Today, I declared a holiday from the online world in general, and Artificial intelligence in particular. Monday this week, at least here, is for grandkids.
Logging into ChatGPT today, I told the Robot (Rob) that we were having the day off. I made a note of where I was up to by creating a note and a time stamp, told him what our next project would be and promptly left.
Since I have been writing online I have had a bad habit of getting totally immersed in my writing and neglecting everything else, so I make a habit now of forcing myself away from the screen.
Time for family and friends is important, especially in the age of AI. For millennia, humans have lived in social groups based on family, tribes, and nations. We have learned to interact, not just verbally, but with body language as well.
Developing and maintaining social skills is vital.
Living online, with or without programs like Claude or ChatGPT, doesn’t develop these skills at all, and along with our God given ability to think, they are part of what being human means. AI basically just gives us information.
If we spend our lives in front of a computer screen, or our phone, or even the television, and little else, we gradually lose our ability to be human. This has been called the “anxious generation”, and mental illness seems to be at an all time high.
Along with ongoing wars, uncertain economic conditions, and family breakdown, I wonder if social isolation is causing this anxiety, or at least contributing to it.
Every week, I have at least one or two social outings for coffee, as well as going to Church. I meet with a bunch of guys for dinner or coffee, and when I am at a church gathering, I try to speak to at least one person that I haven’t talked to before.
This in turn keeps me mentally sharp and, I hope, blesses others as well.
As for the grandkids coming, well that does us all good here as well, especially Jake the Wonder Dog. When I told him who was coming today, he jumped around like a maniac, barking and trying to talk. He’s usually here with just my wife and I, so he enjoys the extra company as well. He’s so attuned to what we say, that I can tell him to let my wife know that dinner’s ready, and he goes and gets her. Just don’t mention the dog park.
Today the kids want me to cook lunch for them.
We might light a campfire in the back yard, and we might visit the park. They’re going to paint, and draw, and we’re going to talk. And we’re all taking time off from screens.
Why is this important? Well, I wonder if all we do is talk to machines, and let them do our thinking for us, if we will become machine like in our own thinking? That would be a tragedy, all those years of humans learning to think and communicate could be lost. Well worth thinking about.
In the meantime, my grandson just arrived and said he was hungry.
It’s time for the really important stuff.