Dear Brad, I love your perspective, considered, compassionate and all about people and connection. There are many things the machines can do that I quite like that they can do (like the laundry and the dishes), but reading to my children, no. Writing children’s books and illustrating them? No. Just no. Thank you 💛✨
Ah! I totally should've included this in the above, but your comment reminded me of something Fred Rogers said about technology in the 1980s: " A computer cannot hug you." A child can learn the word "hug" and the letters h-u-g through a computer, but a computer can never give the child a hug." Thank you for your kind words and your continued voice for wonder and warmth here online. What a gift.
Great thoughts, Jill. Been thinking about that too. Oure imagination has been weakened to always lean on either/or for nearly everything. Same with 'progress': we talk about it like a race, pursue it like a race, which means winners and losers, somebody out front and somebody left behind. A.I. has only made all of that louder. Would be helpful if we handled it all less like a sprint and more like a potluck. Everyone bringing something to the table, nobody hungry, different flavors, maybe even a few questionable casseroles, but all of us eating together.
This is brilliant and important and the timing made me laugh- just this weekend I went to a karaoke birthday party and my friend, the birthday girl, said she’d just be a back up dancer because she can’t sing. I said there is no way you’re going to play back up at your own party and you CAN sing, you’re just afraid to sing badly, but the great thing is that karaoke is made for bad singing, because it’s more fun when it’s bad. Because we’re humans and even if we make a mess or hit a wrong note it doesn’t matter, because putting our hearts into what we’re doing is more important than getting it right- and then I actually said- SO TAKE THAT A.I.! And we all laughed and agreed we were happy to know one thing A.I. will never be able to take over- bad karaoke singing that is somehow still endearing. And yes, she sang her heart out after that. And it was glorious.
Love love love this! AAAAAND.... you are exactly right. David Berman once sang "all my favorite singers couldn't sing". The parts of songs and the moments in art and life where voices crack or hands slip and imperfections are made, that's where the good stuff is. SO TAKE THAT A.I.! haha. well said.
In graduate school I did a research study on story reading vs. storytelling to see which one had a greater impact on a child's literary growth. Guess what- there's not a difference. When you look a kid in the face and tell them a story and they hear your tone of voice and watch you make the characters come alive, it enriches their growth just as much as when you read them nooks- which is considered essential for cognitive, social, and emotional development, building vocabulary, promoting imagination, and strengthening your parent-child bond.
I'm 99% certain that that last one is the essential element. Human connection is like fertilizer for kids and we can't replace that with machines.
Thank you for articulating a thing that my gut has been whispering to me for so long!
You can let your heart fill up completely when you read a message that holds the truth and then let it spill over onto your face in a wide grin that others will surely notice.
I both chuckled and teared while reading this but two statements touched me deeply: "You can plant a seed in dirt and wait with holy, radical patience. You can do the same with kindness, with ideas, and with possibility." And: "do not use technology to pull us further apart. We’re already great at dividing ourselves. What we need is what only we can give each other: presence, connection, story."
Each day seems to reinforce the need for these faults to be amended. We must plant kindness. We must give to each other that which we would want others to give to us. We must. Or we will succeed in obliterating ourselves, which is, come to think of it, the demise that the dark force behind AI, technology, and robots may already be plotting behind our backs.
You can tear up reading really great writing in a crowded coffee shop and let the tear roll down your cheek instead of wiping it away.
You can. You totally can. Thanks for being you, Shaun.
Dear Brad, I love your perspective, considered, compassionate and all about people and connection. There are many things the machines can do that I quite like that they can do (like the laundry and the dishes), but reading to my children, no. Writing children’s books and illustrating them? No. Just no. Thank you 💛✨
Ah! I totally should've included this in the above, but your comment reminded me of something Fred Rogers said about technology in the 1980s: " A computer cannot hug you." A child can learn the word "hug" and the letters h-u-g through a computer, but a computer can never give the child a hug." Thank you for your kind words and your continued voice for wonder and warmth here online. What a gift.
