I'm SO glad you shared about this. A major SV company pre-populated a "digital clone" profile of me and invited me to "claim" it, for a paid subscription. My photo, my personal information, my words were all lifted (from Substack, even though my settings to prevent AI scraping are turned on).
Very creepy, unsettling... especially because this company develops live AI videos of people for interviews, teaching, etc. For the first time it had me totally reconsidering what it means to share my voice and face online. What a strange place we're in with all of this.
Eye opening, Maggie! Yes, very creepy and unsettling. The loss of real truth, or I guess real reality. Case in point: I didn’t know what an SV Company (that you mentioned) is. Upon looking into it, I learned even that could have 100 different meanings related to digital content, aka unreality!
Thank you, dear Elena. I find 1, 2, and 3 on the edge of terrifying, frankly, but let out a deep sigh of relief and gratitude at #4. Ahhhh yes, thank you -- you are real, we are real, life on this earth is real. Let's stay close to the bone...
And Tracee is a true gem! Love hearing about her forthcoming book!
we need not be afraid .... there has always been trickery and deception lies and mistrust just as there is always love hope kindness bravery - may your life be full of happiness and joy in it all 🧡
Thank you, Alli. I understand what you're saying... I think there's another element to the AI phenomenon that takes it to the next level, as we factor in the immense destructive impact it has on our environment and water, as well as how it is completely shifting economies and changing how creativity and work unfolds. I'm not sure we're ready for all that, or what the consequences will be... And yes, love, hope, kindness, and bravery are still here.
Cuddling my pups, buying flowers at the farmer's market, morning sunshine on my face... some real things I enjoy. And reading your words. Enjoy the vipassana time.
Thank you for these insights. I'm so glad we're real -- real as tea and trees and cuts on the knee.
Honestly, all the "fake" online makes me sad. I used to love the internet for its richness of content and connection but now it's mostly fake. Time to turn my focus elsewhere.
Beautifully written and very timely. AI has been so top of mine lately and a little frightening to hear your experience and some of the things that I have realize as well I have the same question what is real? What do I believe? Is this true?
Just being discerning becomes a practice.
Thank you for your words for reminding us to be real
Enjoy your silent vipassana retreat! Sounds divine
vipasanna~ sigh. my daughter was 8 months pregnant when she drove 9 hours to a 10 day vipasanna. it changed her life~ her son (now almost 6 months old) a “vipassana baby” is just the most light filled, precious being. that is real.
sending blessings to you as you sit.
i so relate to your client and will look at her offerings. thank you for sharing.
i too am at peace in the abundance of what is real~less technology, no more instagram, basking in the energy of mother ocean, being with family, playing in the garden, standing in the pouring rain (what a beautiful and cleansing prayer), and folding my 9th installation of 1000 peace cranes.
elena, do you remember cold springs, NY, magazinno italiano? your "practice you" class when i gave you a peace crane? that is real.
Oh my goodness...I love magazzino! And the two lovely humans who started it. How sweet to know you have done programs there. It's only about 20 minutes from my home in Beacon. I have never felt more real than when Jim (my beloved) died and I began the grieving process. But how grateful I was to know that my Buddhist practice for all these years (and my yoga) showed up in a way that held me and allowed me to be fully present for all of it.
beautiful. i too lived in beacon! we were there for a little over a year for my husband’s job. the hudson valley is just gorgeous! (i’m from wrightsville beach, nc) being there in ny was a totally different landscape and experience.
what a journey the grief process is and how lovely that you have your practices to support and hold you.
Are you back in North Carolina now? I'm from the Bay Area but have been east coast, west coast for my entire publishing career. And Beacon has turned out to be a surprisingly sweet place to live.
The realest practices to me seem to be cleaning, cooking, crocheting. It's where I feel my hands touch fabric or yarn or when I am cutting up ingredients for a meal. Petting my cats and seeing their hairs fly up and fill the air around me. Who knew that the simplest things could be the realest? And about AI reels or shorts, I have begun questioning them all. I look for things purposely out of place or TOO PERFECTLY in place.
I love you, btw. I have never responded to any of your posts, but I feel such a connection to your concept of "Hold Nothing" and I do enjoy your musings and I am better for them so thank you.
Having grown up in the age when a photograph told the truth (remember the phrase “Photos don’t lie?”) it was easy to trust many things. Living in this new state of distrust of ALL things is uncomfortable at best and horrific at worst. Someone mentioned smiling at strangers in the comments… it made me wonder if soon even those assumedly human strangers will be AI. I used to know many things and believe many things. Sadly, it is now almost impossible or rare for me to do either. I am not educated enough to even try to imagine our future… and I’m not sure I would want to anyways.
The ravens and the pear tree are real. I hear the ravens padding upon my roof, I hear them drop a pear, I hear it roll down the roof. I hear them ccccrrroak, cry out, mutter. I watch them squabble over a pear upon dear Mother Earth briefly, and hop away. I watch them swoop into the pear tree trusting she will hold them, support them. I watch as a raven nips at a stem and then takes flight with a beautiful pear in her beak. The ravens and the pear tree are real.
Thank you for the call to being Real. And the sharing of your client's insight. So precious right now in this wild world. Thank you for being sane counsel in the middle of the crazy.
I'm SO glad you shared about this. A major SV company pre-populated a "digital clone" profile of me and invited me to "claim" it, for a paid subscription. My photo, my personal information, my words were all lifted (from Substack, even though my settings to prevent AI scraping are turned on).
Very creepy, unsettling... especially because this company develops live AI videos of people for interviews, teaching, etc. For the first time it had me totally reconsidering what it means to share my voice and face online. What a strange place we're in with all of this.
