The woman on Facebook said I didn’t understand her comment and accused me of being sarcastic.  I thought I was engaging in subtle teaching.  She needed to see what she’d written made no sense and that blaming others for misunderstanding her wasn’t kosher.  The person who send

“I’m back to magical thinking,” the woman emailed. She was expecting a devastating medical report after a series of tests. The reply I sent back came after a moment of pondering. “I’m imagining the doctors have misread the original data. It happened to me.” To give false h

Are writers soon to be replaced by Artificial intelligence (AI)?  A reader sent me an article that raised the question. Its genesis came from a story about a man who wrote a children’s book using AI. Once released, reports of the publication raised hoopla in the writing community.

The article I was reading posed the question, “Can we prove the world isn’t a simulation?”  (by David J. Chalmers, Nautilus, Issue 42, pgs. 47.)  It’s a tech version of a long-established philosophical conundrum, “Can you prove you’re not asleep?” After finishing the a

Bear cubs in California are displaying an alarming affection for humans. Victims of brain encephalitis, their behavior seems cute, but it could cost them their lives. Some with the illness are lucky enough to be adopted by a wildlife refuge or zoo. The rest are euthanized because they

For the last two weeks, I’ve been grappling with computer problems. Eventually, I had to replace the hard drive, which posed its own difficulties.  This week, I’m restoring passwords and codes for my accounts with limited success. For some reason, that little drop box that enable

Given the many life and death threats facing our species, an algorithm to help identify which challenges are imminent and which can wait five minutes sounds great. Unfortunately, technology is part of the problem. The more we rely on it, the more we are likely to find ourselves in a d

A reader directed me to an article in the October issue of The Atlantic, John Seabrook’s comments on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and creative writing. Could machines learn to write better than professionals, it asked. I’ll probably go on foraging for ideas from this piece for a w

I’m a fan of J. K. Rawling’s and hope to see her newest fantastic beasts film soon.  Still, when I stop to consider, we humans are fantastic beasts, too.  Artificial Intelligence (AI) won’t be a threat to us in the near future, if ever.  The reason is we harbor my

With so much political turmoil around the globe, much of it spawned by our President, I wonder if anyone is thinking about the future? All this concern for North Korea’s and Iran’s nuclear capabilities, for example. How does it compare to the growing cyber threat?  Are nuclea