What real friends are for

Just read a piece

by Shirley Belk

which is without doubt the best thing I have read all week. It is a very short piece, delightful, magical and inspirational. It also reminds us of what matters to us as writers.

On which basis, I hope Shirley will accept the prestigious:

TOP STORY OF THE WEEK AWARD

Congratulations to Shirley, a $5 tip is on its way to you on behalf of all your Vocal Media community friends. Thanks for sharing a little bit of magic and fascination.

Read it now.

I hope you get as much from it as I did.

Shirley's story asks what our little fascinations are. Fascinations are the odd little things that seem to fascinate us. Little magical things that often capture our imaginations. Imagination is the magical gift we use to dream up the stories we write and share. Its importance cannot be exaggerated, since we not only use this magic as writers, we use it in every aspect of exploring, interpreting and recreating the real world we interact with at every moment in our lives. From the earliest days when our sense of sound comes alive in our mother's womb, we start to imagine what those strange things we hear can possibly mean. As we tumble into the harsh, cold, unprotected world outside we start to imagine what those upside down jigsaw images that splash around in our brains can possibly be. It takes a while to resolve them into moving images of the world. This use of imagination to resolve the electromagnetic rays bombarding our eyes, every living moment, into meaningful pictures, is something we take for granted.

For a power so powerful, we often neglect to nourish our imaginations. I see people rushing to the gym each day to exercise their bodies. Absolutely a good thing to do but what about exercising our imaginations?

Imagination is everything

So what's with the bit in the subhead about lichens? One of the things I hate about getting older is that I am starting to notice an increasing level of cognitive impairment. I forget things, I forget how to spell words, I am losing words.

When Shirley asked us what our fascinations are, I wanted to say mine include mushrooms, moss and ....... Damn! What's that word I am looking for? Had I been in a room with a friend, or a loved one, I would have asked

What's that green stuff you often see on trees? You know... no... not moss... that other stuff....

But of course I did have a friend the room. One that is always available whenever I have access to a computer, phone, or other 'smart' device. I often refer to products like Google Gemini as my 'AI friend' and it is. Not in the sense that people are my friends, of course. My AI friend is something I often turn to for a snippet of information, to check on spelling or usage, to do some quick and dirty research, among various other uses. Does this make me a cheat, a thief, a copier, does it mean I am putting Hollywood actors out of work? Am I encouraging AI to take over the world and destroy humanity? Judge me as you will, I find Gemini and other such products useful. Why? Becuase they do the job I ought to jealously guard as my own? No! AI will never replace me as a writer because it does not have the magic, it does not have the fascination, it does not have the imagination, it is not human it is not intelligent, it is just a bit of computer software.

So, no, I do not use AI to write my stories for me. Not because I am an honest person (I like to think I am), but because I can do a much, much, better job of it. I know that because I have spent time and effort researching and testing the capability of products like Gemini. In short, I know what I am talking about because I have done the leg work.

In short, I use Gemini because I can interact with it using natural language. I have often said I will start to believe in the power of computers and computer technology when they learn to speak Ray, rather than me having to learn every new bloody 'smart' product they bring out. Now, it seems, they can.

Thanks to Shirley for the inspiration to write this, and thanks to my AI pal(s) for doing the leg work and saving me the job of popping down the charity shop and buying the entire bloody Encyclopaedia Britannica in order to help me remember one little word that escaped my brain for a bit.

And thanks to all those who have read my ramblings.

I love you all