AI Me

Every day I am reminded that I am product of the Twentieth Century, and the Millennials will soon run the world. Maybe after the Millennials, the computers will run us.  <Insert heavy, exasperated sigh here.>

Samantha is using new Artificial Intelligence to write stories, render artwork, and make likenesses of her.  So I gave her about ten pictures of me and within a few minutes the AI spit out a half dozen pictures of "me". The results are, well, disturbingly amazing. As I was sharing the pics with a friend, he shared that he went to a wedding where the Best Man wrote a toast using AI and the results were heartfelt, well, disturbingly amazing. 

I can now feed a computer a few key words and get an essay, speech, piece of art, or selfie and have it be remarkably genuine to my personality and traits.  It really blurs the line of what is mine and what is generated by a series of algorithms based on my preferences.  Over the past decade the data giants like Google, facebook, Instagram, etc. have culled our posts and searches and have a digital profile of each of us who have ever searched content online.  Corporations can have their profiles of us, but what does it mean when we outsource our creativity and artistic ability to a computer that can reflect a semi-accurate, if not a little hazy image of us?    

This technology is so seductive.  I never had the talent to be an artist or good writer – until now. I can key word thunderstorm plus Grand Canyon plus abandoned cabin and render artwork that looks like something you would be willing to pay for.  I can enter key words cattle drive plus frontier plus family plus tragedy and have AI write a story about a family who established a home near the Grand Canyon to drive cattle to Flagstaff, Arizona that fell upon some disaster and disappeared from the face of the earth.  The artwork can be on the front cover of the book.

Where does all of this go?  Can we outsource “thinking” and “intellect”? How does a university professor know where the thoughts of a student ends and the AI begins?  Is an artist an artist if the computer renders the image?  Should/would people pay for that art when they can make similar images using the same program? What if the AI one day decides it doesn’t want its work shared?  Science Fiction, right?! Is it?

As long as it makes me look good and sound smart, I suppose.

This last thought is a tangent, but one that must be considered. The technology that (helps) run our lives might be a huge crutch that we do not know how to walk without.  I once commented to a fellow Army officer that our force was the most technologically advanced in the world.  He shot back that we were the most technologically reliable in the world.  The days of "stubby pencil" planning and solving "things" has been supplanted. When system goes down, and it will go down one day, we will lack the skills to help ourselves.

I am an Analog Kid in a computer-generated world.  

It might be a best seller - just saying...

We're Not Elfin' Around

 

I love that we can go out and have fun at our own expense.  Not many people would willingly put on these Christmas clothes and go to a party. We will. We did. We won.   

It is a testament to our love for one another and not taking life too seriously. Yes, I wore this hideous suit to work for our Christmas party at work on Friday and won. I mean how could I lose with a poorly made, velour type material, suit that I bought off the clearance rack at Khol's for $5 back in July?  

But then you double down and break out the elf pajama suit - complete with ears - to go to a party down the street on the next evening.  It is very funny to be standing in your pajamas with a bunch of strangers - each one eyeing your outfit. You can see them process their humor or mild/odd discomfort in seeing adults act this way. "Oh, they're those people."  

Yes, we are.

Our trophy will proudly be displayed for many Christmases to come.

Code Red Lockdown

It is that incident we see all too often these days in the news, an Active Shooter in a school, but it is at your kid's school. And it's real. And you have to parent in real time. And it sends shivers through you. And it happened to us at Grant's school. While this ended without anyone being hurt, it is horrible. I can only imagine what is like for those parents in a situation with casualties. 

The neighborhood Facebook page probably sent the first alert. Lisa called me and told that there was a lock down at Grant's school and that there was a gun involved.  From there it became a minute-by-minute update of bits and pieces of information trying to make a complete picture. The kid is in custody. No one is hurt. The kid fired the gun. Has anyone heard from Grant? 

Even though you know he's okay, the time it takes to hear back from him seems like an eternity.  

Grant seems to have taken this in stride, the gun went off in another classroom. His friends, however, were in that classroom. Among other 12-year old's they will be minor celebrities for a while. To us, they are victims, even without injuries.

I applaud our town, the school, the district, the mayor's office, and the police for their transparency and willingness to send numerous updates to ease our fears - even after the peaceful resolution of the incident. 

Code Red Lockdown

First, all students are safe.  Fuquay-Varina Middle is under Code Red lockdown due to a weapon found in a classroom. We have identified the student and confiscated the weapon. The student discharged the weapon at a window. No one was injured.

 

From the Wake County Sheriff's Office

The following information was released by the Wake County Sheriff's Office:  At 8:03 AM Fuquay-Varina Police Department received a call for service reference to an  incident at Fuquay-Varina Middle School. A Wake County SRO Deputy was already on scene and responded along with Fuquay-Varina Police Department to discover a juvenile had brought a firearm to school and discharged it. Preliminary investigation reveals that the threat was not directed at any students or staff and there were no injuries. The school was placed on lockdown for a short period of time until students could be safely released to arriving parents. This appears to be an isolated incident and no further threats are present as it relates to this incident.  Wake County Sheriff’s Office is currently still on scene conducting further investigation into this incident in conjunction with Wake County Public School System.  The Wake County Sheriff’s Office will release an additional update as further details become available. Yours, Kris Clark, Principal

I have my Concealed Carry Permit. Last week I announced to the family that I was going to start carrying my gun more often.  My family knows that the reason I will carry a gun is because I will always move to the sound of the gunfire. 

Is this what it has come to? Where do we go from here?

December 22, 2022 update from CBS17:

A Willow Spring man was charged with giving a gun to a minor.

Thursday the Wake County Sheriff’s Department charged Seth Lanterman-Schneider with selling or giving a weapon to a minor following the shooting. 

Passive Aggressive Revenge: My New Hobby

This is a first. For the first time I am staying at the home of one of my children.  This is unchartered territory, being a guest in home that belongs to your kid.  It is both oddly satisfying and a little weird at the same time.  

I am out here to help Sam while she recovers from surgery and is immobile. Although there is a purpose to my trip, I am happy to spend time with her.

You truly get a sense of your kid's style and sensibilities.  You silently - okay, maybe not so silently - judge them.  Why is the toilet seat loose? Why are there cleaning supplies in the coat closet? When and why did the Japanese themed artwork appear? 

Almost immediately I noticed something in Samantha that gives me satisfaction and a new hobby.  Turns out, that after over two decades of following her - her brothers are also guilty of this - around the house and turning off lights and picking up loose socks, empty bowls, and discarded food wrappers, that doing the same in her house drives her up the wall.  I am satisfied that she is not a slob. 

But, within one hour of being in her house she was reminding me to turn lights off. One. Hour. This is a moment I have been waiting for - subtle revenge.  Currently, the garbage is full, I left a light on in the kitchen, and the thermostat is two degrees higher than what she recommends.  And, yes, I will take out the garbage, turn off the light, and reset the thermostat, I am quietly snickering to myself.  

I suppose this is both the best and worst of me reflected in my child. Samantha cleans up after herself and keeps a tidy home. Yet, she might be as capricious about it as I am. Woe be unto my future grandchildren.