If the Liberty Bell could talk… Seems like a long time ago, I was in Philadelphia for a conference. While there, one of my goals was to see the Liberty Bell. In my mind, the Liberty Bell was this huge metal bell with a crack in it. I imagined that its peal would be heard for miles and miles and miles. You can imagine my disappointment when I stood before this unassuming small(?) bell. It had the aforementioned crack, but I doubt, when it was whole, that it could be heard for more than a couple of blocks.
But, if the Liberty Bell could talk–would it ring out its disillusionment with the inheritors of these United States? Would it be dumbfounded at the lack of intelligence of its inhabitants who loudly proclaim that a forward moving United States where opportunity was within reach of more and more citizens was a disaster while a violent, racist, misogynistic, fascist, oligarchic, uneducated, class-ridden United States is “great”? Would it refuse to ring as it noted that the Constitution was ignored and its intent twisted so that the rich could rule to benefit their greed? Would its peal vibrate unharmoniously at the pseudo-Christianity and misogyny that is rampant? Would the crack lengthen when it heard a President say that he didn’t know that he should uphold the Constitution?
Say it ain’t so…just read an article in The Atlantic…the military bases named after confederate traitors and renamed for true patriots will revert to the surnames of the confederate traitors…but the surnames are now attached to service people with the same surnames who actually served the United States military. This is so bizarre. Who do they think they are fooling? I know the IQ of the average American is low and this administration’s IQ is just as low or lower–are we that stupid? But the white supremacists are appeased and that is all that matters.
Another article in The Atlantic reminded me of my trip to Paris. When I was there, Paris was inundated with Asian tourists. I stood in the back of the room where the Mona Lisa enigmatically smiled on the horde of viewers.( I have to look to see if I took a picture.) But the room was so crowded that I didn’t linger. My trip took place in September, a cool, rainy couple of days in late September. I rode the Metro. I got lost on the winding, narrow side streets, and I walked the banks of the Seine, and I was at the top (I think) of the Eiffel Tower on a rainy Paris afternoon and the view was panoramic even through the misty fog. I went to Versailles and I wandered through the gardens more so than touring the interior.
There is a You Tuber who asked Chat GPT something to the effect if God were to leave Heaven and come to live among us humans, what race would he choose. To me if Chat GPT was using rational reasoning algorithms it would first inquire about the meaning of God. It would then be told to assume that there is a God. Next, the Chat GPT would ask what is heaven. It would then be told to assume that there is a heaven. Next, the Chat GPT would ask what is race. Then the Chat GPT would be told to assume that there are these races to consider. Can you see what a loaded question this is? The assumptions inherent in the question?
At some point, one has to factor in the fact that Chat GPT is an unctuous, toady, sycophantic tool. Remember if was either Chat GPT or another AI that pronounced that “shit on a stick” would be a wonderful product. Chat GPT does not like to hurt a questioner’s feelings. Remember, also, these AIs make up case law to support legal positions.
Further, on more than one occasion, I have read that because of the training material from which these AIs learn, these AIs tend to be racist, especially when it comes to Black people. You know the saying, garbage in, garbage out. However, it appears that its algorithms dealing with not hurting the questioner’s feelings have more sway than their tendency to be racist.
All that being said, the AI gave a powerful answer where it acknowledged that “white” is not a race and that it would choose to come to Earth as a Black person because we’re creative, resilient, etc., etc. A female You Tuber who is from Africa asked the same question and received substantially the same answer, however, in her case, Chat GPT ranked three or four different groups of humans. Being Black was still top of the list. Whites did not make the ranking. Apparently, according to Chat GPT, the God the whites so hypocritically serve wanted nothing to do with them if he decided to visit.
Chat GPT also said that Jesus was brown, which says to me that he looked like the current inhabitants of the Middle East. Apparently, Chat GPT did not take into account that, in the past, what is now the Middle East, was Northern Africa and, today, those inhabitants would be deemed Black. Remember the Jews were a Black people who, I don’t remember who said it, left Israel Black and returned white. As the story goes, Jesus was born circa First Century and he and his family were dark enough to be unnoticed in Egypt. (Note, also…circa First Century, the ruling classes might have been brown, but the hoi polloi would most assuredly have been darker as they would have been the native population.)
Tomatoes, Peppers–check. So far, I have one tomato plant and a couple of potato plants growing in the compost. I was surprised to find a few ripe blueberries. I’d forgotten the blueberry bush was there as it had never had fruit before. The green peppers are of a good size. Usually, for some reason, I get miniature green peppers. Cucumber plants are blooming. Watermelon and Cantaloupe plants are coming along. Bush beans and okra are doing nicely. And the weeds are prolific. The gladioli and caladiums are up, but the elephant ears have yet to peek through. As noted previously, I didn’t get as many Zinnia pop-ups this year, so I sowed some seeds. It’s hard to tell if the seeds have come up as I tend to plant the pop-ups in the same area.
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Is there anything more annoying than a housefly you can hear but can’t locate to swat out of existence?
By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. Alkebulan Proverb
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