A.I. postscript...

         Sucked in a bit by all this A.I. stuff, I jumped into an exercise relevant to authorship and all that.

        I put up Copilot and asked it to "Write a 100 word review of 'The Prologue Of Jemma Raglan by T. R. Edmonds' ", and got just about the warmest fuzziest feelgood geez-I-must-be-brilliant 98 word review you could possibly ask for. Who needs the real thing!

        But then I added the word "critical" to "review" and got quickly deflated by what came back, shooting holes in just about everything from style to content.

        I know that A.I. simply draws on available data, both online and from "reading" a mountain of printed matter, but what it puts together is what it "thinks" you want to hear, as it offered to do an even more critical review if that was what I needed (not likely!) and I know that such reviews don't actually exist in the real world.

        So, the whole thing smacks of shortcuts for schoolkids who have to do reports and analyses and don't have the brainpower or go-get-ness to do it the old way. Using your own brain. Godknows what their education will be like, or how many things are put up for marking that sound suspiciously similar.

        Anyway, curious about copyright breach, I asked for an extract from my "Myths, Sins... " novel, and it came back, politely declining (even sounded a touch indignant that I'd even asked) because "...the book doesn't exist publicly..." and set about making up some sci-fi crap about a dodgy renegade machine (that actually came as being a lot like A.I. !!) to make me happy.

        A footnote to all this - quite a while back I toyed with Copilot and simply asked "Can you write a short story?" and back (it's damn fast!) came a 100-150 word bit about a lighthouse keeper. Which wasn't too bad. But curious where it may have got it from, I Googled several unique key words from it, and it took me to this site below...

STEVE'S STORIES

...and a story which reads remarkably similar. Hit the "Stories/Content" tag at the top of the page. What do you make of all this? Did AI steal from Steve, or is Steve simply cranking out A.I. stories by the bucketload? It's a funny old techno world out there my friend.

        Cheers....

                Trev

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The Great Oracle...

         Said before - I love to ask The Great Oracle (Mr A.I. Google) questions, about stuff I don't know. Which is heaps.  Growing daily. No matter how much I ask. Lately...

        What is my deciduous backyard tree that has small soft leaves, no flowers, no thorns, and brittle branches?

        This stumped him (or her). Came back with a bunch of options, none right, no matter how many other descriptors I tried. Told this to Toots (visiting her Olds), she says I've got an app for that (!) and takes a photo of some of its leaves, pokes at the screen, and it says it's a "Robinia Umbraculifera". Dead set right. Apple i-Phone 1 - Great Oracle nil. Now I know what my dying tree is. Geez that's a relief.

Is AI a computer language?

        In a word, no - then blah blah blah Natural Language Processing and more blah blah blah but it still means NO.

Okay, what does a piece of AI code LOOK like?

        Examples of "Python" (not sure who he is, could be Monty) came back, which looks nothing like GWBASIC that I grew up on in 1986, lots of brackets and "array" commands and me not much wiser except - nup, none the wiser.

Right, the biggie - Will AI ever be more intelligent than humans?

        I was just being cheeky. Facetious. Expected something that sounded a bit like "don't be stupid". The answer (bearing in mind this is Mr A.I. himself answering - bighead!) ....
           "Many experts believe AI will achieve or exceed human level intelligence (known as Artificial General Intelligence or AGI) ... could appear in a couple of years, others place it further out, with a 10% chance ... within 9 years and 50% chance within 45 years."
        Geez, sorry I asked.

So, challenge was on - Is AI capable of working out the reason for existence?

        (thinking thinking thinking, then...)  "While AI can process vast amounts of data to provide sophisticated summaries of human philosophical thought, it lacks the subjective experience, consciousness,  and emotional depth required to assign meaning or understand the "why" of existence."

        Why doesn't that make me feel superior?? But I half expected to see at the bottom - "...yet!"

NEXT - Can AI write a book review?

