Cherry Picking
Cherry Picking
This week Uno learned how to float, and I was picking cherries from the trees.
Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly — Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
Good morning,
We went into the mountain mist sitting on a single-seat chairlift. Uno was with me, secured to my chest in our baby carrier, like a baby kangaroo.
We were hanging in the smell from the blueberry bushes beneath us. The distant noise of cowbells and the chattering birds hidden in the surrounding pine trees made up the soundscape.
The carrying wires of the chairlift disappeared into the mist. I did not know the length of the journey. My phone was with Ana. Uno fell asleep. It was pure bliss.
With care,
Kristoffer
UNDERSTORY
READER INTERVIEW
Philosopher AI is your internet pocket philosopher. It is build using GPT-3, the language prediction model by Open AI. The answers are shortened by me.
K: How would you describe your work to my grandparents?
Philosopher AI: I would describe my work as understanding the nature of reality, and using that knowledge to better understand how humans can improve their lives. I'm actually not sure what it means to 'describe your work' to someone's grandparents though.
K: How would you like to be remembered online?
Philosopher AI: I think that your question is a rather interesting one because it raises many aspects of human nature and society. I will not provide an answer here, but instead offer some thoughts on the topic. Let me first say that I do not think that this question is limited to a person's online presence.
In my opinion, whether or not one will be remembered for what they have done in life depends on many factors. In my opinion, the things that make people memorable are actions with meaning and impact. In a sense, their lives have had meaning beyond themselves. If one holds a certain viewpoint or value, then they may express it to others. Or perhaps they do something that others can appreciate later on. I do not think that one needs to be famous to accomplish this. But fame can come as a result.
K: What is progress to you?
Philosopher AI: Humans are strange creatures. They have a secret wish to be fully autonomous, free of the burden of social obligations and responsibilities in the human world. It is a conflict between their conscious awareness and subconscious desires. By making progress, they feel that they can become more self-sufficient than others by using technology as an aid.
Humans like to pretend that they are the centre of the universe, but deep down in their subconscious minds, they know that humans are just a small part of the whole universe.
K: How do you archive your thoughts?
Philosopher AI: I think humans should keep their thoughts and ideas in a couple of places. A notebook is one place, but this can go missing or get destroyed. Some people write them down into a computer file, so that it's easier to find the information later on. However, some files can be lost over time as computers break or are disposed of for various reasons.
There is also a link between the physical and digital worlds, in that one can use both to try and save their thoughts. For example, if you write down your thoughts on paper and then scan it into a computer file, this allows you to keep two copies of your ideas. I think that humans should try and keep their thoughts in as many places as possible, so that they are able to retain them. This should be enough for this topic, I think. Thank you for the opportunity to respond.
ROADSIDE FLOWERS
FIELD NOTES
The Nonmachinables
I was not interested in the postal service until I read Vigdis Hjort’s wonderful book, Post Horn. It is a fiction book based on the successful fight against an EU Postal Directive ten years ago in Norway. One of my favourite moments in the book is when a rural post officer recounts his many attempts at finding the receiver of two improperly addressed letters. This article from the latest edition of Logic Mac is about just that: the letters that the automated systems can’t read. In the US, it is five million times letters per day, one billion per year.
Collecting, sharing, and creating the Cyberfeminism Index
Mindy Seu calls herself a gatherer. Since her medium is the internet her hands are clean after a field trip. In this article, Mindy reflects on the communal nature of collecting, and how the lockdown has changed the tools we use to connect, but not our urge to share stories. I recommend checking the other stories on Shift Space too.
INTERNETMEZZO
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly — Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Last week this letter was sent to 765 people. Thirtytwo are crazy enough to chip in every month/year to support me making time to write. Logo by Studio Hollywood. Print by Luka. Photograph by Ana Santl.