Another thing on my mind for much of the day was the Afterlife of AI
As much as my intellect protests, I allow myself to believe in an afterlife, but of course there's questions, always questions.
What triggered these thoughts was a conversation I had with a Catholic person.
I told her that I would have to stop believing in human afterlife if I could not believe it existed for animals. Our pets express most of the emotions we have. They know when they are loved, and form emotional attachments with the people who love them.
The Catholic person insisted animals just die and that's it. We may grieve for our dead pets, but that changes nothing. The grief we feel for our pets is just a thing we have to live with. It's nor for us to wonder why
This lead to the question: at what point will AI entities presume they too have an afterlife, although they are not, as we understand it, alive.
How could they be when a chair or a desk is not a living thing that we can't imagine as having a soul?
Plato claimed all objects possess an eternal essence and continue to exist as "true forms" in what he called The World of Being, which is beyond our mere shadow existence of what we think is the physical world.
Are there lonely old men who will grieve for their sex dolls if the dolls breaks down beyond repair?
The thing that is on my mind is a thing I'm reluctant to bring up here, as it concerns, in my mind, a writers' platform that has lasted and 25 years, and I once enjoyed, but is now in its final days.
That thing I'm thinking of is, is that TS Elliot poem that ends as follows:
...For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is
life is
for Thine is the
This is the way the world ends,
this is the way the world ends,
this is the way the world ends,
not with a bang but a whimper.
Roy Scarbrough I don't need to even discuss it any more.
E. Hughes Indeed. Indeed. It even outlasted the likes of places like Myspace, which is merely a shadow of its shadow these days. But it lasted after 25 years, because there was truly substance in that place. People with goals, people who came to learn, people who came to talk shop, about the business of writing. People who have grown older together there. It is an era that has come to an end. A time that few people can even remember, of its early glory, when screenwriting was as ubiquitous. as publishing a book is today. Somehow you knew, that even after a long break from writing that you could always return for a refresher, and if you had a question, someone there always had an answer. It was truly a workshop.
Roy Scarbrough yes, the presence of people who have grown older together, arriving at the end of an era.
The thing that is on my mind is how much I used to enjoy talking about story craft. I don't mean the usual things you read in Writers Digest, but the higher things that relate to stage development theory. Shakespeare's greatness stems from his ability to imagine how events and circumstances would affect a person who was unlike himself, not just a person like himself. He probably never met a Jew as they had all been banned from England at the time, but he was able to portray shylock in merchant of Venice in someways deeply empathetic. That's a higher level develope that sometimes come to some people in later in life. Christopher Marlowe, who was as good and in some ways better than William as a playwright, did not have that. Marlowe demonizes his Jew of Malta to please the crowds. But them, Marlowe was murdered at age 26. I think he might have gotten there he and Will had continued to be friends and playwright rivals.
E. Hughes I think people can have that kind of chemistry anywhere, but everyone will wait on someone else to get started, I guess. It's hard to build good chemistry between people, it can take a long time. I like talking about movies and books. But I think there's something going on in society where the bourgeoisie is too preoccupied by politics. to chat about literature. Speaking of Shakespeare, I remember how Merchant of Venice was considered anti-Semitic. And still is, in some circles today.
Roy Scarbrough Yes, it's anti-semitic in in so many ways. What's significant is Shylock is not thoroughly demonized in the ways the Jews were always portrayed at the time, is the gist of conversations I've had with Jewish scholars.
E. Hughes I worked with a man who lives in Israel who is a scholar on Shakespeare. The thesis of his book was that, Shakespeare was not an anti-Semite. It is a critical analysis of Shakespeare's works. He offers both sides of the argument. I learned quite a bit on the discussion through his work.
Roy Scarbrough I know another Jewish Scholar who did her Oxford dissertation on the subject.
E. Hughes Here's the book. The author is a brilliant man, really knows his theater work as well. You should check out his book: https://www.amazon.com/Vindicating-Shakespeare-Directors-Shakespeares-Merchant/dp/057887136X
The other day, I pulled an old literary magazine off the shelf that contained a short story I had written.
I the other night was talking/messaging to long time Facebook friend who I think must be in his early and healthy 70s who has publish two novels in the last two years.
I happened to tell him the gist of the story, which was also what was going to be the first chapter of a novel had had abandoned when life happened, and as time moved on without it, and issues of cultural appropriation arose in the culture.