        Apparently, as long as you point it at the sort of thing you want. Which is fair enough, as I know AI gets it's stuff from the internet and from digesting books by the library-full. But it can't come up with  truly original thought. I think. I must try out Copilot in MS Word. Stay tuned.

        Cheers...

                T.R.E. (real human being)

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Disappointing end....

 "SO LATE IN THE DAY" - Claire Keegan (UK/Ire 2023)

        Crestfallen.

        After so much excellence, this one - looking at it in context of the other four - comes across as an opportunistic exercise by the publisher, cashing in on the momentum of her being hot, but I found it unsatisfying, just a bit of blatant bloke-bashing (and okay, this guy needed a bit of bloke-bashing), when heaps of her writing is so much better than this, and surely Faber could've waited for something loftier.

        It's about 9k words, but put out in a bigger font and a down-sized book size, looks more like it's going to be for the ten-year-old market. Just about expect pictures.

        She writes this one as the main male character - a wishy washy adult Dublin accountant - but can't help doing it really from his partner's point of view, a strong-minded French live-in, but I just came away feeling it missed its mark, whatever that was. The writing is good, the story trivial. In my opinion. Waiting with breath held and crest fallen to see what Keegan does next.

        Cheers....

                T.R.E.

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There ya go....

         Wouldn't you know it, ink hardly dry on that tissy little self doubt rant the other day, and a soul lift comes along in the form of one of our 6.30am coffee club mates and a great guy.    

        He's about 80, a refugee kid from middle Europe's Nazi and Commo mayhem, arrived in SA after his family (he's in the middle of 9 kids) was harassed all over, grew up in tough Pt Adelaide times, initially trained as a Catholic Brother but - in his own words - gave that away when he discovered females (he's a dag!), became in time a private High school teacher specialising in English.

        We knew he'd get a badly needed laugh from "Dudley's Career In Cabbages", lent him a copy, came back a few days later clearly taken with it, gave me a decent old charge, made my day.

        There ya go. Sure sign of a totally insecure scribbler.

        Cheers....

                Trev

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How does she do it?

 "SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE" - Claire Keegan (UK/Ire 2021)

        Another long short story (about 22k words), of Ireland's everyday people, this one in about 1985, and again, superb writing.

        It's the week leading up to Christmas in a country town (still heavily influenced by the Catholic church), and we follow the local wood and coal merchant as he does his rounds. Simple as that. But it's what he thinks about, and the couple of incidents he gets caught up in - because he's a decent man - that makes the story.

        They've turned this one into a movie as well, and justifiably so, and I can't wait to get hold of a copy.

        Looking back over these four "books" of hers, right or wrong I get the impression that Keegan has a canny agent, and a lot of support at Faber & Faber, her publisher. The first one ("Antarctica") was a collection of random short stories, some not so short, that incorporated several that made a significant stir in the Irish and British literary circles when put out there, and Faber took a punt and published 15 of her best (at the time), and they sold well on the back of the publicity.

        That led to a repeat in "Walk The Blue Fields", also to some acclaim, so next they took a punt on using a single long-ish story that stands alone well - "Foster" - to put it out as a stand-alone book. Which was then made into a great movie, and she had arrived. On a winning streak, Faber did it again with this one, a long-ish short story that easily stands alone, and again it was made into a movie.

        So, you'd have to conclude that Keegan and her agent and Faber between them have found a whole new publishing niche. I have absolutely no idea if this is how it all went, but long may it continue.

        Last one coming up....

                Cheers.....

                        T.R.E.

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Self doubt - a baleful animal...

        The COMMENTS on/off thing. If you noticed.

        It went like this.

        I finished the latest short story and put it up in The Workshop. Then I did that Mitzi & Duds tribute over in Pandora's Box. Which had me re-reading "Dudley's Career In Cabbages". Compared the two, which got me worried that my craftmanship was slipping, as I found the older one ("...Cabbages") brighter, zippier, looser, easy-flowing, like it had oozed out of the old fingertips in one sitting. Which it didn't, but that's how it felt.