Very wise and true Brad. And honestly, who would want a hug from a machine 😊
Thanks, Brad, for this reminder and list. I’m wondering — What would it be like for us to live in a world that didn’t default to the binary?
Seems to me that humans and AI are both awesome, as you point out. Why is the cultural default competition and scarcity?
Great thoughts, Jill. Been thinking about that too. Oure imagination has been weakened to always lean on either/or for nearly everything. Same with 'progress': we talk about it like a race, pursue it like a race, which means winners and losers, somebody out front and somebody left behind. A.I. has only made all of that louder. Would be helpful if we handled it all less like a sprint and more like a potluck. Everyone bringing something to the table, nobody hungry, different flavors, maybe even a few questionable casseroles, but all of us eating together.
Brad,
As always, THANK YOU!!!
You're a great human, Marc Joblin!
This is brilliant and important and the timing made me laugh- just this weekend I went to a karaoke birthday party and my friend, the birthday girl, said she’d just be a back up dancer because she can’t sing. I said there is no way you’re going to play back up at your own party and you CAN sing, you’re just afraid to sing badly, but the great thing is that karaoke is made for bad singing, because it’s more fun when it’s bad. Because we’re humans and even if we make a mess or hit a wrong note it doesn’t matter, because putting our hearts into what we’re doing is more important than getting it right- and then I actually said- SO TAKE THAT A.I.! And we all laughed and agreed we were happy to know one thing A.I. will never be able to take over- bad karaoke singing that is somehow still endearing. And yes, she sang her heart out after that. And it was glorious.
Love love love this! AAAAAND.... you are exactly right. David Berman once sang "all my favorite singers couldn't sing". The parts of songs and the moments in art and life where voices crack or hands slip and imperfections are made, that's where the good stuff is. SO TAKE THAT A.I.! haha. well said.
What a great line:) So true!
This was beautiful, thank you
Thank you for being you, Julie. So happy you're here.
Bravo, Brad!!! Couldn’t agree more! ❤️
As an encouragementor you know the wow that can happen when people connect! Truly.
Thank you! This filled my morning with light!
Oh man. That's super kind of you. Grateful it found you! To light!
*Shakes fist at Schmoogle* 🤦🏻♂️
I feel like Wall•E should be shown before and after that presentation.
Beautifully done Brad. Going to come back to this one over and over again
Grateful for you and inspired by you. You know how to be human, my friend.
In graduate school I did a research study on story reading vs. storytelling to see which one had a greater impact on a child's literary growth. Guess what- there's not a difference. When you look a kid in the face and tell them a story and they hear your tone of voice and watch you make the characters come alive, it enriches their growth just as much as when you read them nooks- which is considered essential for cognitive, social, and emotional development, building vocabulary, promoting imagination, and strengthening your parent-child bond.
I'm 99% certain that that last one is the essential element. Human connection is like fertilizer for kids and we can't replace that with machines.
Thank you for articulating a thing that my gut has been whispering to me for so long!
You can let your heart fill up completely when you read a message that holds the truth and then let it spill over onto your face in a wide grin that others will surely notice.
Clever, funny and kind. Loved this @bradmontague. In a time when the world is shouting out about AI, it makes me realise what finally matters.
As ever, thank you Brad.
I both chuckled and teared while reading this but two statements touched me deeply: "You can plant a seed in dirt and wait with holy, radical patience. You can do the same with kindness, with ideas, and with possibility." And: "do not use technology to pull us further apart. We’re already great at dividing ourselves. What we need is what only we can give each other: presence, connection, story."
Each day seems to reinforce the need for these faults to be amended. We must plant kindness. We must give to each other that which we would want others to give to us. We must. Or we will succeed in obliterating ourselves, which is, come to think of it, the demise that the dark force behind AI, technology, and robots may already be plotting behind our backs.
This is so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes....
❤🙌