Have you come across the term 'digital dementia?' I first heard it years ago, and AI is now compounding a problem that began with the genesis of the search engine. When we outsource those neural pathways, we lose them. And what makes me really sad is that we also lose the collateral gleaning of those processes, the by-catch of information gathering. I remember the days when questions were answered by encyclopaedias in a library, in the course of which you would stumble across so many unexpected wonders. Or by asking a friend who wouldn't know but would call their friend who would call an expert that they knew and suddenly you're having a conversation with an entomologist you've never met, connected through this incredible chain of human curiosity.
Ken Robinson was a force of nature, I'm so glad you mentioned him. And that Thomas Merton quote is beautiful. It gave me words for something I've wished I could articulate to more than one person.
Your writing is really lovely: patient, kind, impactful without being didactic. Very pleased to have stumbled across it.
Thank you for your kind words, Anna. No, I'd not heard of digital dementia -- but it puts words to things I've been thinking and noticing. How fascinating to hear about the by-catch of information gathering. I love getting lost in museums and encyclopaedias and conversations and the like -- and a huge part of this is the unexpected discoveries and connections to be made. A by-catch of wonder...what a great image! I'm glad the Thomas Merton quote spoke to you. And I'm so glad you stumbled across my page -- and to have 'met' you through that stumbling 😊
I love this Elizabeth – especially the way you capture the tenor of conversations with your daughter, and your efforts to meet her on an imaginative / child's plane of thought as well as a logical / adult one. It's beautiful. And I'm so glad you quoted form Hallie Bateman, whose work drawing attention to the reasons we should not allow AI to replace real art comforts me too x
Thank you, Anna. Yes, I appreciate Hallie's work. I think of your work too when I think of creativity and wonder through the eyes of a child -- and how these things are deeply human 💚
Have you come across the term 'digital dementia?' I first heard it years ago, and AI is now compounding a problem that began with the genesis of the search engine. When we outsource those neural pathways, we lose them. And what makes me really sad is that we also lose the collateral gleaning of those processes, the by-catch of information gathering. I remember the days when questions were answered by encyclopaedias in a library, in the course of which you would stumble across so many unexpected wonders. Or by asking a friend who wouldn't know but would call their friend who would call an expert that they knew and suddenly you're having a conversation with an entomologist you've never met, connected through this incredible chain of human curiosity.
Ken Robinson was a force of nature, I'm so glad you mentioned him. And that Thomas Merton quote is beautiful. It gave me words for something I've wished I could articulate to more than one person.
Your writing is really lovely: patient, kind, impactful without being didactic. Very pleased to have stumbled across it.
Thank you for your kind words, Anna. No, I'd not heard of digital dementia -- but it puts words to things I've been thinking and noticing. How fascinating to hear about the by-catch of information gathering. I love getting lost in museums and encyclopaedias and conversations and the like -- and a huge part of this is the unexpected discoveries and connections to be made. A by-catch of wonder...what a great image! I'm glad the Thomas Merton quote spoke to you. And I'm so glad you stumbled across my page -- and to have 'met' you through that stumbling 😊
I love this Elizabeth – especially the way you capture the tenor of conversations with your daughter, and your efforts to meet her on an imaginative / child's plane of thought as well as a logical / adult one. It's beautiful. And I'm so glad you quoted form Hallie Bateman, whose work drawing attention to the reasons we should not allow AI to replace real art comforts me too x
Thank you, Anna. Yes, I appreciate Hallie's work. I think of your work too when I think of creativity and wonder through the eyes of a child -- and how these things are deeply human 💚