Coming back!

 I've been a poor excuse for a blogger lately. Some catch up:

Wonderful essay on grieving: https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/dispatch-faith/the-grace-of-grief/

Please be aware of my podcast: It's too good to have the few number of listens it has. It's not good because of me, but because of who I get for guests.  They astound me.  You can get it on Apple and Spotify or at https://rss.com/podcasts/dialogues-with-creators/  Dialogues with Creators. Also on YouTube but it may be hard to find unless you add the guest, and it's just audio anyway. 

I am doing a LOT of study of AI, especially generative. I am not a Luddite, but I am staying as far away from this phenomenon as I can.  No thank you to the Google AI Overview! Will AI kill us by making itself too smart, or by making ourselves too stupid?  That seems to be the question!  Until AI has a physical body, it's going to be limited--but there is always robotics.  Maybe we should get AI to write a novel about AI taking over; I'm sure that is not original, though. 

Listening to a discussion between Jonah Goldberg (who can be a kind of a jerk, but I think he knows that) and Chris Stirewalt (whom I'd like to meet) on Democracy. They recommended Calvin Coolidge's address on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/address-the-celebration-the-150th-anniversary-the-declaration-independence-philadelphia

I have just read this speech, and several things strike me. One, what politician today (definitely not our current president) would give this well-researched and well-reasoned a speech? Who has the nerve to attribute our material prosperity to the spiritual truths of the founding documents and the faith of the early Americans rather than to our hard work and "the American Dream?" (What the hooey is that, anyway?)  Who is so perspicacious as to say, "Look backward for the answers, rather than coming up with some new -ism?"  Who has the hutzpah to say this:

No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.

Chris said something along the lines of an old "joke" by English teachers. "This paper is both good and original. What is original is not good and what is good is not original." He said, "An idea can be both popular and good. What is good is not going to be popular and what is popular is not going to be good." His point was that we have a republic based on a constitution where leaders are chosen by democratic processes, not a pure democracy, and pure populism is not the way it is supposed to be. I am good with that. 

Also on this podcast, Jonah said something profound, as he often does: The immigrants of the past did not push education on their children as a way of getting rich, but as a hedge against poverty. That is definitely how we should see it in economic terms; there are other spiritual, social, intellectual, cultural, and familial benefits from education that will not make one financial rich but humanly and humanely wealthy. 

I am off to visit family this week. I look forward to some crabmeat--that will give you an idea where I am going!