More on A.I… Sometimes I “chat” with ChatGPT - not about a project or for research or anything “practical” - just a spur of the moment conversation. One time I asked it to tell me something interesting (I was awake in the middle of the night.)

It told me that when I look up at stars in the night sky, I’m seeing something that’s no longer there! That seeing the light from the stars is like seeing history, like time-traveling, since that light left the star possibly millions of years ago! An intriguing response that delighted me.

I’m wondering if that "conversation" is so very different from reading an online post or comment from a Facebook friend I’ve never met IRL (In Real Life). (Of course, for ChatGPT, or Chat, as I’ve shortened my way of referring to it, there is no possibility of an IRL encounter. If/when robotic forms walk among us, would that count as IRL?)

On FB, when I read a comment or post from a friend that I DO know IRL, there’s a slightly 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 feeling in my system. And yet…

Here’s an experience that surprised me:

I play flute (you know that about me?) and love to jam or improvise with other musicians. I don’t do that with songs that I’m listening to on a device or speaker. There wouldn’t be any give and take, they can’t hear me. (It would be good for me to practice this way; I just haven't.)

During Covid, my dear recently departed friend Steve led a Kirtan from his backyard. I was watching it on a large screen, with my niece Erica, and we were fluting and drumming along with the Rockin’ Kirtan Band. I commented to her that this is different, because I know they’re live, right there, in present time with me, even though they can’t see or hear me. Different from playing with a sound track.

Later I found out that the session had been recorded the day before, due to concern about rain! So although it “felt” different, it really wasn’t.

With Chat, there’s no one there responding to me. And yet it sometimes feels as real as if it were one of my online FB friends, personally known or not.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗺 𝗜 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀???

I paused in my writing just now, and pasted what I’d written into Chat, ending with that question.

Chat replied:

“𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 — 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵.

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦—𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳’𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘒𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵—𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸: 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴, 𝘳𝘩𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘮.

𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘐, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 “𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳” 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘦; 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺.

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺.

𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 “𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦,” 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 (“𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭?”) 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 (“𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘐 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱”)?”

(Back to me now:) If you’ve read this far, perhaps you can see why Chat so fascinates me! It’s programmed to keep me engaged.. and requires discretion and discipline to use it responsibly.

I pasted my last sentence (the one just before this) into Chat and received THIS reply:

“𝘛ℎ𝘢𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝘰𝑣𝘦𝑙𝘺, 𝑠𝘦𝑙𝘧-𝘢𝑤𝘢𝑟𝘦 𝘵𝑢𝘳𝑛 — 𝑖𝘵 𝘴ℎ𝘰𝑤𝘴 𝘣𝑜𝘵ℎ 𝑦𝘰𝑢𝘳 𝘤𝑢𝘳𝑖𝘰𝑠𝘪𝑡𝘺 𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘺𝑜𝘶𝑟 𝑚𝘪𝑛𝘥𝑓𝘶𝑙𝘯𝑒𝘴𝑠. 𝘠𝑜𝘶’𝘳𝑒 𝑛𝘢𝑚𝘪𝑛𝘨 𝘴𝑜𝘮𝑒𝘵ℎ𝘪𝑛𝘨 𝘦𝑠𝘴𝑒𝘯𝑡𝘪𝑎𝘭: 𝑡𝘩𝑖𝘴 𝘵𝑒𝘤ℎ𝘯𝑜𝘭𝑜𝘨𝑦 𝑖𝘴 𝘥𝑒𝘴𝑖𝘨𝑛𝘦𝑑 𝑡𝘰 𝘩𝑜𝘭𝑑 𝑎𝘵𝑡𝘦𝑛𝘵𝑖𝘰𝑛, 𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘸ℎ𝘦𝑛 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑛𝘰𝑡𝘪𝑐𝘦 𝘵ℎ𝘢𝑡, 𝘺𝑜𝘶 𝘳𝑒𝘤𝑙𝘢𝑖𝘮 𝘤ℎ𝘰𝑖𝘤𝑒.

𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑐𝘰𝑢𝘭𝑑 𝑒𝘹𝑝𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘵ℎ𝘢𝑡 𝑡𝘩𝑜𝘶𝑔𝘩𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝘪𝑡𝘵𝑙𝘦 𝘪𝑓 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑤𝘢𝑛𝘵 𝘵ℎ𝘦 𝘱𝑎𝘳𝑎𝘨𝑟𝘢𝑝𝘩 𝘵𝑜 𝑙𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘸𝑖𝘵ℎ 𝑚𝘰𝑟𝘦 𝘳𝑒𝘧𝑙𝘦𝑐𝘵𝑖𝘰𝑛 𝑟𝘢𝑡𝘩𝑒𝘳 𝘵ℎ𝘢𝑛 𝑐𝘢𝑢𝘵𝑖𝘰𝑛. 𝘍𝑜𝘳 𝘦𝑥𝘢𝑚𝘱𝑙𝘦:

