Bruno Chaouat, professor of French and Jewish Studies at the University of Minnesota, has written an illuminating article on ChatGPT (you can read it by clicking here). His immediate concern is that students write their own papers rather than having ChatGPT “write” them. How can he teach his students to think for themselves if they let algorithms do the “thinking” for them? The “T” in ChatGPT stands for “transformer,” but it’s hard to see how using algorithms to write a paper “transforms” anything. All it does is regurgitate. Dr. Chaouat writes:
“ChatGPT concerns the essence of learning, which, along with reading and writing, pertains to the realm of experience. Experience is transformative: If I climb a mountain, I will not be the same person after my experience as before. I will have gone through a physical and mental effort and have presumably taken some risks. (“Experience” shares the same root as “peril.”) … To read (and to think and write) is to flirt with the abyss. When we read a monumental book, we are not guided by GPS. We are in uncharted territory and must surrender ourselves to the guidance of the author.”
Two weeks ago I climbed Mt. Whitney with two friends, and I for one am still recovering my physical strength. Having struggled for three weeks on the John Muir Trail to reach that mountain, crossing snowbound passes and swollen rivers, carrying my pack up steep trails littered with shattered trees and rocks, asking myself each morning how I could keep going for two more weeks, I am a changed man. The physical exertions have changed my body, and the mental strain has changed my thinking. The severe beauty of three weeks in the Sierra Nevada has made me more human, and closer to the divine.
Climbing a mountain is a human experience. AI is not a human experience. It’s one more removal of ourselves from experience. The foot, being shod, feels not the earth as the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins pointed out. Climbing a mountain, or writing an original thought, on the other hand, is transformative. Working through things ourselves rather than having “the government” or “technology” do it for us, exposing ourselves to calculated risks so as to discover things, transforms us. We become more like God, who made us in His image by endowing us with intellect and will, by actually using those gifts. The good news is that we are free. We can simply say “no thanks” to government agencies that want to act for us, and we can simply refuse technologies that want to think for us. We can write our own papers.
Most backpackers bring GPS technology into the wilderness these days. We made the conscious decision to rely only on a map and a compass (we also wanted to save money). One of us, misreading the map, got lost for a day. Neither he nor the other two of us were the same persons when we found each other 24 hours later. We realized how fragile we are in the cosmos, how stubborn and stupid we can be, and how much God provides for us. We are most grateful to the park rangers and other hikers who helped us find the lost hiker, and it was a truly human experience. A GPS would have pointed out the trail for us every three feet, but it was better for us to use our intellects and our wills, and to accept the help of other people, to find the path.
Dr. Chaouat’s article on ChatGPT is instructive, and Gerard Manley Hopkin’s poem, ”God’s Grandeur,” is beautiful:
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.
I’m a Both/And Catholic. Both map/compass And gps….
A compass is manmade, but natural, and magnetic, aligned with the earth’s magnetic field. Love the idea of abandoning GPS and hate the growing prevalence of AI and ChatGPT. Hate “conversing” with an artificial man-made thing– that is not real. Potentially very dangerous. I am reminded of what happened in the 1968 movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” when the computer, HAL 9000 broke down…. I actually had nightmares about that movie. We discussed this movie in a group at our church, with our Pastor, a priest from Ireland. Is our Space Program safe? What could happen, with man’s technological development, in the future? Does God want us to do this– how far should mankind go, with science and technology? Technology is artificial, not made by God, it is manmade… Better for mankind to learn to deeply, intimately understand the natural world, and live and work within it, as mankind has done for centuries, according to God’s design. God made the natural world and mankind, to naturally exist all together, according to a great and mysteriously beautiful, natural, perfect Divine design. Our Catholic Faith teaches us that God is “immanent and transcendent,” He is everywhere, no matter where we go, on this whole planet. We are never truly “alone,” or “lost.” Best to get close to God, He is guiding our every footstep. He knows the way, always, and is our best Guide. Get out of unnatural, stressful, manmade, urban, “city life,” and return to natural, real life. Of course, we can use God’s gifts in medicine, science and technology… but these disciplines should be guided by God. As for the end of the movie, “2001:A Space Odyssey”– when we die, our souls go naturally to a Loving God Who cradles us always, like a child, in His Divine Heart. But also, He has a Divine Plan, with good, Divine reasons, beyond human understanding, for each soul…Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory… Manmade modern science cannot possibly understand Almighty and Eternal God, Who created the universe, and exists eternally and changelessly, apart from Time, and the material world. Science is an extremely limited, manmade discipline.
“Both/And”…a term Pope Benedict XVI used brilliantly on several occasions.
Just so.
