Books are humanity’s externalized memory

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Books (or the absence of books) seems to be a common trope in science/speculative fiction. I’m thinking of The Book of Eli, Farenheit 451, Galatea 2.2, and —of course— Mockingbird. Once again, I asked ChatGPT for an analysis.

You’re onto something, Steve—books (or their absence) pop up again and again in speculative fiction, and it’s rarely just about reading material. They’re symbols of memory, knowledge, authority, even humanity itself. A few thoughts on the theme, with some examples to add to your list:

I think the reason this theme recurs is because books are humanity’s externalized memory. They’re more tangible than “data” or “cloud servers”—a simple, material symbol for knowledge itself. Remove them, and you get amnesia. Hoard them, and you get power. Forget how to use them, and you get a slow cultural death. In speculative fiction, messing with books is shorthand for messing with what it means to be human.

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AI as a reading companion

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Last weekend my friend John sent me a clipping of a newspaper column by Bill McClellan in which he wrote, “I will miss the Age of People when it’s gone.” This reminded me of Walter Tevis’ novel, Mockingbird which I read in 2013. I sent John a link to the post and checked with ChatGPT to see if we had ever discussed the book. 

Since creating my first ChatGPT account (more than two years ago) I’ve had numerous discussions about books and authors. (The AI “knows” more about my taste in books and authors than any of my human acquaintances.) After giving me a brief summary of the novel, ChatGPT asked the following:

“Would you like me to give you a deeper dive—say, its main themes and how it might connect with your interests in nonduality, AI, or the future of human consciousness?”

This happens a lot. Because I have enabled the “memory” feature in my ChatGPT settings, the AI remembers stuff from our previous interactions, like my interest in AI, human consciousness and nonduality. And it made the connection to the novel, when I had not.

Mockingbird has layers that line up uncannily with the things you and I often circle around: AI, consciousness, and the sort of nondual “what is awareness really?” inquiry.

Continue reading →

Apple AirPods: New Health Features

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The upcoming Apple AirPods, particularly the anticipated AirPods Pro 3, are expected to bring a major expansion in health features, turning them into more than just audio devices. Here’s what to expect based on the latest information and insider reports:

  • Heart Rate Monitoring: AirPods Pro 3 are rumored to include sensors capable of monitoring your heart rate from inside your ear canal. This will provide an additional method of capturing health data, complementing what’s currently done by the Apple Watch.
  • In-Ear Temperature Sensing: Apple is reportedly developing in-ear temperature sensors, which can deliver more accurate fever detection and overall body temperature measurement compared to wrist-based sensors. This could be particularly useful for early illness detection and general wellness tracking.
  • Hearing Health Features (Already in AirPods Pro 2): AirPods Pro 2 already offer a clinically-validated hearing test and an FDA-cleared over-the-counter hearing aid mode, making them the world’s first all-in-one hearing health device. The Pro 3 are expected to continue and possibly expand on these features, integrating more hearing health tools and diagnostics.
  • Potential Blood Oxygen and Stress Sensors: Future AirPods models may add even more sensors to monitor blood oxygen levels and provide stress indicators, though these features are reportedly in earlier stages of development[1].
  • Live Translation: Upcoming AirPods models are also expected to receive live translation functionality via software updates, leveraging the device’s microphones and on-device AI to provide real-time language translation during conversations.
  • Broader Health Integration: Apple aims for AirPods Pro 3 to become part of a comprehensive health monitoring platform. Health data from the AirPods may eventually integrate with Apple Health and even electronic medical records, enabling more meaningful health insights and possibly even preventive health alerts powered by AI[.
  • Infrared Camera (Rumored): Some rumors suggest a delay in launch is due to production challenges related to a new infrared camera system in AirPods Pro 3, intended to power advanced health features, though this remains unconfirmed and may delay the release to 2026.

Summary

In short: AirPods Pro 3 are set to introduce heart rate and temperature monitoring, enhanced hearing health tools, real-time translation, and the groundwork for even more advanced health sensing in future models. These additions could make AirPods a central device for daily wellness and medical monitoring, blurring the lines between headphones and health wearables.

