The Emperor’s New Gadget

What’s it for?

I thought this picture rather than one of those happy white robots that were discontinued for lack of demand. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

“Out of the mouths of babes…” went the saying, and if you need to know what it meant, here’s UsingEnglish.com to tell you.

For all I know, people still say that. I also know that they never complete(d) the sentence. If you want the whole thing, here’s StudyLight.org with the saying’s origin story. It’s Biblical.

Enough with the links. In modern usage — and I’m pretty sure we know this already — it’s what people say (said?) when some apparently naive person says (said?) something perceptive and to the point.

Making a short story long enough

I opened up my print copy of the Weekend FT this morning, sitting back in my comfortable new red armchair with a freshly made cup of Italian Blend coffee next to me — I got these beans from Tugboat in Truro — and said, er, I said something emphatic that I’ve forgotten.

I might have said “Yes!” I know I said something.

I might have said “Out of the mouths!” and after a few moments’ thought I’m pretty sure I followed that up with “Out of the editorial processes…”

I’d given up on my Sunday-morning routine by this point, and I was thinking about Mastodon — where I could post something short. Medium? Maybe, but I’d have to spin it out with a few paragraphs about…

Ahem! Moving on. I was looking at a story by Richard Waters; a story with the tag Technology. I read the story — but the story wasn’t the point. It was a review of a launch. And anybody interested could scroll down that link to Richard Waters’ page. To find it there.

Too much strong coffee?

The point was the title of the story. If I wrote about it, I’d have to make it the punchline of whatever I wrote. But if I did that, I wouldn’t get in a reference to my own related story on Medium — Why AGI?

Never mind. This was too good an example to miss — too good an example of making a point in just a few words. Too good an example of making a really good point.

Wait! Edit that paragraph down to a sentence? No time! Leave it!

The title of Richard Waters’ story is:

Even Apple cannot explain why we need AI in our lives.

End of story.