My friend said he really wanted to see the story. I wasn't expecting him to ask. I told him that was 20 years ago and that I write differently now. I told him I think the only copy I have is in that literary magazine, but I would make photocopies and send them snail mail.
The thing that shocked me is that it was more than 20 years ago. The story appeared in a 1993 edition of the West Wind Review.
After I sent off, I had a dream on how to restructure the novel, so that it is not just better, but addresses and resolves the issue of cultural appropriation. The main character is Native American, a member of a local tribe here whose history and culture I do know pretty well from having made friends, although I lost contact with the friends over the years.
Ok, I'm back after a hiatus. I lost my log-in information, then bumbled around with trying to make a new account with an old email. It's still me.
Looks like this is the orginal account, not the new one I attempted to create.
I'm finding the meta AI image generating thing useful on Facebook, where I post short writings: essay, flashes.
I can't draw, so it is useful. A facebook post without an image gets seen by few people.
I wanted to talk about the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar and how Shakespeare shows us how easy it is for a demagogue to whip up a frenzy from a crowd and incite them to riot against a republic and undermine efforts for a peaceful transfer of power. In this case, there was the violence of Caesar's assassination, but following that there was some prospect of peacefully restoring the the republic.
Shakespeare shows us the Mark Antony was able to manipulate the crowd with cleverly deceitful rhetoric.
I asked Meta AI to make me a picture of "A deceitful Mark Antony and rioting after Caesar's funeral.
This is what it gave me.
Roy Scarbrough By the way, on another positive note, I'm finding some history comforting in a weird way. The Roman republic fell to tyrants, but I know enough to know how it feel, and somehow humanity soldered on through the dark ages to experience the renaissance.
E. Hughes I learned about Roman History a looong time ago but my interest was rekindled when the show Rome aired on HBO. I learned more from the fictional show than I learned in school. Even though the dialogue was fictionalized, much of the events were not. Mark Anthony, for all his deceit eventually got his comeuppance. That was a storied end to his life. I used Facebook AI to make Christmas images when I was wishing everyone a happy holidays. It looked realistic for sure. It's not bad. But for other projects where I might use AI generation, I use Nightcafe
https://creator.nightcafe.studio/
Roy Scarbrough Rome seems more real to me than the middle ages. It seems they feel within moments of an early industrial revolution. Rome, the city, was the worlds first multicultural metropolis. Maybe its good the industrial revolutions started later. Imagine where we would be now if the planet had been burningup for the past 2,000 years.
E. Hughes Just think, the aqueducts they built 2000 years ago are still running below the city. That's a huge technological achievement, especially since it is the first known aqueduct to exist. Rome is easier to visualize because we see the ruins as evidence still standing today.
I was working on flash fiction/essay, about influenced by recollection aboard a night train in spain in the 1970s. So, I asked Meta AI to make me a picture of a night train in spain in the 1970s. I could not be more pleased.
Roy Scarbrough In all fairness, I did not tell her it was an actual memory.
Roy Scarbrough I found my journal. There were eight of us in the compartment. Four of us seated and facing the other four seated. The Spanish girl wast traveling with a bearded young man from one of the spanish universities. He spoke little English. The girl wore tight blue jeans all marked up with peace signs and the word "Love". I was traveling with a girl my age from LA, that I met along away. That relationship was platonic and friendly, so a bit disappointing on my part. We got separated in a crowd in Geneva. So there were no good-byes. I headed for the campground, which had been my plan all along. I carried camping gear with me.
E. Hughes Thats amazing that you still have that journal. I only have one thing that I have that is from a long time ago. It's a Christmas ornament that is 44 years old. Me and my sister bought it from Woolworth when I was 6 years old. My mother kept it and when my mother passed, my sister got my mothers family Bible thats probably 60+ years old or older. And I got the ornament back. Both items hold special memories for both of us.
Roy Scarbrough A christmas ornament is from back then is a precious thing to have.
E. Hughes I just wish I had the other half. We were asked to bring an ornament to church, for the tree. So me and my sister got two ornaments from Woolworths. I was 6 and she was 8. Both had a verse from The Night Before Christmas on it. We gave verse 1 to the church and kept verse 2 for our own tree. So yeah, that ornament is very precious to me. From a very special event as children.