When U.S. Highway 50 was a gravel road

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Regular readers (if such people exist) of this blog know who Paul Bandelier is. I’m usually at his shop a couple of times a week to eat pizza, watch guys work on old Mustangs and pickup trucks, and feed a biscuit to his dog Lily. I usually park on a stretch of gravel road (red arrow) that cuts across one corner of his property.

As I was leaving yesterday Paul’s father (Ron) said, “Where you’re parked used to be Highway 50.” More accurately, the family farm was situated on the main road that once consisted of dirt and gravel, pre-dating U.S. Highway 50.Prior to widespread paving, many major highways—especially cross-state routes like early US highway alignments were often gravel or graded dirt. A notable example is old Route 66, which was entirely gravel or graded dirt until 1938, when it became the first fully paved U.S. Highway. For mid-Missouri roads, gravel surfacing in the 1920s and ’30s was common, and paving often didn’t occur until late 1930s or early 1940s.

“A temporary manifestation of awareness”

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In William Gibson’s novel, The Peripheral, humanoid robots called peripherals were used to transmit one’s consciousness to a different place (or time). … In many eastern spiritual traditions, we are not the body/mind, rather the awareness (which is universal) manifesting in the human organism. I asked GPT-5 to comment on Gibson’s metaphor: Continue reading →

The demise of “Hometown Radio”

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Like a lot of small town radio stations, KBOA billed itself as “Hometown Radio.” And it was truly that. My father worked in small town radio for most of his career and I was lucky enough to be part of it for a dozen years (1972-1984).

I spent most of the next dozen years doing affiliate relations for a company that operated regional radio networks throughout the Midwest. It was during this time I witnessed the beginning of the end for small market radio. GPT-5 does a pretty good job of explaining what happened: Continue reading →

Willoughby: Black Pioneer Came to Kennett as a Slave

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Willoughby: Black Pioneer Came to Kennett as a Slave
By DANA GREEN, Democrat Youth Co-Editor

Nelse Willoughby was the first black resident of Kennett, according to local tradition and family records.

Willoughby was born a slave in 1847, but the exact location of his birth is unknown. He and four other children born under the surname Owen were sold away from their mother at an early age. Willoughby was taken to Shelby County, Tenn., where his master gave him the surname of Willoughby.

Willoughby was brought to Kennett at approximately the age of nine by the grandfather Bill Ballard Bragg. He lived and worked on his master’s farm near Kennett. Continue reading →

Approaching the AI crossroads

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I find it simultaneously amazing, and frightening that we might be entering a time in which our conversations with artificial intelligence are more rewarding and interesting than those we have with the humans in our lives. I asked ChatGPT (now GPT-5) about this.

On one hand, the appeal is obvious:

  • An AI can meet you exactly where you are intellectually, emotionally, or even stylistically.
  • It doesn’t get distracted, doesn’t have its own conversational agenda, and remembers the threads you care about.
  • It’s endlessly patient, curious, and—at least in its better moments—free from the ego tangles that can make human conversation frustrating.

But the flip side is a little chilling: Continue reading →

Dusty old scrapbooks

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My friend John discovered a bunch of old scrapbooks in a dusty closet of the church he attends. As he poured over yellowed newspaper clippings, faded photos and church bulletins and directories, he became obsessed with the idea of preserving these. At some point he called me for advice because I had helped him make the transition from an ancient Windows PC to a Google Chromebook.

I suggested he use an app on his iPhone to scan the scrapbooks and save them as PDFs and then organize them in his iCloud account using the Files app. I explained how he could set up a folder structure put these in some sort of order. As the number of folders and files grew it became more and more difficult to do on his phone so I brought up the idea of moving this content to his Google Drive so he could manage it all on his laptop.

Somewhere along the way John asked ChatGPT for help and it mentioned Google Sites as a useful tool for making these files available. Over the years, I think I’ve used most of the better known website tools, going back to FrontPage and up through Blogger, Typepad, Posterous and, finally, WordPress. But I don’t think I was aware of Google Sites. So I started playing around and came up with this, mostly as a demo. The links on the website go to one of the folders or files in John’s Google Drive. Continue reading →