What technology would you be better off without, why?

Daily writing prompt

There are a lot of technological breakthroughs that are just plain dumb. The big one that comes to mind for me right now is what we laughably call Artificial Intelligence. It is just a language model combined with a Google search. You ask a question, it searches the web, and then the language model summarizes the search results in a way that makes it look like an uncreative person wrote it out for you. That is not artificial intelligence. No need to worry about Skynet at all. We could definitely do without it.

Self driving cars are dumb too. They only work if you are okay with killing your neighbors. Once I would have thought that no one in their right mind would be okay with killing their neighbors in exchange for a tiny reduction in inconvenience. Then we lived through the Covid-19 pandemic and clearly learned otherwise. Self driving cars is a technology that is probably 10 years away from being perfected. Unfortunately it will still be 10 years away 10 years from now, and it will still be 10 years away 20 years from now. You see the trend? It’s dumb, we don’t need it.

I’d like to add chemical and biological and nuclear weapons to the list of technologies we don’t need, but unfortunately the research into these evil nightmares has also lead to some positives. That probe that flew by Pluto a few years ago? It had a nuclear powered drive system. We wouldn’t have that without the effin’ bomb. It’s disgusting and painful but that’s how it happened. It sucks but I don’t want to say we can do without nuclear power when it brings us to other worlds. Am I a hypocrite? Probably, yes. Shit.

A.I. though… that’s just plain dumb.

What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?

Daily writing prompt

Nope. Not going there. It’s way too soon. I’ll tell you what but I won’t tell you why. That will have to do.

First, we had to put a DNR order into place for my mother. DNR stands for Do Not Resuscitate. If you don’t know what that is then Google it. I don’t have the heart to explain.

Next, when the hospital could do no more to treat her, we had to move her to Hospice. That included instructions to do nothing beyond making her comfortable. That easily topped the DNR as the hardest decision. It was literally decided to make her comfortable in her last days before she died. It took a lot longer than we thought it would, and every day was utter torture right up until the end.

Okay. That’s way more than I was planning to share. That’s enough. I’m sorry.

Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?

Daily writing prompt

I’m thinking, I’m thinking. I don’t think there is anything specific to any holidays, but there are a couple of things that we usually have that we happen to usually have around the holidays.

Jen makes deviled eggs and my step kids devour them like their lives depend on it. I don’t think she does it for the holidays, but that is when she usually makes them. In fact, she whipped up a bach for Thanksgiving and Bellana and Harry attacked them with merciless vengeance.

Jen’s family traditions include a christmas eve party and that party includes a lot of food. Much of it is prepared in an army of crock pots. Jen and her mother make a couple of types of chicken wings and meatballs that we generally don’t have at any time of year. Are we having them for the holiday or are we having them because of the holiday? I don’t know. I just know that it’s all delicious and it makes me feel like christmas, so I think it counts either way.

So, do we have any special dishes for the holidays? Yeah, I guess we do. Cool, huh? Happy/Merry.