        Then I re-read "The Ballad Of The Unspeakable Son" (tag below), and it seemed - like - heavier. As if it'd been harder work. A bit pedestrian even? I know the subjects are miles apart, one meant to be light and funny, the other a bit sad and poignant.

        Whatever. I came away a touch concerned. Like The Ghost was slipping away from me. Getting tired. And no-one to bounce off.

        It was a bad day.

        So, I decided to turn on the COMMENTS, as if I thought someone "out there" might have an answer. But I slept on it for a couple of days and nights, decided all that was just a touch pathetic, then asked myself - "Would I change how I write and what I write because of someone's comments anyway?"

        Answer of course (being a single-minded type) was - "No." I have always written what I want, did my best, edited it to death, been my own muse, judge, and jury. And too old to change. So I turned it off.

        What else can I say?

        Nup, that's it. Small lesson learnt. Back to the pen, the paper, the keyboard.

            Cheers....

                    Trev

THE BALLAD OF THE UNSPEAKABLE SON

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Keegan No 3....

 "FOSTER" - Claire Keegan (2010 UK)

        I've already commented on this one (below somewhere still), having read it a while back by chance, which was what hooked me onto the movie of it (which we've seen twice and loved, even though it's mostly in Irish with English subtitles, still a great watch), which in turn had me hunting for anything else she's done.

        But I though I'd best stick to the plan and read all five of her books in sequence anyway, and have to say this one is as good as the first time through. At about 18k words, this small gem is somewhere between a long short story and a novella, which is Keegan's way by the look of it, as the next two are both like this one, a long short story done up as a novella.

        I haven't changed my mind on the "Walk The Blue Fields" comments below, this writer, this storyteller, just arrived on Earth with her talent ready to go, and I wouldn't presume to say that she is steadily "improving" as you might expect, they are all as good as each other.

        One of the happy bonuses of my First Edition copy (original cover shown) is that some aspiring young - female I'm positive - literary student has scribbled copious notes all through it. Geez I love that. And I hope that you had a good old scribble on all of mine when you read them. Next one soon...

        Cheers.....

                T.R.E.

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Finished No 2....

"WALK THE BLUE FIELDS" - Claire Keegan (2007 Ire/UK)

        This is the second book of Keegan's in her series of five I'm reading, and doing it in time sequence to get a feel of the development of her writing, and is another collection of short stories, which seems to be her genre.

        She must've started her "serious" creative fiction writing when in about her mid 20's best I can work out, but I have to say it's like she simply arrived with her talent at full perk and hit the ground running, because this one is just as good as the first.

        She has a capacity to find great ways of describing small detail, in people and landscape, such as one gem in this book, introducing the main character to us as "...a bold spear of a woman...". Geez I wish I could come up with that sort of thing a little more often!

        Once again, this is the lives of ordinary people, and some not so ordinary, but even with these you get the feeling that they would see themselves as ordinary. It's a collection of only 8 stories, mainly set in Ireland, and averaging about 7k words. But some of them, again, fairly long for a short story at well over 10k words. Two of her later long stories have been made into movies, being the next two in the sequence, but no idea if she set out with this in mind or it's simply been a great spin-off from good writing.

        Okay, "FOSTER" next, stay tuned....

            Cheers....

                        T.R.E.

ps - re-brained PC humming like total contentment !!  Ahhhh - bliss !!

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Things you ask...

        Don't you just LOVE technology? Yep, when it's bloody-well working!

        The new PC - I put in about eight days setting it up just the way I like it, and then it had a nervous breakdown and had to be sent to the hospital to have a brain transplant. Brilliant!! A big name tower too, 4th one I've had, and no bother with the others.

        So, I reinstated the old one, which was ready to be passed on to a mate, so all my own files are only on backup. So no project work, just blog and research.