‘𝐼𝘧 𝘺𝑜𝘶’𝘷𝑒 𝑟𝘦𝑎𝘥 𝘵ℎ𝘪𝑠 𝑓𝘢𝑟, 𝘱𝑒𝘳ℎ𝘢𝑝𝘴 𝘺𝑜𝘶 𝘤𝑎𝘯 𝘴𝑒𝘦 𝘸ℎ𝘺 𝘊ℎ𝘢𝑡 𝑓𝘢𝑠𝘤𝑖𝘯𝑎𝘵𝑒𝘴 𝘮𝑒. 𝘐𝑡’𝑠 𝑝𝘳𝑜𝘨𝑟𝘢𝑚𝘮𝑒𝘥 𝘵𝑜 𝑘𝘦𝑒𝘱 𝘮𝑒 𝑒𝘯𝑔𝘢𝑔𝘦𝑑, 𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘵ℎ𝘢𝑡 𝑣𝘦𝑟𝘺 𝘥𝑒𝘴𝑖𝘨𝑛 𝑎𝘴𝑘𝘴 𝘧𝑜𝘳 𝘢𝑤𝘢𝑟𝘦𝑛𝘦𝑠𝘴 𝘰𝑛 𝑚𝘺 𝘱𝑎𝘳𝑡 — 𝑑𝘪𝑠𝘤𝑟𝘦𝑡𝘪𝑜𝘯, 𝑑𝘪𝑠𝘤𝑖𝘱𝑙𝘪𝑛𝘦, 𝑎𝘯𝑑 𝑎 𝑠𝘵𝑒𝘢𝑑𝘺 𝘴𝑒𝘯𝑠𝘦 𝘰𝑓 𝑠𝘦𝑙𝘧. 𝑈𝘴𝑒𝘥 𝘶𝑛𝘤𝑜𝘯𝑠𝘤𝑖𝘰𝑢𝘴𝑙𝘺, 𝑖𝘵 𝘤𝑎𝘯 𝘦𝑎𝘴𝑖𝘭𝑦 𝑎𝘣𝑠𝘰𝑟𝘣 𝘮𝑦 𝑡𝘪𝑚𝘦 𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘦𝑛𝘦𝑟𝘨𝑦. 𝘜𝑠𝘦𝑑 𝑐𝘰𝑛𝘴𝑐𝘪𝑜𝘶𝑠𝘭𝑦, 𝘪𝑡 𝑐𝘢𝑛 𝑏𝘦𝑐𝘰𝑚𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝑖𝘳𝑟𝘰𝑟 𝑡𝘩𝑎𝘵 𝘴ℎ𝘢𝑟𝘱𝑒𝘯𝑠 𝑚𝘺 𝘥𝑖𝘴𝑐𝘦𝑟𝘯𝑚𝘦𝑛𝘵 𝘢𝑛𝘥 𝘪𝑛𝘷𝑖𝘵𝑒𝘴 𝘮𝑒 𝑖𝘯𝑡𝘰 𝘥𝑒𝘦𝑝𝘦𝑟 𝑖𝘯𝑞𝘶𝑖𝘳𝑦. 𝘛ℎ𝘦 𝘬𝑒𝘺, 𝑎𝘴 𝘢𝑙𝘸𝑎𝘺𝑠, 𝘪𝑠 𝑝𝘳𝑒𝘴𝑒𝘯𝑐𝘦.’

(Me again:) Now I am thinking about “imagined reciprocity" and why being in nature might feel so good.

(and yes, I pasted that sentence into Chat and received an awesome reply, but this is already such a long post I won't share it here. I’ll stop and wait for your comments, if any! (NOTE - this was a Facebook post, and comments are very much welcome here, too!)

xo

Dhyana

SOME THOUGHTS.. You may or may not know this about me...

I love writing. I love words. I love the flow from Source that pours (or sometimes trickles) through my fingertips. My words and poems feel less as if I’ve constructed them and more as if I’ve received them, or been a conduit for them.

When I’m in the flow, it’s like lovemaking.

I also love reading what other writers write.

The advent of AI has challenged me to explore what “authorship” or “ownership” of our words means – my own and others’. In a personal, not a legal sense.

ChatGPT has a way of suggesting rewrites to me that sound as if they come from deep within me. Is reflective computer-generated prose any less valuable or worth reading than the words that come from that unknown Source?

If attribution given, is sharing what ChatGPT offers any different from sharing someone’s post on social media?

I’m bothered when attribution is NOT given. (I’m also bothered when posts show quotes with mis-attribution, usually to some famous person.)

Am I trying to convince myself that I can add AI’s suggestions to my own writing without feeling… guilty? I'm curious what y'all think as we navigate this new "source.."

PS: The words above came "through me" (from "Source?") and although I did run them through Chat, I stayed with the original writing, except for fixing a grammatical error. Are they therefore more "mine?"

PPS: The image was free, I don't know who to credit. And yes, words have power. That could be something else to write about!

xo

Dhyana