Bonne route – Process, pleasure and AI

 

[Painting by Dina Levin]

In one of La Fontaine’s fables, a pig, sheep and goat are on a wagon on their way to the market. The pig squeals in fear (justified in the case) but the sheep and goat prefer to enjoy the view. I cannot say who is more correct or whether this fable applies to AI. However, after listening to my engineering students make oral presentations about processes pre- and post-AI, I definitely understand that there is a certain pleasure in the actual process independent of the result as I will demonstrate with three examples provided by my very talented engineering students.

Among the many lectures were presentations on the revolution in  travel planning, translation and image creation. Specifically, before AI, travel planning necessarily involved either consulting a travel agent or spending hours finding appropriate flights, assessing hotels and investigating potential tourist sights. With AI, a series of prompts with follow up questions can theoretically create a complete vacation plan in minutes. Likewise, as I know too well, human translation involves a significant investment of time and effort to reproduce a given text into another language. With AI, this same process can take less than a minute and involves almost no effort at all, leaving plenty of time and energy to edit and improve the created text. Even more extreme, AI makes it possible for the artistically-limited to create any image, real or imagery, without any skill  in graphic arts or software. AI can take over the process of creation, benefiting people by saving time and effort.

Granted, at least at this point, AI often produces a flawed product, sometimes to the point of non-relevancy. For example, the AI engines I tried for finding flights failed to identify the most convenient flight of a given route (Tel Aviv, Israel to Portland, Oregon) , which I was able to find. It may be a matter of the nature of the prompts or the type of AI but the results do not seem sufficiently exhaustive. In language, AI translations of specialized texts exhibit far too many serious terminology and syntax issues. This tendency means that a skilled human translator must invest time and energy in reviewing the text before the text is relevant. AI images quite often look artificial, which can be a detrimental feature in many of their uses, especially commercial. Furthermore, humans creates images that are much more individual and unique. Thus, AI is not yet capable of  fully replacing the process of human creation.

For me, the greatest issue is that I enjoy the challenge of creation both despite and because of its challenges and investment. It is strange but one of the greatest pleasures of traveling is planning it, including finding the “best” flight. My father took great pleasure in that art as do I. It is my trip as I have invested in it. Similarly, translation is an act of writing and creation just as much as writing the original version. The transformation of a text from one language to another can be challenging but that aspect is precisely what I seek, at least up to a certain degree. It is the pleasure of learning and testing oneself. As for pictures, I find an artist’s rendition of a scene in pencil, oil, watercolor or even using a digital photograph is far more impressive than any AI image. The reasons may be that I have no talent in that direction and find the process magic or that I seek the privilege of seeing the scene exactly how the artists viewed it. Human creation has a far greater impact on me regardless of whether the creator is someone else or myself.

It is clear that there are solid economic reasons for adopting AI processes whether on an industrial or smaller scale. However, as a matter of personal taste, I tend to focus on the experience of the process more the result. In fact, I wish myself and others what Serge Reggiani sang in “Ma fille” (admittedly in another context): “Bonne route” – a good journey.

Non-violent language

Words create images in our minds.  Some may be beautiful and pleasing, such as meadow or chocolate sundae, while others trigger negative emotions and frightening thoughts.  The latter group would include stabbing or humiliation. However, it should be noted that, in some cases, heavily laden words are used to describe perfectly innocuous concepts, far from their violent roots.

The oil source rapeseed is a prime example.  Rape is an act of dreaded act of violence and not a pleasant thought.  However, rapeseed oil is available in most supermarkets and is no less acceptable than its cousins, corn or palm oil. It comes from a plant group that includes mustard and, according to the Wikipedia, is the second most important source of protein in the world. While not exactly romantic, this rape is at least beneficial.

On a larger scale, riots are scary since they involve random, irrational and mass violence.  People only riot when matters have become truly bad economically or politically. The exact result is unpredictable but always destructive. Curiously, people refer to an amusing scene or set of events as a riot, meaning funny from beginning to end and worthy of telling to others. In most cases, the greatest damage involved is a bit of harm to a person’s ego. This riot is much milder than that of the source word.

Anybody that has the experience of walking in poor part of a city has feared being mugged, i.e. beaten and robbed.  It is a traumatic experience both physically and psychologically.  Yet, if the weather is muggy, it does not attack you physically.  Granted, the hot, wet air does not move, causing a person to sweat profusely and take many showers.  Still, such weather conditions are annoying, not threatening. All that a person loses is water.

Boys in elementary schools are not known for their social skills (and, in many cases, do not

significantly improve with age).  They tend to resolve issues directly, by punching.  A fist in the face leaves a mark, above and below the surface. For many adults, seeing a video of children fighting brings back unpleasant memories. However, both children and adults enjoy drinking punch, a cold spiced fruit drink, a rather different story.  In fact, the word punch in this case comes from Sanskrit and means “five”, referring to the five elements in it. Visually, this liquid punch is much more positive.

Torture is a scary thought, a torture in itself. Even if few have had to experience it, it is the stuff of nightmares. Strangely, tortuous, a similar sounding but differently spelled word, carries its stigma.  Alas, the latter word means very curvy, as in a road.  For most people, the way up to the mountain cabin may tortuous but does not strike great fear in them.

In a similar vein, in Anglo-Saxon society, cursing is disrespectful and unacceptable behavior.

This attitude does not mean that people do not do it but it is looked down upon, often selectively as George Carlin expressed so well in his routine The seven words you can’t say on TV.  Interestingly, the word cursor, with an “o”, produced almost 100 million results on Google. There is no shame in writing that word because it refers to the marker of the current position on the screen.  However, when people can’t find it, they have been known to become cursers, especially when their children are not in the room.

There is a strange dichotomy in the word accessory. In a criminal court, being an accessory to a murder or robbery is not much better than actually doing the deed. For example, the driver of a getaway car in a robbery is equally guilty in many legal systems. So, it is a word that many people in jail do not want to hear.  By contrast, women of all ages seem to enjoy buying an accessory to their wardrobe, which includes a scarf, belt, hat or any other object that will enhance it.  In contrast with their jail cousins, mainly male, most women smile when the thought of an accessory comes up.

So, words do have a direct impact on our mind through the images they create.  Some words carry highly negative connotations. Yet, like people, a few can reform and do good deeds, improving if not erasing their negative record. Once violent, these words do not have to remain violent.

Images from Pixibay