The Weekly Wrap: May 25-31
AI Laziness
A romantic novel in which the AI prompt was never edited out. A White House report on health citing non-existent sources. An article with summer book recommendations in which some of the authors existed but not the books attributed to them.
One might argue that each of these expose the flaws of AI. I suspect what they really expose is the flaws of the particular humans using this tool. Laziness that doesn’t carefully line edit, that doesn’t verify sources, and that doesn’t confirm the existence and availability of books. Similar to computer programming, AI is only as good as the prompts given it. “Garbage in, garbage out.”
Actually, AI has become quite good. A college professor friend now considers AI capable of writing at a professorial level. He shared examples of using AI in various forms of analysis of large amounts of material.
But one thing both of us are agreed upon is that AI offers a dangerous temptation to let it do our thinking for us. It may be a student writing a paper or an author cranking out a steamy novel. What we are doing when we let AI think for us is denying the intrinsic worth of thinking. For many of us, hammering out our ideas in writing serves to clarify thought.
Lest you think I am an AI Luddite, I do believe AI may be a helpful interlocutor in the process. I might ask AI to evaluate an argument for weaknesses or to raise counter arguments. It strikes me that when the chance to do this with real people is unavailable, this could be quite helpful. However, I am still thinking, and indeed, am forced to think harder and better.
I guess what it comes down to is that the ability to think and reason and create from our thoughts is one of the things that makes us human. I’m just not willing to give that up. I’m not ready to slack on the hard work of being a thinking human.
Five Articles Worth Reading
Alasdair MacIntyre, the philosopher, died recently. Charles Matthewes reviews his life and work in “Remembering Alasdair MacIntyre.”
“In a nation known for its relatively poor health, nearly everybody seems to be thinking about how to be healthy….” This line in “The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze” captured my attention. Sheila McClear explores the connection between our health care inequalities and the explosion of the wellness industry.
Nick Ripatrazone explores the decline of literary criticism in “The Art of the Critic.” Specifically, he argues for the importance of criticism as a benefit not only to audiences but to writers.
Geraldine Brooks is popular with many readers. Her husband died in 2019. In this interview, “Geraldine Brooks Is a Widow Now,” she talks about loss, grief, writing, and her Jewish faith.
Finally, the summer can be a great time to break out of our reading ruts. The New York Times Book Review has published a “Summer Reading Bucket List” of ten literary “to-do’s,” challenging us to see if we can check off five. The even include a copiable checklist!
…And a Video Worth Watching
The Covenant of Water was one of my favorite books of 2024. I have Cutting for Stone on my reading stack. On Thursday, physician and author Abraham Verghese gave the commencement address at Harvard. One of his pieces of advice for students was to commend the importance of reading novels. As an immigrant to the U.S., he also had some thoughtful and challenging critiques of our current political scene. In case you haven’t seen the video, it is worth watching, especially if you appreciate his writing.
Quote of the Week
G. K. Chesterton was born May 29, 1874. I’ve often appreciated his wit and turn of phrase. This one has some good advice:
“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.”
Miscellaneous Musings
Regular followers of this blog may have noticed that I have been posting two reviews a day this week. One of these has been of a children’s book published by IVP Kids. What a joy. I’ve loved the combination of brilliant illustration, good writing, and especially the inclusive character of these books. The first book I reviewed, Jesus Loves the Little Children, typified this approach showing pictures of children from every culture as well as children with disabilities. The reason for the extra reviews? I wanted to review these books, compliments of IVP Kids, before passing them along to our church’s Little Free Library, which we’ve just set up.
I was thrilled to visit the new Barnes & Noble store in Dublin, Ohio. When I walked in, it took my breath away–it was huge and overwhelming at first. And it was packed. But I like how the different sections were set apart from each other, many with comfortable seating. Not only that, the cafe was huge. But there was one drawback: the checkout and service counter was smaller than in the old store. And the lines were long.
I like the writing of Amor Towles. And I love bookstores, in case you haven’t noticed. I enjoyed this brief video clip of Towles supporting BINC, a national foundation supporting independent booksellers.
Next Week’s Reviews
Monday: The Month in Reviews: May 2025
Tuesday: Ian Harber, Walking Through Deconstructioin
Wednesday: Josephine Quinn, How the World Made the West
Thursday: Brian Goldstone, There is No Place For Us
Friday: Terence Halliday and K.K. Yeo, eds., Justice and Rights
So, that’s The Weekly Wrap for May 25-31, 2025!
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