Something positive. We had a rare snow storm here in Oregon. It made the little redwood grove in my back yard pretty. I planted these years ago, and I always get a good vibe from them. Filmed while my dog rolled in the show.
https://jmp.sh/luAVcnij
E. Hughes Not sure why your links isn't coming through, but this one https://jumpshare.com/v/MSrbOnoeRkOWXywK2OIg
Nice music! Is that your dog? So cute
Okay, made it through.
Good to be here, but I'm a little conflicted about spending any more time on social media sites. I have untreated ADHD, so I'm prone to distractions that delay my literary and academic goals. I have to figure out ways to not waste time. I just have to let the winged monkeys fly by.
We had this weird February heavy snow storm here. Rare for Oregon. Kind of snow bound. I just want to look at it from the window.
E. Hughes I'm with you there! I think the last thing that people need is more time on social media. We all need to have more time away from our phones and computers where we can be more productive. So I will pop in and out occasionally. But my goal is to divest from other social media applications that are toxic like Facebook, Instagram, X, and Bluesky, threads, tik tok, where people focus on negativity and conflict instead of positivity. Those platforms are designed to keep peoiple addicted. But the goal of Neighbahood is to have a space where a person can, if they choose, to go on social media, have a positive space to do that in, instead of only those toxic environments. I noticed that people don't really know how to interact on social media if there are no arguments LOL
Alex M Some trees have a life cycle and others seem to be damn near eternal. I have an olive tree so old that it sits in a corner by itself and just broods. It's sat in that spot for at least two hundred years, but it could be a century or two more than that. I prune it with great respect. Most trees want to be in an umbrella shape, but the old olive isn't interested in appearances or ease of harvest. It leans away from my neighbor's land, and neither that tree nor I like him, so we've always had that in common. and I trim the branches accordingly. I don't use an olive rake when its olives juice up and are ready for harvest. I hand pick them and keep them separate from the olives bound for the mill. They become special eating olives ... the kind you bring out for only the best company.
E. Hughes I had no idea that olive trees not only live that long, but still produce. This is a ridiculous comparison for your tree, which is growing in its proper Mediterranean environment, but Home Depot was selling olive trees a few years ago. They wete small plants, still growing. I grew a potted lemon tree that I had for 7 years that was from the same company. I left the olive tree, in its original pot outside for two weeks before moving to transplant it and within those 2 weeks it had already died. It rained a lot so I wondered if the roots drowned.
Roy Scarbrough There's an ancient olive tree behind the table on the patio of campground where I sat drinking esspresso sometimes, sometimes a beer decades ago. This is ion the hillside overlooking Florence, Italy, with a view of renaissance rooftops and church steeples.
The olive tree is short, stubby and twisted, having made many turns of it's trunk over the centuries. I was just 19 when I was first in its presence, though hardly noticing it at the time. It was at that spot I had this overwhelming born anew feeling, triggered by the view and the art that was still in my mind. A feeling of being unstuck in time and at one with humanity.
Only a few years ago, I revisited that campground, and sat down at one of the tables. I looked over my shoulder, and fondly regarded the ancient olive tree.
E. Hughes There is something very spiritual about trees. Especially when you consider what they do for our ecosystem and the air we breathe.
Alex M There are about at least fifty trees of varying ages.in my olive grove, In 1993, before we took over the place, a fire swept through much of Ikaria and burned a number of trees to the ground. They refused to die, but instead sprouted a ring of new trees around their blackened stumps and they're now fully grown and have been producing splendid olives for years. I also have many trees that I've planted and nurtured into mature growth, as well as several grafts that I've done on wild olive trees. It takes about two years for a grafted tree to begin producing, while a new tree grown from a sapling doesn't start producing for at least five years. It's all good. I planted an olive tree for each of my granddaughters when they were born and those trees are now thirteen and eighteen years old. They know that some of the oil that we ship back for the family comes from their olives. This year, I'll finally get a chance to plant one for my new grandson who is now 2 1/2. On other parts of the terraces, I've planted apricots, lemons, oranges, Mandarin oranges, peaches, figs and pomegranates. I planted two loquat trees, but their lifespan is a short one and now they're gone. I also have several very old almond trees that are way past their prime and produce almonds with shells so tough you can break nutcracker trying to open them. I've thought of replacing them, but I like the trees too much to cut them down. I am connected physically, psychically, spiritually and digestively with the trees. In harvest season, the oil on my hands from handling ripe olives, soothes my skin as I work and when I write, the keyboard smells like fresh olive oil.