Pop still often amazes me…
There are day to day things he occasionally forgets, but at 93 he’s still incredibly sharp; he observes the changing world and often remarks upon it. Many of the YouTube AI videos I show here, I’ve also sent to him.
My niece now helps him with things online, too—and he’s eager to learn the technology. That’s why I joke that I’m half afraid he might discover this site and wonder how it is that his late mother has a profile ("Bijou Broussard" was my paternal grandmother).
But last night we were discussing AI and he remarked that it was a "wonderful, terrifying and dangerous thing".
"What are your thoughts ?" I asked him.
"Well," Pop replied,"I’m still learning the extent of its use, but even in terms of entertainment, we’re practically resurrecting the dead. There are videos of people who have been gone for over a hundred years, and we can make their images smile, laugh and dance ! In some cases they can even speak ! It’s amazing, but it’s scary, too. When a person’s likeness can be manipulated into doing anything, you can’t trust what you’re seeing…it’s mind blowing. ‘Brave new world’, indeed."
We spoke for hours and not for the first time, it occurred to me that if all of the changes in technology are bewildering to me at 65, what must it look like to a 93 year old, who lived before television, when movies were still relatively new ? He has a cellphone; calls me, occasionally uses Face-Time, he texts and is on the family text line.
He once told me he remembered that as a child his family was one of the few in his neighborhood who had a telephone, and it was on the wall. In emergencies, occasionally neighbors would ask to use it. His father charged them (which knowing that grandfather, doesn’t surprise me 😅).
Anyway, Pop did think it was very cool that music videos could
be shared via text. My cousin often sends him videos of jazz artists that he enjoys and occasionally forwards to me.
We talked for a couple of hours, exchanged "love yous" and either I’ll call next week or he will. I plan to visit on Father’s Day with a gift.
My niece now helps him with things online, too—and he’s eager to learn the technology. That’s why I joke that I’m half afraid he might discover this site and wonder how it is that his late mother has a profile ("Bijou Broussard" was my paternal grandmother).
But last night we were discussing AI and he remarked that it was a "wonderful, terrifying and dangerous thing".
"What are your thoughts ?" I asked him.
"Well," Pop replied,"I’m still learning the extent of its use, but even in terms of entertainment, we’re practically resurrecting the dead. There are videos of people who have been gone for over a hundred years, and we can make their images smile, laugh and dance ! In some cases they can even speak ! It’s amazing, but it’s scary, too. When a person’s likeness can be manipulated into doing anything, you can’t trust what you’re seeing…it’s mind blowing. ‘Brave new world’, indeed."
We spoke for hours and not for the first time, it occurred to me that if all of the changes in technology are bewildering to me at 65, what must it look like to a 93 year old, who lived before television, when movies were still relatively new ? He has a cellphone; calls me, occasionally uses Face-Time, he texts and is on the family text line.
He once told me he remembered that as a child his family was one of the few in his neighborhood who had a telephone, and it was on the wall. In emergencies, occasionally neighbors would ask to use it. His father charged them (which knowing that grandfather, doesn’t surprise me 😅).
Anyway, Pop did think it was very cool that music videos could
be shared via text. My cousin often sends him videos of jazz artists that he enjoys and occasionally forwards to me.
We talked for a couple of hours, exchanged "love yous" and either I’ll call next week or he will. I plan to visit on Father’s Day with a gift.
