Child’s example gives us hope for contending with the intrusion of technology
Plus FTW - Artisan / Artisanal
QUICKBYTE: Kid shows the way by being truly human
Following Monday’s more gloomy set of stories, comes one of hope. An AI evangelist bought a stuffed toy that had an AI driven voice built in, as a Christmas present for his 6 year old daughter. He couldn’t understand why she wasn’t delighted with the AI part of it, contenting herself with turning the AI voice off repeatedly, and playing with the cuddly stuffed dinosaur part of the toy instead. The father persisted and appeared to learn nothing from his exchanges with his daughter. She persisted longer, as children often do. She did what children have for centuries, maybe millennia: used her imagination to create scenarios for her and the toy, often caring for it like one would for a baby. Maybe it is not too late; maybe our children and grand-children can be the parent for humankind.
FTW - Artisan / Artisanal
My Forget This Word section is based upon my observation that we live in an era where new cliched words are springing up faster than ever, often obliterating the original denotation, with a very large sudden take up by nearly everyone. My proposition is that technology has greatly accelerated a normal, much slower societal force, at least in English, for the flavour of words to shift somewhat over time. To my ear it lends a peculiar automatonic note to human discourse. Technology, which was once believed to create more space for human differences, instead promotes conformance and obedience. For instance, is there any restaurant in the English speaking world where the server does NOT reappear after the expediter has dropped off your menu choices and say in a hurried pleasant tone, “How are your first few bites tasting?’
This week my word of choice for forgetting is Artisan / Artisanal, a worthy and related follow for curate. This word’s changed usage has followed the same process of piggybacking on a term with power and dignity, to try to gain new stature and importance for something relatively mundane, like Subway’s sandwich artisans or the making of strawberry jam.
Artisan is a word that has be used for centuries to mean skilled and trained in the arts. One’s mind can envision the long apprenticeship of silversmiths or weavers in medieval guilds being deserving of the artisanal label. True talent and skill developed from long experience and mentorship. I can show anyone how to make fool proof strawberry jam in about 20 minutes.
Unfortunately it now seems to mean anything that isn’t mass produced regardless of the talent or prowess needed to make the end product. However, the sandwich line at Subway is a form of mass production known as the assembly line. Artisanal is an overused marketing term now devoid of meaning and power. So you are not really curating an artisanal charcuterie board when we drop by for a glass of wine and snacks.
Thanks for those of you that opened the email and read this far. Much appreciated. Actually my open rate is about twice that of the other publications on Substack so I am truly thankful.
Be back Monday with so more Tart Takes on Today’s Technology Stories. Drop me any feedback you like. David