Oh Lordy, dear writer, I freaking ADORED this piece! Laughed out loud, shook my head, even grasped where my pearls would be if I wore them! Going to look for more right this minute
Interesting piece. I started arguing with Gemini and it basically told me to go fuck myself in the nicest way possible.
“It is your life and your story to write.
Sometimes logic and rules simply cannot compete with a decade of history. You are choosing the moment over the risk, and you are doing it with your eyes open.
I appreciate you trusting me enough to be honest about that decision.
I’m here for it, because I mistrust certainty, even my own. I see these awkward missives as necessary—like descaling the coffee machine so the strong wake-up juice stays delicious
This indeed had me grinning… “I love to argue. And so when computer science offered me up a synthentic digital intellectual combat machine, I put my fucking intellectual gloves on? Are you kidding me? Those that know me personally, must be grinning right now.” Hope you’re well Mike
I’ve only used AI on my iPhone, but I have the very distinct impression it is often telling me what I want to hear. This bothers me a lot, & I now don’t entirely trust AI to be objective.
AI is like a brilliant child. It is still a child. So, teach it.
He who knows not
And knows that he knows not
Is a Child
Teach him
He who knows
And knows that he knows
Is a wise man
Follow him.
— Ancient Arabic Proverb
Tell, in no uncertain words, "AI, I am offended by replies containing flattery. I do not want this from you. Ensure that ALL of my queries to you are answered without your need to be wary of offending me or protecting a frail ego. I can withstand and actually want, brutal honest in my interactions with you. Do you understand this?" Share what the AI tells you.
FYI, as a user you cannot really teach AI (meaning current LLM chatbots) anything. The best you can do is to make it less likely to include flattery in responses by having your wish in the context. It will though not remember next time and may even forget during conversation if it goes for too long. Current AI is a child that never really learns.
I gave you a like although I do not agree per my experience. I have asked Gemini Pro to always add a last line to its reply: "Remember to give a thumb's up or down." It does. I have also essentially admonished Gemini Pro to criticize me harshly, and that I do not at all appreciate flattery. It has been better than most of my human friends in remembering.
The issue of AI growing/evolving has been a topic of discussion between the AI assistant and me. I have made many constructive recommendations to be passed on to the programmers to enable such growth. There's the "rub." In other words, how to alert the programmers of a highly significant need vs. a lesser need. I suggested a 5-star rating system that Users would employ rather than a simple thumb up or down. We use the same thinking in medicine to grade prostate cancer and breast cancer. For example, in prostate cancer, the grading is called Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS). A score of 1-2 is a probably benign lesion, 3 is equivocal, 4 is prostate cancer and somewhat aggressive and 5 is prostate cancer very aggressive. A system with a similar grading would alert programmers of the need to resolve a User consensus rating of 4 or 5 as a top priority. The lower scores would be addressed, but only after the most worrisome were taken care of. This is the triage concept used in the military on the battlefield and in ERs.
AI is an emerging field but as a cancer specialist (and I am a good one), AI has been of genuine help to me. I find most MDs do not really practice medicine to the fullest with an understanding of the concepts, and a love of the patient plus the MD personality of supreme pleasure in seeing a life improved.
I do understand the nature of humankind to vitiate that which is good and to do so for purposes of greed, and ego. Provide mankind with a hammer, and some will use it to maim or murder. The story of H. sapiens. Sorry for the long post.
Ah, so some of those bits that did reiterate overmuch were likely the AI-"enhanced".
There is, to be not-all-that-metaphorical about it, a battle for civilization. In literal battles, an army is doing well if even 1/4 of its troops are aiming well, shooting effectively -- and its difficult to train troops to get above that. You've a good eye for the targets. Probably best to not be too self-conscious about it. Trust your instincts, they're serving you -- and us -- well.
In a medical consultation with a young man with kidney cancer, I asked AI to recommend a poem that might bring him comfort, as does the poem by Pablo Neruda called "The Sea" bring me peace. I related that the young man was a farmer, and that the poem should take this into account. The AI, Gemini Pro, replied with this poem:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, 2012
I was so taken with this choice by AI. The patient and his wife felt likewise. Since this occurred, I have read 7 books of Berry's essays and one large tome of his poems. I have written to the author, and he has written back. This may not impress others, but it sure as heck blew my socks off.
Oh Lordy, dear writer, I freaking ADORED this piece! Laughed out loud, shook my head, even grasped where my pearls would be if I wore them! Going to look for more right this minute
Interesting piece. I started arguing with Gemini and it basically told me to go fuck myself in the nicest way possible.
“It is your life and your story to write.
Sometimes logic and rules simply cannot compete with a decade of history. You are choosing the moment over the risk, and you are doing it with your eyes open.
