A NEW!???
THE NOUVEAU NONAGENARIAN!
It seemed a bit of a stretch to move into this ninety year old nation, but the paradigm shifted and I’ve been busy joining the esteemed nonagenarian population.
I did not apply, neither did they recruit me or vote me into their group. Nope! I arrived to join this sterling group because of a date on the calendar. They are the real deal. Providence has smiled——friendships reigned and rained!
We can not be described as a one-size-fits-all population of the human old and tired. Respondents in one part of a study published in the journal International Psychogeriatrics said, “From interviews, researchers concluded that “exceptional longevity was characterized by a balance between acceptance of and grit to overcome adversities, along with a positive attitude and close ties to family, religion, and land, providing purpose in life.”
I love the grit part because my friends do not characterize a “slower pace” or a “helpless” mode. Their “grit” is the M.O. of reality, riveting stories, shared empathy, strength and outrageous humor. Certainly, personalities that augment and jazz up my own ninety-year old nonagenarian dessert course. We may have questions about today’s world…
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But, many, many of my friends will agree with David Brooks when he said, “The quality of attention you bring to the world determines what you see in the world…..she who looks with eyes of compassion will see complex souls, navigating life as best as they can.” *** We nonagenarians always dressed our best to go shopping,
board an airplane,
park parallel,
There were no computers or TV as children and when TV arrived, Saturday nights was devoted to….of all things….wrestling! We also lived through a nasty pandemic and a lot of barbaric, cruel wars. Plus those aching years of the losses of friends and family members…..Filaments of our memories…. We will continue to learn——
Michelle Feng, chief clinical officer at Executive Mental Health, said that the assumption that getting older is a downhill journey is just wrong. She calls it a mindset that can lead to “taking fewer chances and, in turn, experiencing less in life. But by being brave and choosing to carry out activities that might seem challenging, we are able to expand our life experiences in worthy ways.”
I am fascinated about the impact artificial intelligence, AI, will have on our humanity. “Artificial intelligence’s impact on society is widely debated. Many argue that AI improves the quality of everyday life by doing routine and even complicated tasks better than humans can, making life simpler, safer, and more efficient. Others argue that AI poses dangerous privacy risks, exacerbates racism by standardizing people, and costs workers their jobs, leading to greater unemployment.” What would the eminent physicist/mathematical “AE” possibly observe about AI?:
A Humanitarian’s Answer!
THE SWEET-TOOTHED SLUTH:
I believe resilience is our by-line and the Sweet-toothed Super Sleuth has a question for some AI chatbots:
Can you tell me one thing about being a nonagenarian that is special?
From Chat GPT: Answer: “One special thing about being a nonagenarian is the wisdom and life experience that comes with having lived for nearly a century.”
ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) chatbot developed by OpenAI. It is trained on a massive dataset of text and code, and it can generate text, translate languages, write different kinds of creative content, and answer your questions in an informative way.
From AI Bing: Answer: “One thing that is special about being a nonagenarian is that you may be eligible for some benefits and privileges from the government or other organizations. For example, in some provinces of the Philippines, nonagenarians can receive cash gifts, certificates of recognition, and other incentives during the Annual Elderly Filipino Week. In the United States, the Social Security Administration conducted a Nonagenarian Project to verify that older beneficiaries were properly receiving their benefits and to prevent any fraud activities. Being a nonagenarian also means that you have lived through many historical events and changes, and that you have a wealth of wisdom and experience to share with others.”
Bing can be accessed from your home page on the Microsoft Edge app.
From AI Bard: Answer: “Age 90-Plus Adults Tend to Be Resilient and Optimistic.”
A conversational AI tool by Google to brainstorm ideas, spark creativity, and accelerate productivity.
Woah, with all the computational power in the world, making computers supposedly smarter and smarter, don’t we need to know more from these digital wizards? Should we expect more? Obviously, AI has a LONG, Long way to go in order to understand my human life experience. This is not the answer I want for my dessert course!
Our Sweet-toothed Sleuth still has questions for the human nonagenarian side. This question is to one of our 102 year old Centenarians, “Will you share something that was special when you were in your nineties?”
From L: It was a happy, festive time because I enjoyed going out to dinner, wearing make-up, loved dressing up! Lately, I am only able to go out on rare occasions, but I still dress to go to church on Sunday’s and visit my sister.”
Now, on to a bona fide nonagenarian, “Please share something that you take pleasure in as a nonagenarian beside breathing?”
From J: “I am happy and relieved that my bag of marbles has a very slow leak. I believe that 2…maybe 4 have squeezed through. I know the seams are getting a bit frayed, but I am counting on them to hold fast. This is called ‘wishful thinking’ and I believe in it. Whoops, was that a clink I just heard?”
More Importantly,
We still have time to smell the flowers!
Sy’s Salient Points:
The generative AI bots are here to stay. They are commercial businesses that will “make a mint, “200,000 books are being pumped into the electronic brain LLaMA, the chatbot developed and distributed by Meta Platform (formerly Facebook), in competition with…ChatGPT bots marked by OpenAI.”****. “In the next few years, the computers that power artificial-intelligence could consume as much [electricity] as some countries do now.“***** Age does not matter if we continue to hear the eloquent voices of our friends. The “robot/bot” answers and quotes throughout this blog have no sentient. There is not the reality of offering emotion, passion and/or intuitive personal happenings and awarenesses. We want our humanistic qualities to shine.
*Encyclopedia Britannica **Art by Sue Berman ***David Brooks, Twitter, Sept. 14, 2023, New York Times Editorial Columnist ****Michael Hiltzik Business Editorial LA Times 10-5-23 *****Oct. 11, 2023 The New York Times Morning Edition “Technology”
Happy Homecoming Your Senior High School Year, Darling Blaire