Many long years ago, when I was age 13, our family decided to take our summer vacation in a tiny Alpine mountain village, high in a mountain range, over 7,000 feet above sea level. We lived in a semi-rural area, over a mile high. But this area was even higher. Early one morning, on that vacation, my dad went fishing, and I went along to enjoy the beautiful scenery– I did not like to fish. Everyone else stayed at the cabin. While he was busy fishing, I explored the area. Pretty soon, I realized that I was lost. I frantically tried to find my way back to where my dad was. But the area was very dense with trees and foliage, with very steep mountains– extremely untouched by mankind, and pristine. No paths, nothing. As the day wore on, evening came, the temperature dropped drastically, and I was very, very cold. I had tirelessly plodded up and then down the sides of many steep mountains, making my way, crossing little streams– and wondering what I could do– was a rescue team perhaps sent out by now? What would be the best thing to do, so that they could find me? I suddenly felt wrapped in a loving, Divine Presence, glowing with light. I felt very physically light, like I could slip away, and be drawn up to Heaven, with God. It was so beautiful. I was sure that my Guardian Angels were helping me, unseen. I thought at first, that maybe I would like to remain in this beautiful state, with God, permanently– was that possible? No– I needed to get found. My family would be absolutely frantic. And then, it occurred to me, that maybe I should sing. I had a well-developed voice, vocally-trained. If I could sing, and project my voice properly, perhaps someone could hear me, and find me. So, I began to sing, and my songs echoed off all the mountains. Pretty soon, I heard searchers calling my name, and it echoed all over the mountains. I exclaimed “Here I am!” and waved my arms towards the skies, frantically. But soon, their calls stopped. So I kept on singing. I was brrrr-cold. Then, by around 4am, a tall young fellow in a white jacket appeared, and a whole team of searchers from the Forest Service, plus volunteers, surrounded me, sitting on a big rock in a clearing (so they could better see me) by a pretty stream. I was overjoyed. They all hugged me, put a warm coat around me, and gave me some brandy, and told me to drink it. I was scared. Was that okay? I had never had brandy before. They said it would help me, and warm me up. They took me to my parents and family, who were all overjoyed. Everyone was so glad, that not one scary, wild animal– not even one bear or cougar, nor any other wild animal– had even come near me. My family were all in tears of gratitude. My mom said I was protected by my Guardian Angels– and that many people had been praying for me, all night long, around a big campfire. We then really did see some wild animals– a huge group of beautiful deer appeared out of seemingly nowhere, in a nearby meadow. After that, I always paid close attention to my surroundings– and I never got lost again.
Well, I had a few exclamation points (!) that were removed, in my comment of Sept. 3 at 9:05pm. Why? It is very natural and nornal, to write something like, “I was overjoyed!” with an exclamation point at the end! If you write in a “deadpan” style, devoid of feeling– you sound like a kid in school, learning to write, who cannot express themselves properly— and the teacher has to help them. In the professional writing world, most editors would not print a story written completely “deadpan,” without feeling. The Cal Catholic editors are strangely hyper-critical of a commenter’s exclamation points– but have no interest to correct spelling errors.
They used to post their policies but I do not see it now.
AND St. Bernard would surely approve of the brandy. The dogs named after him are “notorious” for carrying a keg.
and don’t forget, “Red sky in the morning sailor take warning, red sky at night sailor’s delight.”
Oh– the tiny Alpine village and surrounding mountainous area where I got lost, is 8,050 feet above sea level. I do not do well, healthwise, at high altitudes– to live in an area that is at a lower elevation, or at sea level, is best for my health.
I love your story and Fr. Illo’s too. I have been lost many a time, and through St. Anthony’s and other saintly intercessions was found.
(Laughter).
Once my daughter and her friend wanted me to take them to a clothing outlet on the outskirts of San Francisco. I did not realize until we were almost there that my daughter had no address. All she knew was that it was by the water just before one got into the city. Well, we found it by asking a stranger who told us it was a few blocks away.
Another time a relative led me in his car to a new church, then took off. When I was going home, (to be cont.)
Love St. Anthony. He has always helped me a great deal, too. One time, a lady at church lost her kitty. Everyone felt so bad for her. I said, “Let’s make a Novena to St. Anthony. He will help find your kitty.” So we did. Close to the final day of the Novena, the lady burst into the church, with tears running down her face. Her kitty was suddenly found. She couldn’t believe it! We all were overjoyed for her. I love the stories of the miracles of St. Anthony — especially, the one where Baby Jesus appeared in his arms, and the one where the donkey knelt before the Blessed Sacrament.
Well, again, the editors removed my exclamation points, expressing emotion, in my comment of Sept. 6 at 1:52am. What’s wrong with writing something like “Love St. Anthony!” Or, “We all were overjoyed for her!” At least, the editors left one exclamation point intact, at the end of my sentence, “She couldn’t believe it!” I only use exclamation points, when appropriate, and never over-use them. I think it is absurd, for editors to remove them! Editors of comments ought to instead correct spelling errors, before printing a comment. That would be very helpful!
I think everyone ought to be able to use as many exclamation points to highlight their babyish and immature comments as they wish! Commenters should be well educated, of impeccable morals, and respectful of their elders!
Cont.
As I was going home, I was not sure I had turned the right direction, so I stopped, got out of my car, looked at the sky to see where it was according to the time on my car clock and figured out the right direction to go home. Needless to say, this method does not work at night.
I have gone through other more harrowing experiences with more “miraculous” endings, but there is not enough time to write about all of them, and others need to post theirs.
I do not understand the temptation of climbing mountains.
Clearly you have never climbed a mountain.
The gravest error here is that man could have invented AI or GPS or any other technology without God’s help.
The real discernment is not to eschew the technology but to use it as God’s intends.
God gave to mankind a brain, and creative, inventive abilities. This world, even our bodies, and our minds– all belong to God, our Creator. Whatever venture we undertake, while on earth, we ought to rightly first ask Divine Guidance, for optimal results. Some great scientists, writers, artists, composers, etc., have actually done that, invoked God’s guidance in prayer, every morning– with tremendous results! It is a grave error, to ignore or avoid God, in the creative process– which belongs to God.
Fr Illo thinks he had it rough, but I once braved the California DMV Trail without an appointment. Afterwards I felt less human and further from the divine.
I think all of us Californians have had that harrowing experience at least once in our lives, and some of us several times. During the COVID lockdown, I spent about two hours outside with a portfolio of documents to prove who I was until the DMV opened just to get my REAL driver’s license. I spent at least an hour waiting when I finally got inside. Because I had worn a hat outside in the sun and was too tired and afraid to get out of line to go into the lady’s room and comb my hair, the picture on my that license is the worst picture I have ever taken.