AI and Me

 

Thinking about Artificial Intelligence (AI)

this morning. I suppose that’s because it has

been in the news a lot lately. There will be

many positives and negatives experts say.

Depends upon who will use it for good,

and then there will always be those who

will misuse it for selfish and evil purposes.

I am of an age where I’m close enough to

the end where I won’t get to see it come into

its full-fledged fruition. I’m sure the auto-

mobile and airplane caused the same sort of

consternation back in their day. I know the

atom bomb sure did, and with proven nega-

tive reason.

Anyway, once the genie has been released

from the bottle there’s no turning back. For

good and evil, mankind has proven he can

and will go either way.

History shows that old folks such as I have

always been skeptical when it comes to new

technologies. Over eons, spear throwing as

an offensive and defensive weapon has e-

volved into far more effective and efficient

ways of killing. AI today is well on its way

to controlling the hearts and mind of man.

I look into the morning mirror and see what

little time in life here on Earth has done to

age me. I have lived my time in place for

the most part naturally.

AI shall never enhance, imitate or replicate

me. Could be said, by certain standards, at

times I lived my life foolishly or unwisely.

And the artificiality I sometimes posed in

actuality was still the authentic me. Thank

god, I shall not live to see the day AI replaces

who I have come to be (loose screws and all),

the one and only, true to form, unadulterated

me.

                               -30-

Chris Hanch 6-6-2023

Mind Bending

Not reachable by me,

but in my lifetime

through science

and technology

astronomically,

I have seen

into the past,

into the future,

into, the depths of Infinity.

             -30-

Chris Hanch 6-5-2030 

A Recipe

 

A pinch of documentary

A dash of psychology

A measure of sarcasm and levity

A smattering of science

And technology

A show and tell frivolity

A blend of fiction and reality

A savory mix of all this

A delectable display of my poetry

A hodgepodge cuisine

A family recipe served hot or cold

A savory mixed medley of humanity.

                    -30-

Chris Hanch 6-4-2023

Choices

 

You’ve got a choice,

I often tell myself.

Would you rather get

a haircut or have a

glass of V8 Juice?

Now, I no longer

have a car, and it

is difficult if not

impossible for me

to get around very

far.

There’s a nearly

full bottle of V8

in the fridge within

reach for me. So,

having given myself

a choice, I choose

the V8 Juice. I like

V8 juice, drink a

glass of it most

every day. A haircut,

not so much. Besides,

I have given myself

haircuts for the past

40-years or so.

And nowadays, given

my lack of ability to

bend and reach, it

is very difficult for

me to do an acceptable

job insofar as the

haircut goes.

Besides, I never go

anywhere and rarely

see anyone anymore.

So who cares about

hair, what’s the use?

So, I choose the

V8 Juice, and I am

quite satisfied.

Even given my

advancing age

and narrowed

limitations, I am

still ever grateful

for choices to

be made.

Tomorrow, mountain

climbing or a nap?

Sound ridiculously silly?

We’ll just have to wait

and see. I know I

can count on V8

Juice at least

one more day.

-30-

Chris Hanch 64-2023

Nothing Left Behind

We are our own repository, our own

dictionary, our own personal library.

You know that which you have exper-

ienced or learned. You have your own

opinions, beliefs and perspectives. I

like the color blue; you prefer a par-

ticular hue of red. You carry with you

a lifetime of people, places, successes

and failures, even the wants you have

never received or achieved. As for me,

I have taken another course and see

certain things differently.

Ah the loves, likes, the hates and dislikes

accompany us wherever we go. They be-

come part of our personal make-up and

chemistry. All the personal losses and

gains, the emotional baggage which

elevates or weighs us down—lighter

than air or lead heavy.

And it’s important to know when it’s our

time to go, we are compelled to surrender

all we have come to know. Indeed what a

shame, for everything you an I were in life,

everything we have become, everything done

shall cease to be.

Ah but know, as the super nova explodes

sending its super-charged particles out

into the universe, so too the genetic strain

we have passed along promotes life anew.

And then one day, perhaps eons away,

the question arises again, who are we,

from where do we come? This, my friends,

is a question for the ages to be asked and

answered by each new generation over

and over again.

On the library shelf of the humanities,

we shall all read individually as One.

In essence, thoughts and words, hopes

and dreams have not changed. Life in

its myriad forms and diversity goes on.

Even colonization of another planet

shall not change the natural evolution

of certain things.

One day in the far off future, a thought-

ful great, great, great, grand child of

mine may wonder, what was my great,

great, great grandfather’s favorite color?

Why by then, I’m certain even my name

will not have been remembered. Hell-

fire, at 76-years of age, I can’t even recall

what I had for lunch yesterday. So much

for my class in science and philosophy.

                         -30-

Chris Hanch 6-3-2023 

At Birth

 

Here is a portion of what poet and song writer, Leonard Cohen,

said in a 2005 tribute to his life and songs. I find it a profound

and fascinating perspective from an adult speaking about the

beginning of his life.

“I was born in chains. I was alive. I was alive at the horror.

The givers huddled over me like a football team. They started

to give me things and then to take them away. The things that

didn’t fit they chucked back into the funnel of the void.

The gifts were many, and many were the warnings that went

with them…”

Leonard Cohen 1934-2016

Chris hanch  6-2-2023

Hacked

 On Facebook the other day

I accidentally pressed the

enter key on the wrong 

item and three screens, one 

on top the other, popped

up. Not one of them allowed

me to X out. 

There was something mentioned

in the text about being hacked, 

and there was a phone number

at Microsoft supposedly to call

for help.

Idiot me called because no

matter how I tried I couldn’t

eliminate those damned screens.

Well, I got a guy who said his

name was Mike Brown. Huh?

Suspicious. 

He spoke with a thick Indian or

Pakistani accent. But he guar-

anteed me that he was with 

Microsoft.

 

Suspicious.

The more I spoke with him

about my dilemma the more

he assured me that he was

from Microsoft and he was

there to help me at no charge. 

Suspicious.

The further along he guided me

with his prompting process, the

more frustrated and aggravated

I became.

Suspicious.

I questioned him every step of

the way. He forcefully insisted

we needed to do this in order

to clear up the problem.

Suspicious.

He asked me did I use my

computer to shop, bank and

the like? Hesitant, I said yes,

but gave him no specifics.

 

Suspicious.

As time and process went on,

I told him to delete all we had

done, and I would call my

computer security company.

Now, having control of my

computer, I saw he was speed-

illy doing some weird things.

Suspicious.

I told him over and over to

stop, but he kept insisting 

this needed to be done for

him to delete what had been

done. Bullcrap! Get your hands

of my computer, I insisted.

Finally, I deflected that which

he had been doing, and he 

kept yelling, “Stop! I’m getting

there! You mother f...ing ass-

hole!”

My suspicions were confirmed,

with that language and the

name Mike Brown spoken

with an East Indian accent,

he was indeed a hacker not

employed by Microsoft at all.

I hung up and wiped out the down-

loads he had instructed me impose.

I rebooted my computer, returning

it and myself to a relative state of 

normalcy.

Old age skepticism and suspicion

won out over stupidity this time.

His swearing in English at me

 

with an Indian accent was

laughable. Had he cursed me

in Hindi (even though I wouldn’t

have understood), it may have

been far more amusing.

                   -30-

Chris Hanch  6-1-2023