W. Grey Champion
From the Moleskine
My Moleskine accompanies me everywhere, for the purpose of catching those elusive thoughts that bombard one’s consciousness and may or may not be worthy of elaboration. I have shared these musings on my blog, From the Moleskine, each week for many years. Originally a Google blog, I moved it to this website when my third book was released. In The Weekly will be recent reflections I seek to record and to share with readers. Described here are other headings, also updated weekly.
Dokusan: In Japan, dokusan is a private meeting of a Zen student with his master. For background, readers must see my book, Conjuring Archangel: Chronicle of a Journey on the Path, because the conjuring continues.
In the Courtyard: As my collaborator on the blog, my friend Anna reports under this heading from her frequent forays to the village. We often meet in the courtyard for croissants and hazelnut coffee from the French bakery.
The Carriage Lamp: Evocative of those bygone, romantic days of horses and carriages, Anna and I, Sherlockians both, will on occasion include original poems, either hers or mine. The most recent will be at the top.
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The Weekly
Ignorant leaders
In a followup to last week’s post on concerns now coming to the fore about artificial intelligence getting out of human control, the most ignorant leader ever to believe himself to be emperor of the universe proclaims there is no need for regulations. All we need he tweets is a “smart president (high IQ!!!)”, adding that we can’t stop now or China will win the race. Of course, the race toward species extinction, let’s do it! This controversy, better than any now swirling around us, elucidates the danger of choosing ignorant leaders. Put such a person at the top and he will appoint only people more ignorant than himself, for example anyone from Fox News, and this gang of boobs will run your lives. Your babies will die of preventable diseases; your sons in the military will be shipped off to wars of choice to join the oxymoronic Middle East conflict; or to inner cities to kill or jail fellow citizens; you will lose your farm or your small business, and be scammed out of all your savings. Perhaps you know by now that in years past through your own votes you have gutted the legislature of any representative with an interest in legislating, and these parasites have confirmed only those judges equipped with rubber stamps. Now you have set yourselves up as ten pins for the AI bots.
As more comes out, we learn that the naughty bots are “misaligned” with necessary human values, and if, as is suggested, that glitch of misalignment could be corrected all would be well. Except, who is to say every worker in the lab is aligned with virtue? Most striking I must observe is that ancient wisdom foresees an inevitably cataclysmal end to the human race. Last week I referred to the Greek myth of Pandora, the first woman, created by Hephaestus upon instructions of Zeus. The story exposes the root of misogyny echoed in Genesis, where I daresay we see the notable insight that seduction was effected with that fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Pandora’s famous box let out all the evils of mankind, but neither she nor Eve had anything to do with the tech bros now attempting to play God, creating a thinking machine, its brain supercharged. They will find flaws in their creations, the very weaknesses of human nature they have failed to recognize in themselves.
