On the road...again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek



Artificial Intelligence Is Capricious 

It would be a great temptation to use the whole of AI source material as a quick, easy way to answer a question, inspire a nascent theme, or create artwork for which the author may consciously or unconsciously claim credit.  Instead of making us more intelligent as a species, AI is setting us up to become deluded and intellectually lazy.

Make no mistake about it, AI is here to stay, and it does make things easier to understand, faster to respond, and is encouragingly ubiquitous.  But don't confuse it with FactCheck for All Seasons, for All Reasons.  AI has not yet learned how to distinguish fact from fiction.  It could be a boon to fake news.  And the editorializing being programmed into some AI systems is alarming.  AI can also be amusing to read.

AI apparently does not have a category for comedy

As a chronicler at heart, the Footloose Forester is most interested in sharing true stories with his readers.  Admittedly, he sought out the wild places, the remote places, and led most of his life as a lone wolf, content to take on challenges alone, if there was nobody interested in joining him. And with the tremendous advantages of jet travel and other modes of modern transport to and through 114 countries and territories spanning over 60 years, the Footloose Forester also had interests in history and cultures that became snippets of stories to share with others.  On the road...again! was the masthead of his Chronicles of a Footloose Forester, and for good reason. 

The shocking reality of delving into AI has been the sheer volume of editorial content that has been pre-packaged and programmed within AI systems.  In developing algorithms to meet the expectations of AI users, the faceless and personality-free AI answers to some questions reveal that AI does not distinguish fact from fiction, and easily falls for satire and parody as serious rhetoric.  But because the Footloose Forester was born with both snark and sarcasm dominant genes, he has a bent for writing, on occasion, a chronicle which he files in his Humor category.  There is a certain amount of mischief in some of his stories, but there is always a purpose in his writings.  Sometimes it is a Note to Self, or a Life Lesson, as interpreted by the introspective Footloose Forester.