Eye opening, Maggie! Yes, very creepy and unsettling. The loss of real truth, or I guess real reality. Case in point: I didn’t know what an SV Company (that you mentioned) is. Upon looking into it, I learned even that could have 100 different meanings related to digital content, aka unreality!
Ah yes, a big Silicon Valley tech start-up in this case!
Good lord and THIS. Gosh.
Thank you, dear Elena. I find 1, 2, and 3 on the edge of terrifying, frankly, but let out a deep sigh of relief and gratitude at #4. Ahhhh yes, thank you -- you are real, we are real, life on this earth is real. Let's stay close to the bone...
And Tracee is a true gem! Love hearing about her forthcoming book!
we need not be afraid .... there has always been trickery and deception lies and mistrust just as there is always love hope kindness bravery - may your life be full of happiness and joy in it all 🧡
Thank you, Alli. I understand what you're saying... I think there's another element to the AI phenomenon that takes it to the next level, as we factor in the immense destructive impact it has on our environment and water, as well as how it is completely shifting economies and changing how creativity and work unfolds. I'm not sure we're ready for all that, or what the consequences will be... And yes, love, hope, kindness, and bravery are still here.
My son who’s studying the environment implored me to pause on using AI for the sake of the water. I am listening to him.
Cuddling my pups, buying flowers at the farmer's market, morning sunshine on my face... some real things I enjoy. And reading your words. Enjoy the vipassana time.
YES. Can’t wait to be together soon!
Thank you for these insights. I'm so glad we're real -- real as tea and trees and cuts on the knee.
Honestly, all the "fake" online makes me sad. I used to love the internet for its richness of content and connection but now it's mostly fake. Time to turn my focus elsewhere.
Yes Janice. Here feels a bit more intimate somehow.
Beautifully written and very timely. AI has been so top of mine lately and a little frightening to hear your experience and some of the things that I have realize as well I have the same question what is real? What do I believe? Is this true?
Just being discerning becomes a practice.
Thank you for your words for reminding us to be real
Enjoy your silent vipassana retreat! Sounds divine
Thank YOU B.
vipasanna~ sigh. my daughter was 8 months pregnant when she drove 9 hours to a 10 day vipasanna. it changed her life~ her son (now almost 6 months old) a “vipassana baby” is just the most light filled, precious being. that is real.
sending blessings to you as you sit.
i so relate to your client and will look at her offerings. thank you for sharing.
i too am at peace in the abundance of what is real~less technology, no more instagram, basking in the energy of mother ocean, being with family, playing in the garden, standing in the pouring rain (what a beautiful and cleansing prayer), and folding my 9th installation of 1000 peace cranes.
elena, do you remember cold springs, NY, magazinno italiano? your "practice you" class when i gave you a peace crane? that is real.
Oh my goodness...I love magazzino! And the two lovely humans who started it. How sweet to know you have done programs there. It's only about 20 minutes from my home in Beacon. I have never felt more real than when Jim (my beloved) died and I began the grieving process. But how grateful I was to know that my Buddhist practice for all these years (and my yoga) showed up in a way that held me and allowed me to be fully present for all of it.
Oh sweet Linda. I love you. For so many years. That’s all. ⛩️
oh Elena...and I have loved you as well. I still remember how delighted we were to meet one another and to right away know it would be a love forever.
beautiful. i too lived in beacon! we were there for a little over a year for my husband’s job. the hudson valley is just gorgeous! (i’m from wrightsville beach, nc) being there in ny was a totally different landscape and experience.
what a journey the grief process is and how lovely that you have your practices to support and hold you.
Are you back in North Carolina now? I'm from the Bay Area but have been east coast, west coast for my entire publishing career. And Beacon has turned out to be a surprisingly sweet place to live.
I Do remember! Hi Kim! Thank you for this insightful note… and for your practices…
You and I are real, as a mantra 🙏🏽
for real 🧘🏽♀️ when i sit i am not alone 🙏🏽 someone else right then is sitting too
when i smile at strangers we are real
this moment is real being curious seeking truth feeling fleeting joy deep contentment x
The realest practices to me seem to be cleaning, cooking, crocheting. It's where I feel my hands touch fabric or yarn or when I am cutting up ingredients for a meal. Petting my cats and seeing their hairs fly up and fill the air around me. Who knew that the simplest things could be the realest? And about AI reels or shorts, I have begun questioning them all. I look for things purposely out of place or TOO PERFECTLY in place.
I love you, btw. I have never responded to any of your posts, but I feel such a connection to your concept of "Hold Nothing" and I do enjoy your musings and I am better for them so thank you.
And I love you too!
Thank you Margarita. Your words are a blessing to me.
Having grown up in the age when a photograph told the truth (remember the phrase “Photos don’t lie?”) it was easy to trust many things. Living in this new state of distrust of ALL things is uncomfortable at best and horrific at worst. Someone mentioned smiling at strangers in the comments… it made me wonder if soon even those assumedly human strangers will be AI. I used to know many things and believe many things. Sadly, it is now almost impossible or rare for me to do either. I am not educated enough to even try to imagine our future… and I’m not sure I would want to anyways.
Thank you very much for your writing.
Thank you LindaLee. 🙏🏼
Staring into my sweet pup’s eyes
I'm glad you are real! Love you! ❤️🥰
You too Amy. Love you.
The ravens and the pear tree are real. I hear the ravens padding upon my roof, I hear them drop a pear, I hear it roll down the roof. I hear them ccccrrroak, cry out, mutter. I watch them squabble over a pear upon dear Mother Earth briefly, and hop away. I watch them swoop into the pear tree trusting she will hold them, support them. I watch as a raven nips at a stem and then takes flight with a beautiful pear in her beak. The ravens and the pear tree are real.
Thank you for the call to being Real. And the sharing of your client's insight. So precious right now in this wild world. Thank you for being sane counsel in the middle of the crazy.