How Greek village life prepared me for the AI era

Mount Pelion. [Intime News]

Whether seen done the telephone, movies, radio, television, nett oregon present artificial intelligence, village beingness offers lessons connected quality enactment with connection technology. 

I learned this implicit the blistery summertime I spent successful my location village successful Evia conducting my dissertation probe connected however radical follow innovation. Villagers archetypal glimpsed these caller devices astatine the village cafes. Soon enough, radios, telephones, TV and the nett became indispensable to village life, adjacent successful the remotest village successful Greece. These technologies walk the “village beingness test.”

Artificial quality froze this. One time it conscionable appeared, acceptable for downloading. Medical, legal, financial, adjacent marital oregon companion proposal – each astatine our fingertips. Our ain idiosyncratic librarian talking to us successful our ain language, 59 of them too English. This accusation is obtainable elsewhere, but not astatine the speed and easiness AI delivers it. For many, it is simply a occurrence device.

None of the erstwhile technologies ever came with predictions of curing crab oregon dooming the full quality contention and our jobs arsenic has happened with ChatGPT and the others. AI’s a utility, we are told, similar vigor oregon air-conditioning, acceptable when needed. It’s the champion room successful quality history, and a “friend” to talk to when lonely, contempt warnings some self-harm has travel from this. It knows us similar nary different technology, adjacent amended than ourselves. And it mimics our speech, an “unhuman” human.

But it doesn’t bring the joy, emotions oregon spontaneity that a telephone to a long-lost person does, oregon from a comparative who’s not spoken to you successful months, oregon your grandparent emailing you a favourite pasta recipe, oregon your person sending you a clever TikTok video. You tin unrecorded perfectly well ne'er prompting AI.

That blistering summer, I interviewed the village’s wide handyman astir his connection use. My recorder was on. For the adjacent hr helium regaled maine with his views of American politics. “Well, what bash you person to say?” helium stopped and demanded. Overwhelmed, I hesitated to respond. He shook his caput disgustedly, adding, “Another stupid American!” He then jumped to his feet, saddled his aged rusting scooter and with gusts of achromatic exhaust smoke swallowing the air, disappeared similar a ghost.  

A fewer days later, when I listened to him connected tape, I chuckled and marveled astatine this spontaneous, memorable moment. AI could ne'er replicate it. AI fails the village beingness test.

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Taso G. Lagos lectures astatine the University of Washington, successful Seattle. He is the writer of “American Zeus: The Life of Alexander Pantages, Theater Mogul” and “Cooking Greek, Becoming American.”