O brave new world, That has such people in’t!  — A Shakespeare warning found in today’s crossword puzzle.

We are strange species.  Are there others species on the planet who have so threatened to destroy themselves?  So constantly close to the edge of self-destruction of ourselves.  

Who would think, as little as a century ago, that we would be so smart that we could take apart the atoms were made of, that everything, so far as we know, is made of and begin to understand something of its workings and enable ourselves to do previously unimaginable things, and then that we could figure out how we could use our knowledge to destroy ourselves and potentially all life on our planet. Power like the meteor most now believe ended millions of years of dinosaurs that we now hold in a few paranoid and murderous. 

And that we could discover enough about amassing and retrieving information that we could raise a generation who believes that AI can do amazing things to the point that humans can addict themselves and make themselves more and more ignorant.  

And system if governing ourselves, systems that do not evolve, do not learn from our catastrophes, allow us to be more cruel to each other than has even been 

Updated the my “About Me” page.

Here we are on the edge of…what?

If Trump’s MSG rally doesn’t scare anyone who isn’t in a coma to vote, we are truly done for.

I have a play going up on Friday, but I’m going to New Hampshire today to knock on doors.

Our version of democracy may be imperfect at best, but it sure beats being under a fascist Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade balloon full of hot air!

I am scared.

Yes, the world does seem to be shuddering – though the eclipse passing our way can’t really be blamed on human misbehavior.

The nearing eclipse has brought back to my mind one of the first books I ever read and thoroughly enjoyed: Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court with its climactic eclipse of the sun.

Feel  lucky  the eclipse is passing up Vermont’s way.  And the predictions are for a sunny day!  Unusual lately, with a couple feet of snow still on the ground.

Haven’t blogged for ages, but thought I’d get back on the horse. Thinking a lot about AI lately, so here’s a quick thought:

Is AI is simply the next progression in computing, which everyone, everyone, knew was coming It is certainly fair to say that it is a “game changer”, a “quantum leap”, etc. sure, but is it truly a paradigm shift? Depends on what happens next.

Isn’t it essentially the same paradigm?: We can create things that can “out-think” humans, solve problems that we can’t figure out with our own brains. We could go back to the abacus for a prime example of this: The human moves the levers and the abacus provides the solution. A simple pocket calculator proves in an instant that computers can crush human cognitive powers.

So, albeit a rather large increment, the change brought by AI is incremental. Significant, but not a revolutionary change in our understanding of how things work and what is possible to accomplish through electronics, coding, and vast server farms.

And so with AI as with the internet, DNA research, and nuclear physics: the real question is not what we discover, but what we do with what we discover. Ah, there’s the rub.

Joe Norris’ vibrant show exploring the edge between representation and abstraction at Next Stage in Putney, Vermont.

Bill Dixon’s marvelous exhibit of his portrait photography at the Crowell Gallery in Newfane, Vermont

I had a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with Nancy Storrow on this project.  It was a fascinating experience.  We were also lucky enough to receive permission from the talented pianist Misuzu Tanaka to include an excerpt from Leoš Janáček’s “On an overgrown path” as the audio for the video.

A totally absorbing, fascinating project completed! Two and half years its starting point, the video combines a live talk in the library with video excerpts from Ulysses and images drawn by talented current graphic artists whose work captures the humor and the human drama of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

The idea of the project was to share the fun I’ve been able to have in reading Ulysses over many years and to make Joyce’s kaleidoscopic novel more approachable.

Here’s the result:

Today, Friday, June 24, when Roe v. Wade died an untimely and grotesque death.  The Supreme Court, the “law of the land,” what a mockery.  My god, has it come to this? Yes, it has. It is.

How can we so amazingly destroy ourselves ?  What is wrong with us? Our curiosity drives us to unravel the inside of an atom and our madness uses the knowledge to destroy the planet, mad enough to bring it all to a horrifying end?

I think of Dylan’s Masters of War.