AI
🧐
I used AI to translate some old poetry. I’d been collecting use cases for AI, and I ran across another one while reading World Poetry. I asked Claude for help understanding some of the poems, and it was especially helpful for modernizing the language in Edmund Spenser’s “Prothalamion.” It also gave me some background info on the poem (which checked out), and I was intrigued by the idea of mythologizing a real-world event like the marriages Spenser was commemorating.
Spirituality
🤔
A possible panhandling encounter at the grocery store sparked reflection. As I was returning my cart, a man approached me speaking in such a thick accent I couldn’t understand a single word. After a confused back-and-forth he walked away in resignation, just after trying one last time with something that sounded like “I lost my job.” So I figured he was looking for at least a handout, but my slow brain was thrown off by the confusion even more than regular panhandling would have done, and I let him leave without help.
It definitely felt like a failed test, but it got me to think about how to handle these kinds of random situations. In this case I might ideally try to offer the person something and see how they respond. Later I wondered if I could’ve asked him to speak his primary language to see if ChatGPT could translate for us.
Movies
💭
Marvel’s Eternals sparked my curiosity about my version of a cosmic mythology. It occurred to me that any fictional creation will have its own characteristic slant on everything in its world. My sense is that the Marvel universe is full of superpowered mutants and extraterrestrials using science and magic that blend into each other, so when Marvel turns its gaze to religion and cosmology, they also tend to take on that shape. So if I applied my own aesthetic and thematic preferences across a universe, what would that look like? I might find out, since my memory project seems to be expanding into a whole worldbuilding endeavor.
🤨
Spider-Man: No Way Home highlighted the promise and perils of impulsive good will. Peter Parker is always eager to do what he can to help other people, but with great power comes the great responsibility not only to do good but also to think through your plans, the lack of which kicked off the story’s main problem. The resolution came with a somewhat more considered but no less drastic solution. Having said all that, as someone who tends to hang back in caution and pessimism, I may adopt Peter’s “I’m on it!” as my new inner pep talk.