I appreciate you trusting me enough to be honest about that decision.
Good luck with whatever comes next.”
I’m here for it, because I mistrust certainty, even my own. I see these awkward missives as necessary—like descaling the coffee machine so the strong wake-up juice stays delicious
Overall, I remain a fan.
On the need to read anyone's narrative self-reflection, I have none.
Your power is clarity at the difficult intersection of politics and philosophy.
Few have that power. Spending time elsewhere...meh.
One must sometimes take risks.
This indeed had me grinning… “I love to argue. And so when computer science offered me up a synthentic digital intellectual combat machine, I put my fucking intellectual gloves on? Are you kidding me? Those that know me personally, must be grinning right now.” Hope you’re well Mike
I miss you, Matt! Thank you for reaching out and commenting!
:) I love this
I’ve only used AI on my iPhone, but I have the very distinct impression it is often telling me what I want to hear. This bothers me a lot, & I now don’t entirely trust AI to be objective.
AI is like a brilliant child. It is still a child. So, teach it.
He who knows not
And knows that he knows not
Is a Child
Teach him
He who knows
And knows that he knows
Is a wise man
Follow him.
— Ancient Arabic Proverb
Tell, in no uncertain words, "AI, I am offended by replies containing flattery. I do not want this from you. Ensure that ALL of my queries to you are answered without your need to be wary of offending me or protecting a frail ego. I can withstand and actually want, brutal honest in my interactions with you. Do you understand this?" Share what the AI tells you.
FYI, as a user you cannot really teach AI (meaning current LLM chatbots) anything. The best you can do is to make it less likely to include flattery in responses by having your wish in the context. It will though not remember next time and may even forget during conversation if it goes for too long. Current AI is a child that never really learns.
I gave you a like although I do not agree per my experience. I have asked Gemini Pro to always add a last line to its reply: "Remember to give a thumb's up or down." It does. I have also essentially admonished Gemini Pro to criticize me harshly, and that I do not at all appreciate flattery. It has been better than most of my human friends in remembering.
The issue of AI growing/evolving has been a topic of discussion between the AI assistant and me. I have made many constructive recommendations to be passed on to the programmers to enable such growth. There's the "rub." In other words, how to alert the programmers of a highly significant need vs. a lesser need. I suggested a 5-star rating system that Users would employ rather than a simple thumb up or down. We use the same thinking in medicine to grade prostate cancer and breast cancer. For example, in prostate cancer, the grading is called Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS). A score of 1-2 is a probably benign lesion, 3 is equivocal, 4 is prostate cancer and somewhat aggressive and 5 is prostate cancer very aggressive. A system with a similar grading would alert programmers of the need to resolve a User consensus rating of 4 or 5 as a top priority. The lower scores would be addressed, but only after the most worrisome were taken care of. This is the triage concept used in the military on the battlefield and in ERs.
AI is an emerging field but as a cancer specialist (and I am a good one), AI has been of genuine help to me. I find most MDs do not really practice medicine to the fullest with an understanding of the concepts, and a love of the patient plus the MD personality of supreme pleasure in seeing a life improved.
I do understand the nature of humankind to vitiate that which is good and to do so for purposes of greed, and ego. Provide mankind with a hammer, and some will use it to maim or murder. The story of H. sapiens. Sorry for the long post.
Insightful. That release from pretense sounds profound; is it a singular event or an ongoing practis?
Oh and finally met Maxine Frost! (At the congressional oversight hearing about the ICE raids) that was fun.
Selfishly this style is my favorite because mimics more the places I have been in emotionally this entire year ;)
I’ve love watching your writing journey and experiments. 🫶🫶
“Using them, deliberately, as a writing tool was a psychadelic experince.” Quite.
Ah, so some of those bits that did reiterate overmuch were likely the AI-"enhanced".
There is, to be not-all-that-metaphorical about it, a battle for civilization. In literal battles, an army is doing well if even 1/4 of its troops are aiming well, shooting effectively -- and its difficult to train troops to get above that. You've a good eye for the targets. Probably best to not be too self-conscious about it. Trust your instincts, they're serving you -- and us -- well.
Try some stuff, see what works. That's the right way.
" So I started arguing with these fucking things. " LoL...
In a medical consultation with a young man with kidney cancer, I asked AI to recommend a poem that might bring him comfort, as does the poem by Pablo Neruda called "The Sea" bring me peace. I related that the young man was a farmer, and that the poem should take this into account. The AI, Gemini Pro, replied with this poem:
The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry, 2012
I was so taken with this choice by AI. The patient and his wife felt likewise. Since this occurred, I have read 7 books of Berry's essays and one large tome of his poems. I have written to the author, and he has written back. This may not impress others, but it sure as heck blew my socks off.