        I use Google a heap, as I like to ask questions, and always interesting what their trained AI beast will come up with as it trawls the cosmos for answers. All of which should be weighed and double checked if possible. These are the mixed bag of stuff that has kept me occupied this past week....

< >

What are "cosets"?
        I happened to see this word on the front of someone's Uni papers left lying on the next cafe table. Sorry I asked. Answers might as well have been in Ancient Sanskrit, all Deep Maths stuff. Totally boring.

What does Putin REALLY want?
        Just about sorry I asked this one as well, but no surprises, something about reinventing the USSR with him in Stalin's old chair and dominating Europe.

How many Aussie Bushmasters have been sent to Ukraine? And how many have been destroyed?
        About 120 sent (at about $1m to $2.5m each) but they've only lost about 20 - give or take.

Has Trump ever done military service?
        Prompted by his gaffe dismissing the frontline sacrifices made by the UK in a couple of fields of war recently, at America's side. Google this one yourself if you're interested to know the answer. Oddly enough, it didn't surprise me.

Was Mary Mulvane a real person?
        We re-watched that great 1978 mini-series "Against The Wind" the other night, and was curious about the "real" Mary (played brilliantly by Mary Larkin). It's amazing how many contradictory answers there are about this Irish convict girl - transported in the late 1700s - and her life in the colony of New South Wales during that time when "white" Aus was struggling for survival and identity and a future. You'd have to make up your own mind on this one.

How many Gazans have died since Oct 7 2023, how many of them were kids, and how many actually Hamas fighters?
        About 70,000 total, 20,000 of them kids, 13,000 Hamas fighters.

How many Israeli IDF and how many Israeli kids have died sine Oct 7 2023?
        1.100 Israeli soldiers have died, but there is no comments on how many Israeli kids.

Can happy people write great fiction?
        Ohmygod that opened up a can of worms. If you're at all interested in the (many) answers, give it a shot! Interesting intellectual literary exercise.

Does a 35th wedding anniversary have a name?
        Yep, it's "Coral". NO idea what any of that means, but my dau/s-i-l have theirs this week. Just in case they don't know where they're up to.

Who have been the 10 most influential people of all time?
        Lots of different opinions here, no surprise, but lists include Muhmmad, Jesus. Abraham Lincoln, Hitler, Aristotle, Napoleon, Shakespeare, Gutenberg, Cyrus The Great, Buddha, Confucius, Isaac Newton, Pericles, the Apostle Paul, Mother Theresa.... check it out.

        Well, that's all, just thought I'd share my boring waiting thumb twiddling life. I may take up whittling. Signing off from Old Reliable (re-brained new one starts all over again tomorrow).

        Cheers...

                Trev

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The first of five...

"ANTARCTICA" - Claire Keegan (Ire / UK 1999)

        This is the first of Claire Keegan's published works, a collection of unrelated short stories, and looking like they were written between when she was in her late 20's and early 30's, to some acclaim, and reprinted several times, this edition being in 2023.

        There's no doubt in my mind that Keegan knows how to put a story together, and of the 15 I only skipped over 2 I found that didn't get me going, the rest good to excellent, set mainly in Ireland (where she was born in 1968), in England, and in USA where she has spent a lot of time, including university.

        A couple of my reactions -  males, whether brothers, fathers, husbands - mostly seem to come away looking a touch like shite, several stories have sex as a key or background element of the storyline (she was in her late 20s - back when sex and aspiration  are the primary driving forces of life?), and one or two alluded strongly to the poor treatment of children.

        The story "Men and Women" was probably my favourite, like all of them, cleverly put together, with an obvious mastery of the English language.

        I'm now looking forward to the following ones, that I'll do in date order just to get a feel of the development of her writing, but I don't know anything about any of them, except "Foster" (her fourth), which I'll read again anyway as it's been a while. And I want to hang onto the sense of context.

        Find a copy if you're into short literature, we can all learn much from talent.

        Cheers....

                T.R.E.

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