Look, it's just really cool
Paint, oil, and soap in motion from Thomas Blanchard's video Chopin - Nocturne op.9 No.2 Colorful Liquids in motion. Really a mesmerizing video to watch.
There's some recent news about artificial intelligence (I use the term loosely, and still maintain that what people affectionately use the term for is really a glorified suggestion engine): An executive order was recently issued about the use of "AI" by the white house, Marc Andreessen wrote another manifesto about tech optimism that reads like an angry Twitter thread, a new company called "Humane" launched a somewhat unsettling new "AI pin" designed to replace your phone, and a couple more chatbots will have probably been launched between the time I write this and you read it.
I don't think the new launches and manifestos are as interesting as the responses to them. There are two I found interesting, and they both have to do with tech billionaires. In the first Dave Karpf talks about Andreessen's optimism as a battle between the tech optimists that will save the world and the tech pessimists trying to tear it down, when in reality it's more of an excuse not to listen to the tech pragmatists. The second, by science fiction author Charlie Stross, is opened by one of my favorite recent memes:
Sci-Fi Author: "In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale."
Tech Company: "At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus!"
And then goes on to talk about the way that science fiction books have influenced tech billionaires both now and in the past. It's an interesting read.
The work that prompted these responses sounds to me a little bit like a technologist saying "look, it's just really cool" when someone asks why they're bothering to do something. It's a motive I don't think gets enough attention in technology, but it's one I suspect has a lot more weight than anyone would care to admit. The unspoken second half of the sentence could be something like "it makes me feel cool doing it, so I'm going to keep doing it and I'll rationalize it in some other way that makes it seem more grandiose." Maybe that should be something we should consider the next time some new technology launches — is the creator doing this mostly just because they think it's cool? There's nothing wrong with someone creating something because they think it's cool, as long as they can be a bit more honest about it. Just don't turn people into dinosaurs.
Speaking of being a downer about technology, this article about what smartphones do during childhood and this look at causes for the teenage girls' mental health crisis both confirm my opinion to postpone my kids getting a smartphone for as long as possible.
Plough has a great article on bringing poetry into the home. I think it's a fantastic endeavor, and when we've done it in the past, the kids really reacted well to the poems of Robert Frost, as well as the humor of Shel Silverstein. Aveline memorized her first poem this past week, and the joy she had reciting it was infectious. Poetry reading takes a bit of a lull in the summer when we spend the evenings outside, but come winter, it's comforting to snuggle up in front of the fire and read some poetry out loud on a cold evening.