So, here we are on the dark side of the information age, where you read something, you find yourself nodding in agreement and then you find out it’s AI. Lying and fakery has become the norm. Truth is almost always disguised. Facts aren’t what they used to be.
What’s real? What’s not?
While I feel good about challenging lies when I’m on solid ground, most of the time it feels like everything I know is built on a foundation of quicksand.
The good news is I’ve become much more comfortable saying I don’t know. And perhaps I will be among the first to tell you this is good relationship advice. You don’t always have to be correct. My husband and I seem to do better when we just accept we’re both clueless.
Before I realized I know nothing, he would say something obviously delusional. I would correct him, and then we’d start arguing until I went upstairs to get on the Internet and prove I’m right. Then he would start questioning my sources, like Wikipedia doesn’t count, and I would find myself defending some troll who saw Elvis last night.
Then it’s all about the art of surrendering. Backing out of a firm stance. Agreeing we were both wrong. It was a misunderstanding. None of it matters, anyway. That seems to be working.
Social situations are more challenging. What with my filter broken, I can’t stay silent when people spew absolute nonsense. I might not know all the facts, but in terms of a moral compass, I know right from wrong, so let’s start there.
These are trying times, and it can be hard to know when to be quiet or when to speak up, but I think most of us figure it out eventually. One thing I’ve learned for sure is friends and acquaintances can still enjoy fulfilling lives without hearing what I think about everything.
I suppose it’s about moderation and self-awareness. Speak up when it counts, muzzle yourself when it doesn’t. My group does a pretty good job managing all that. We eat a little, drink a little, talk about what we’re going to eat next, share pictures of our animals and coo.
It’s not bad. Not bad at all.
And on that note, I leave you with Number 48.
Number 48 is gorgeous. It has such a feeling of movement and flow and life.
Thank you. I love the words you used to describe it — I wouldn’t have known how to characterize it, but you nailed it. Now I have movement, flow and life in my head, and that will help me with my art going forward. Thanks again!
I agree with whatever you say, and that’s final.
See how easy that was?
My filter is broken, too. It`s one of the great gifts of The Third Age.
And not having a job where every word had the potential to impact your livelihood.
Say what you mean, mean what you say & don’t say it mean.
What a great way to say it. I do think learning to say what you mean without being mean is an art form worthy of practice.
I remember hearing someone saying that we live in a post truth world and thinking they were spot on. What I didn’t expect was how spot on. I am pretty fussy about the sources I consider sound, but it can be hard work to have to research every little thing back through sources. I agree with finding somewhere you can avoid contentious stuff, so you have the energy to fight what battles you can.
No 48 is lovely – my favourite bit is the howling dog 🙂
The amount of false information is startling. At least we are smart enough to check our sources!
I can’t decide what my favorite part of number 48 is because it’s all so lovely. If snakes really looked like that, I don’t think I’d dislike them so much. You’d definitely see them coming.
The snake did come out kind of cute! The skunk looks mean — I think that’s because we believe skunks (or possibly racoons) tore up our lawn looking for grubs, and I was harboring a little resentment.
That happened to my son’s front lawn. His was crows. The crows mangled several yards in their neighborhood. I’d never seen that before.
I love #48 with all the interesting figures. It has a bit of harvest time with the corn and squash. I think the howling coyote is my favorite as he makes me chuckle. You are right on about living in a time where it’s difficult to know when to keep our mouths shut or speak up. Currently, I want to speak up with a loud voice for all those who are being silenced. I usually try to keep my mouth closed when I’m eating. Btw, my first loaf of sourdough turned out beautiful and delicious. Thanks for the encouragement to give it a try.
I’m really happy with the way the corn turned out!
Wonderful to hear your bread turned out great. That makes me happy. The maintenance takes a little effort, but it’s worth it.
I just started a course on AI, to learn a bit more about it. I known flaw with AI is it can “hallucinate”. That’s a nice way of saying it makes up stuff that’s probably not true. Scary as it will “state it with confidence”. The person presenting the topic said he asked AI to tell him about himself (used his name not “himself”). And only half the bio was correct. And he should know as it was “himself”! I guess its more true than ever, you can’t trust what you read on the internet! (Oh, his solution was you need to use critical thinking… and check the sources of data.)
Hello? Earth to Donna. Hope everything is okay. Keep looking for a new post!
Thank you for the nudge — I’m back!