters, even if it’s just to me
“slaving away inside the bullshit machine” love that! Quit that years ago too!
Great piece! And you are absolutely right.
When I was in the bullshit machine, it was the field of engineering software, or software for engineers to create mechanical things. I get how AI works. AI is only as good as what it’s fed. In the early days of computing, there was an acronym we used, GIGO, garbage in garbage out. Much of what I’ve seen and read regarding AI has been garbage. AI is an “it” thing right now and hopefully it will go the route of mutton chops and bell bottoms. I think if it doesn’t, we’ll end up in WALL-E’s world. Ever seen WALL-E?
P.S. beautiful gardens!
I need to see WALL·E, just never much dug animation
WALL-E's one of my top ten favorite movies. A must watch.
But you see, it’s computer animation. Pixar.
It’s a great story. And if you’re an Apple fan, well, just watch it.
I’d say close your eyes when it comes to the animation but you’d miss the whole movie!
Beautifully Written. Thank You
Al is amazing technology for the future... My daughter was showing me how she uses it every day in her business, when she was here on vacation... And like the way you explained how one can enjoy life without it.. like the beautiful game of soccer (football) watching Brighton play superbly and beat arsenal 3-0... try that Al..
Poor Arsenal, peaked too early
Fantastic garden and that tree! Majestic. AI isn’t really intelligent... will it ever be? It’s smart algos and scripts, very complex and all, but even *if* we ever reach a “general intelligence” level AI it will still not be “intelligent”. As Einstein said: The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
Yeah, it simulates intelligence but the gulf still feels pretty huge doesn’t it? We love our trees!
There was a great podcast on how huge that gulf actually is and how small the likelihood is we ever are able to have "general intelligence" (I don't have the link handy). AI is a buzzword that has grown in popularity over the years. In 2018 I did a talk at the AI & Robotics conference in Paris on “The Way AI & Robotics has changed the Gaming World” and I had a slide on AI in games from 1970-2018 (From Scripts to Player Models). We tried live subtitling with neural machine translations for one of our events (6 languages simultaneously) and had to have humans correct the results, which ended up being more of a hassle than a time safer. Still, of course there will be advances and time will be saved and redundancies will happen, as always with progress, which is why it is imperative to be open to change.
I love this! It’s good to be reminded that we can choose activities, retailers and lifestyles that are authentic and real.
Totally possible if we don’t get entranced by the false promise of technology. Have a great time with Nancy next week.
I was wondering where you’ve been!