Unlike our regular home in the Lou, here at the cabin, it is quiet and still at night. No skittering of rodents here like in years past, just the occasional cycling of the fridge. Lying awake, trying to fall asleep there is nothing to prevent me from doing so except for the hamster wheel whirling in my brain. It is often tempting to reach out and seek help outside oneself, when as often the problem lies within. Still peace and enlightenment are often elusive and false gods abound.

One such duplicitous deity is AI. I must admit that I myself have been AI-curious. This post exhibits several instances of its use. The original photo above and on the left was first taken at the Royal Ontario Museum. Processing through Photoshop added the blue rays emanating from the statue. WordPress used this picture as a prompt and generated the associated video that for some reason paired Asian art with ancient Egyptian. A friend recently directed me to a new arrival to the ever-expanding AI pantheon, Halupedia is an interactive, satirical online encyclopedia where every article is generated on the spot by artificial intelligence. Instead of hosting a database of real knowledge, the website creates fake facts, fabricated scholars, and imaginary places, all written in a highly convincing, scholarly tone. The following is an example.

The Chauvinist Doctrine of Unnecessary Gesticulation emerged in the late 18th century, primarily within the hushed halls of academia and the increasingly formal salons of the era. Its foundational tenets proposed that any movement of the hands, arms, or torso beyond the absolute minimum required for subsistence constituted an affront to reason and a deliberate attempt to mislead the observer. Proponents argued that clear thought manifested in a still frame, and that any deviation was a sign of internal chaos or worse, a perfidious attempt to mask a lack of genuine intellect with performative dynamism.