Place of Refuge

Place of Refuge

04 March 2011

haven't too much to share, only a thought and a tear

 
I've been talking to my students lately
about AI
(artificial intelligence)
and we've talked a lot about the question:
if computers can match us intellectually,
then
what makes us different?

A computer is
the extension of 
our brain;
it is
the collective brain
of the best 
                                      or the worst
of humanity.

It is coming to
maturity
                              now.


Meanwhile

we, the childlike
parents of this fumbling monster
need
a computer to read, need
a computer to add, need
a computer to tell us the weather
and the news
and everything in between.
We're not thinking for ourselves,
and
we're numbed by technological overhaul.


I proposed to the students today
that perhaps if we are to keep in step
with computers,
the next step in the evolution
of humankind
is the psychopath:
he or she
who has not emotion,
only brain;
he or she
can match the computer
byte for bite.

I said to my students:
if I could just get rid
of my heart,
I'd be able to groom my brain
to perfection.

It is my emotion,
my heart, that keeps my mind
from flowering.
If I had no emotion,
then I would be able to match
the machine.

One of the girls looked at me
with fiery eyes,
and said to me later:
That's crazy.
You need your heart
to be my teacher.


And I said:
yes.
The heart is the thing
that makes us
hu
man and woman

that's it--
the heart.
And that
is what
I'll keep.



I'm going away for a few days --
stay warm.

3 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

What a wonderful little student! Have fun on your break!

PENolan said...

Tomorrow in my classroom, I'm going to remember what your student said. We do need our hearts.
xo

Makropoulos said...

Thanks, Debra! And PEN. . . I should have known you were a teacher. Yeah, we need our hearts, and we need to protect them, too. I just fed mine with a good dose of sun! Be well--