I would have thought, given my background, that I would have taken much more interest in AI tech – which has sprung out onto the scene with ChatGPT, Bard, PaLM2, and updated Bing (Forbes has a lot of others listed here). Thus far, however, it has been a yawning “meh?”
Sunday night, on a whim, I wanted to see what they knew about GraniteGrok, and then about Rights, and then about Transgenderism and Rights.
There will be more on the latter in another set of posts about how both Google’s and Microsoft’s offerings are biased. Both said they weren’t “debating,” but either they haven’t been fed enough data for a 360-degree look at things, or they have but have been steered toward sticking their virtual thumbs on the virtual Culture scales.
As you all know, I’ve been writing about “Normals vs. Transgenders” for a while. You see, the Left decided to weaponize our children and decided that their battlefield was going to be in our taxpayer-funded Government schools. They saw that there were plenty of shock troops ready to take orders from those guiding the battlefield tactics as well as the ammo to use against unsuspecting parents who normally would be against what was being surreptitiously taught (Critical Race Theory, gender dysphoria).
Anyways, it was getting late, and I was starting to wind up my time at the keyboard when this email came in with a really good insight that I couldn’t ignore (emphasis mine):
—– Original Message ——
From <redacted>
To “Editor@granitegrok.com” <Editor@granitegrok.com>
Date 5/14/2023 11:17:44 PM
Subject OpinionToday, young adults talk about rights and privileges but forty years ago, young adults talked about obligations and responsibilities.
NEWSFLASH KIDS: Rights aren’t rights if someone can take them away. They are privileges and the “Bill of Privileges” gets shorter and shorter every year.
The writer is correct, you know. We hear all the time about a right to this and a right to that an a right to some other thing which tells you that they know nothing about what a real Right is all about. They probably can barely pronounce “entitlement” and most certainly can’t spell it without a spell-checker but it’s clear they confuse that with a Right. Their version of a Right is “you need to GIVE me something (generally for free)” versus “it is something that is innately part of me at birth”.
It’s also true that with Rights come responsibilities – your Freedom of Speech is inherent and Government can’t stop you from your expression of ideas. There used to be respect for that in the general population that it applied in the Public Square as well. However, a lack thereof has been growing in that the Left believes in their Free Speech but not for yours – while they decry a “Power Imbalance” on our part, they depend on it to do what they do (‘YOU do as I say and I’ll ignore what I say to you for myself”).
My response:
Nailed it!
For whatever reason, I have stayed up too long debating Google’s AI product, Bard. I will have to post my conversation with it over Rights (speech, transgender, preferred pronouns, being told I need to be respectful to transgenders. A quick example:
So I took the bolded part of our emailer’s concern, and just for grins and giggles, I put it in:
Me: Today, young adults talk about rights and privileges but forty years ago, young adults talked about obligations and responsibilities.Why is that?
I was surprised by the answer (emphasis mine and NOT Bard’s):
Bard: There are a number of reasons why young adults today talk about rights and privileges more than obligations and responsibilities.
- The rise of individualism. In recent decades, there has been a growing emphasis on individualism in Western society. This has led to a focus on the rights and needs of the individual, rather than the group. This is reflected in the way that young adults talk about their lives.
- The decline of traditional values. Traditional values, such as hard work, self-reliance, and community service, have declined in recent decades. This has led to a sense of entitlement among young adults, who believe that they deserve certain things without having to work for them.
- The influence of the internet. The internet has made it easier for young adults to connect with others who share their values and beliefs. This has created a sense of community and support, which can lead to a focus on rights and privileges.
- The changing economy. The economy has changed significantly in recent decades. The job market is more competitive, and it is harder for young adults to find good jobs. This has led to a sense of frustration and anger, which can manifest itself in a focus on rights and privileges.
It is important to note that not all young adults talk about rights and privileges more than obligations and responsibilities. There are still many young adults who are committed to their communities and who are willing to work hard to achieve their goals. However, the trends that I have mentioned are real, and they are having a significant impact on the way that young adults think about their lives.
The above emphasis is mine. It’s also not wrong. However, I did note that it didn’t bring up the start of it all (to a point) of the “self-esteem / participation trophy” craziness in schools that led to overblown “sense of myself” attitudes and “snowflakes”.
I do have to admit that the three issues Bard focused on are dead nuts on ESPECIALLY the second one. By denigrating traditional American values, the Left set the stage for most of the shift in emphasis of what is important. Unfortunately, that shift was to what I consider “hollow” values – they serve well as talking or screaming points but there’s little substance behind them as when you question the young’uns (and not so young either), they end up regurgitating the same points as they have no depth or breadth of knowledge. It’s surface level stuff without the deep philosophical underpinnings that traditional values have (or is that now “had”?).
There is a bit of sad amusement in that while these mostly young Leftists concentrate on “Rights”, they are all about abusing those Founders that did the deep study, writing, debating, and discussing “Rights” that made them manifest in our Founding documents. Which the Left hates as well.
Talk about cognitive dissonance!
Note: the image above is an unofficial logo created by a Reddit commenter. I asked Bard, and it said that there is no official sponsored logo for it yet.
