Well, I wasn't going to weigh in again so soon, but I feel like I am almost jumping out of my skin these days.
So yesterday, I TV-channel-surfed through a headline about how Artificial Intelligence was going to "fight" global warming. By the time the reference registered, I surfed back through the channels and couldn't find it again, but a computer search just now indicates that it has been the topic of quite a bit of media reporting.
This is the intersection of two of my biggest frustrations. Frustration number one: the concept that any kind of fight is the solution to any serious problem on this planet. There may arguably be winners in sporting events, but I just don't believe there are when wars are fought in society at large. "Fighting" global climate chaos will just create more chaos, in my opinion, and I've said enough about this in the past so that I won't repeat myself and bore you silly!
And then, back on August 14, 2018, I explored how we humans are rushing headlong into "artificial intelligence" while the intelligence of women is still undervalued and, at times, totally ignored. It's just horrifying to think we are skipping such an important step. An AI "fight against global warming" is doubly unlikely to succeed, especially if women are under-represented. I hope all involved will gently try to steer the conversation away from "conflict" mentality and terminology, at the very least.
This is a little tangential, but I've become almost beside myself about plastic. Yes, I may use it less than the average person, having such a tiny footprint on the earth now; no home, no car, few belongings. But still, no matter how I try, most of my purchases have some kind of plastic packaging. I go into a big box store, and almost swoon from the (admittedly exaggerated) impression that the amount of plastic in that one store is enough to clog an ocean; when I think about the other millions of stores worldwide, I can barely breathe. Recycling isn't enough.
I imagine myself back in, what, the late 1940's or 1950's, being the sole woman (maybe a secretary) in a boardroom full of male executives. They are all excited by the prospects of what can be done with plastic, and the profits that will come from ever-expanding use of the material. I can see myself, timidly raising my hand, asking, "Ahem, I am not a scientist, but I wonder if you are considering whether plastic breaks down in nature, so that there won't be too much pollution." And I can almost hear it now (because I have been at the receiving end of phrases like it in real life); "Young lady, don't worry your pretty head about that. If it causes pollution, we'll worry about it later."
Well, we've reached "later."
My hunch is that if women had been allowed equal power as public co-creators of our world for the last few thousand years, we wouldn't be anywhere near as technologically evolved as we are, but we would also not be at the edge of such a steep environmental cliff. Women might have helped steer a more sensible, gentle, respectful path in our interaction with Earth. Nature can't help but try desperately right now to return her planet to balance. Whether we like it or not, we may be tossed back in time to the moment where women stopped being listened to, and get a second chance to work together, men and women, as co-creators. Now that would be real intelligence, the human brain working at full capacity, no artificiality required.
