Thursday, September 10, 2026

We Are Not The Same, Ha

I love this! Totally identify with reading part of a book or just the back cover and making up a very creative book report! Or one year we had the option of either a report or an art project illustrating the theme of the book. I sure made The Hound of the Baskervilles look sinister and scary... even though I did not read a single page! Was it even about dogs?!

So much creative thinking required by my generation!

Things are different today. I would not want to be a teacher of any kind trying to determine if their students are good writers – or just good AI users. Oof.

There's been so much news – frankly disturbing – in recent days about AI. Like Doomsday-type news. I really don't know what it all means or what to believe. But as a professional writer for nearly 40 years, it's been a hot button in my field for some time.

Some of my co-workers use it a lot and some of us just rely on the skills we've honed for decades. I'm kind of defensive about it. Can you tell? LOL.

As a mentor of interns the past two summers, I told them quite frankly that AI can help you write your resume and your cover letter, but it can't help you answer questions in your "live" job interview. You need to develop critical thinking skills. No "machine" can replace that.

It probably helped that us X-ers had to do a lot of legwork to cobble information together and make cohesive sense of it for school work. No Internet. Just card catalogs in the library. And potentially outdated encyclopedias. I still got straight A's so I'm guessing that was sufficient information for the time. 

As Carter went through high school, I was kind of jealous how easy it was for him with his access to worldwide information. That would have been SO handy as a newspaper reporter in the '90s!!!

Today I feel a bit (mildly right now) threatened because it can replace all my income streams – writing, graphic design, and photography. I sure hope my retirement countdown on my phone expires before "humanity" will! 

God, save us all!

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