So lucky

One of the things I'm really grateful for is the people and experiences I've been blessed to have in my life that have helped me become a more compassionate, better informed and understanding person. I have had a couple of moments lately where I've just been really grateful for people who have pointed out things about some hot topics that helped me understand a different perspective and realize that there were things in my own views that weren't well-informed. 

I know that if I hadn't been lucky enough to study abroad and to have experiences living in and traveling to different places and, most of all, making friends with people who have different experiences than me, I would be a very different person--and probably kind of a jerk. But I have been so blessed to have people who I respect and who, without anger or being condescending or putting me down, have been willing to be patient and have conversations with me that have really helped me understand different perspectives better and to realize that things that may have seemed contrary to my core values aren't (or at least, they help me see how I can still live my values while letting others live theirs and it's not actually a problem). They've helped me have compassion for "the other side". They have helped me be a better Christian, in my opinion, and to live my values better.

So I'm really grateful for all those friends and mentors and role models who have been willing to share themselves and have trusted me with that. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to see others as people and not just abstract "them"s. I'm really grateful for the person others have helped me become. Thank you, all. 

I've been plagiarized

And yet again I am forced to question the validity of algorithms.

This week I got an email from Amazon, everyone's favorite love 'em-and-hate 'em online Overlord. It said:

So, there are a few things going on here. First, "Elise Reynolds"? As if I haven't given them enough money in my lifetime to be on a first name basis? It's so impersonal. 

Second, you should definitely read the other five books in this series so that when Return of the Thief comes out, you're up to speed. LOVE these books! They are soooooooooo good. You need to read them. This cannot be emphasized enough.

But the real thing going on here is the question of where Amazon found this.  Would you like to know? Because I'd love to tell you. They found it in my list of orders. Yeah. I pre-ordered this item. After I pre-ordered it, the publication date got pushed back. So they then re-listed this when the new date came out. And I was looking at the relisting, which didn't have the hardcopy up yet. And then they sent me this email. And I clicked on it and, yes, I had still pre-ordered it. 

Am I the only one who thinks that Amazon's algorithm--we'll call him Tony*--is stretching it by saying that he "found" this? I don't know how you could call that finding. Observing--yes. Tony observed that I had purchased an item and deduced from that very straightforward information that I was in fact interested in the item I was purchased in. Not a hard thing to do. So, yay. Algorithms can state the obvious. So can most people. I mean, it just feels like I've been plagiarized. 

Also, it just makes Tony look desperate. I mean, he's digging the bottom of the barrel if he's pulling recommendations from things I've actually bought. Or put on my wish list. Or already ordered. Tony, it's okay.  You don't have to have a new suggestion for me every hour. Or ever, really. I promise, it's fine. 

*No offense to any Tonys out there. 

It's all relative

Today's actual date: 10 November 2019*.
The date based on the weather: late March/early April
The date according to my brain: simultaneously January of 2019 (how have we made it to NOVEMBER already?) and December (bring on Christmas)
The date it should be based on election stuff: at least June 2020.
The date according to my feelings: 1985, 2019,  and 2050.**
The date according to how people are behaving, depending on who you ask: hmmmmm. Maybe 66 million BCE? Or 200 BCE? Or 70 AD? Or 1800s? Or 1900s? As a world religions professor once said, "People are people wherever [and whenever!] you find them."
The date according to the coptic calendar: 30 Babah 1736.
The date according to Batman: Same bat day, same bat month, same bat year. Ha ha.
The date in Roman numerals: MMXIX. Or would it be X-XI-MMXIX?***

Whatever you feel like the date is, I hope you it's a good one.


*Or November 10, 2019. Or 2019 November 10. Depending. 
**I know. These aren't complete dates. 
***Or XI-X-MMXIX, etc. Or, wait. Wouldn't we use the Julian calendar, in which case it would be 10 October 2019, so XXIX-X-MMXIX? So glad we don't use Roman numerals for this stuff anymore.

No robots were used in the making of this post

I was listening to a news podcast that had a segment on artificial intelligence tonight and they were talking about AI being able to write things. The good news is, I was listening to this while I was working out, so all that anger could be channeled into calorie burning. So there's that. The other good news is they anticipate that your 7-year old still needs to learn how to write, because AI won't be up for it soon enough.

There's lots of talk around AI and robots and stuff and no one has ever yet been able to answer my primary question: Why do you hate humanity so much?

Maybe AI can do things faster or better or more safely. And I'm not saying all of these advancements are bad. I'm sure that's not the case*. But why do we want them to replace us? We are essentially outsourcing our humanness to computers. Let's assume AI can learn to write a novel. But why would I want to let my computer write my novel? Then it isn't mine. So why would I want that?

I get it, there's a lot of stuff humans have done that is so far below despicable that it's not even on the same chart. I am not oblivious to the annoyances of humanity. Ask any of my friends--they'll confirm this.

However, the opposite extreme also exists. Humans have done things that are so beautiful, so wonderful, that words fail. Humanity is incredible, compassionate, stunning. Think of the goodness of the millions--billions!--of unnamed, unacknowledged, but decent, caring humans who for no other reason than that they are good and they care about people. I cherish the good of humanity and I don't see what an algorithm can bring that can even equal it. So, sorry folks. I'm pro people on this one.

I like people, believe it or not, and I think we're worth keeping around. So I personally will pass on having my existence made obsolete by the robots.

*it's a great tool. It's just that People tend to look at every tool as a Swiss Army version--it can do everything. And so often, that's not the case. We're really bad at knowing the right use for tools.