The threat is not from artificial intelligence but our eroding intelligence.
While I am quite a techno-enthusiast and a fan of emerging tech wizardry, I am not keen on a virtual world as a way of existence. It’s all hep and geeky when used for specific and specialized purposes in a controlled environment. It is scary as an extension of our personal lives, infiltrating our homes.
I am all for virtual robotic surgeries or a few global corporate off-sites, maybe simulated training but I don’t want a virtual holiday or have children don avatars and hone online personas. I would rather have my son scuba-dive than wear virtual reality (VR) glasses to “experience” the ocean world.
Social media is exhausting, specially if you are intending to garner an audience or self-promote. There are myriad channels of communication and showcasing; all are craving your attention and content. If you are a writer, artist, or pursuing any creative channel, you are immediately in the snare of the social media octopus. There is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and I am ignorant of so many other channels.
All demand that you place your content in the most presentable way, on each one of them. There is information and design overload – the same content flooding the data stream with tags and hashtags. More than the creative pursuit, it is the pressure of pushing your content into these channels to grab the maximum eyeballs. Social media feeds on your deep FOMO – fear of missing out – in showcasing your content and following the trends.
A decade back I started blogging and every two years I would pay to renew the hosting domain of my blog. Before 2013, it did not require much thought; the renewal was urgent. At the start of the year of 2013, I had my doubts, as I was not using my blog space, at all. The husband encouraged the renewal and I got it done. The next year, the web domain was relinquished.
Why? Was I thinking less, reading less, writing less? No, I was quite prolific with my thoughts and opinions, and reading quite a few new authors. I was also writing more frequently, if not too many words. Then, where were the words? Why were they not on my blog? Because some one stole my words and made them its own.
Got a surprise this morning to see a spadix on my lemon grass. I posted the photograph on a Facebook gardening group. When somebody asked me on the group how did this happen, I realized something was amiss. I did a Google Lens search and learnt that this compound flower is characteristic of the Sweet Flag plant. Fascinated, I immediately resorted to Google Search and dived into the world of Wikipedia. Lots of information later – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorus_calamus – and curiosity piqued, I roamed around the Internet a bit and found more engrossing stuff, straight from the ancient times. Almost like a time capsule, the emergence of a spadix on a beautiful North Indian winter morning, transported me to Biblical times.
According to the https://christiananswers.net/dictionary/calamus.html, calmus is mentioned in the Holy Bible and is one of the ingredients of the Holy Anointing Oil (Exodus 30:23), one of the sweet scents (Song of Songs 4:14), and among the articles sold in the markets of Tyre (Ezek. 27:19)
The word designates an Oriental plant called the “sweet flag” and called “sweet cane” (Isaiah 43:24; Jeremiah 6:20). It’s used to make perfume.
It was not a native of Israel, but was imported from Arabia Felix or from India. It was probably what is now known in India by the name of “lemon grass” or “ginger grass,” the Andropogon schoenanthus.
The wonderful things we learn every day. Container gardening is so rewarding. But, now, I worry whether this to be consumed like lemon grass, brewed into tea, the way I do. A question that demands an extensive Google research and maybe some experts to respond on the gardening group, where I posted this photo that led to an amazing discovery.
Blue Pen Strokes 