The Grasshopper Sunday Edition: Dogs and Cats
Hint, this is not about dogs and cats
“A writer can choose what he writes but he can’t choose what he makes live.”
Flannery O’Connor (HT to George Saunders for this quote!)
Maybe this does have something to do with animals. Growing up I always lived with cats. There were typically three or four in my parent’s house and I had them when I moved out. I have no pets right now, but I know cats pretty well. When I see one while walking they’ll often walk up for a neck rub and a sniff.
I put a talking cat in one of my stories, a blatant rip-off of Haruki Murakami, or as I prefer to think, an homage. But I can’t really write about cats that live on the page like those I have known.
I do ok with humans at making them live on the page, or so I have been told, which is good because my second novel is almost entirely about a woman seen from her inner life (third person omniscient). If she doesn’t live, there is no story.
And no, she does not have a cat.
Today, the day you receive this newsletter though not the day I am writing this, is Christmas Day for those who observe it. As a Buddhist I don’t really pay much attention to it, though growing up in America I, like all kids, loved it. Presents!
I get more excited about the Winter Solstice these days but I covered that in last Wednesday’s Grasshopper. But I’m happy to report that tomorrow will have four more seconds of daylight in my part of the world. Given the cataclysmic weather predicted tomorrow, I doubt any of us will notice it.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be writing and having a nice case of cabin fever over the weekend, including the holiday. Merry Christmas.
My Sunday letters are a different animal from the Wednesday pieces. But something happened in the last month that is rapidly changing everything about the future of writing. It is the AI, ChatGPT, that can generate responses to any prompt or query that are pretty convincing.
Below is an article I published on Medium with my notes at the end regarding the output from the AI:
The Chinese Response to Covid According to ChatGPT AI
Six hundred words in seconds and pretty accurate
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has had a significant impact on the world, with China being one of the countries most affected. The virus was first identified in the city of Wuhan in central China in December 2019, and the country has since taken a number of measures in response to the outbreak.
One of the first actions taken by the Chinese government was to impose lockdowns and travel restrictions in Wuhan and other parts of the country. These measures were aimed at slowing the spread of the virus and allowing healthcare systems to better cope with the influx of patients. The lockdowns were strictly enforced, with police patrolling the streets and checkpoints set up to ensure that people were not leaving their homes unless absolutely necessary.
In addition to these measures, China also implemented a number of public health measures to try and control the spread of the virus. These included measures such as widespread testing, tracing and quarantine measures, as well as the widespread use of face masks and other personal protective equipment. The government also launched a massive public awareness campaign to educate people about the virus and how to protect themselves.
Despite these efforts, the virus continued to spread rapidly in China, with cases rapidly increasing in the first few months of the outbreak. In response, the Chinese government ramped up its efforts, including building several temporary hospitals to help deal with the influx of patients.
As the outbreak began to wane in China, the government began to focus on economic recovery, implementing measures such as stimulus packages and tax cuts to try and boost the economy. However, the economic impact of the pandemic has been significant, with many businesses forced to close and millions of people losing their jobs.
Overall, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in China has been marked by a combination of strict public health measures and efforts to support the economy. While the country has experienced significant challenges as a result of the pandemic, it has also made significant progress in containing the spread of the virus and working towards a recovery.
It is worth noting that the response to the pandemic in China has been the subject of significant controversy and criticism, both within the country and internationally. Some have accused the Chinese government of covering up the severity of the outbreak, while others have criticized its handling of the crisis.
Despite these criticisms, it is clear that the Chinese government has taken significant steps to try and control the spread of the virus and support its people during this difficult time. While the long-term impact of the pandemic on China is still uncertain, it is clear that the country has made significant progress in its efforts to contain the virus and work towards recovery.
Author Note: This article was generated by ChatGPT AI based on a prompt to write a six hundred word article on China’s response to Covid, a subject I am quite familiar with, and it nailed it. For a writer this is pretty scary but also pretty interesting. I will be playing with this a lot.
It has not been edited.
The article doesn’t include the recent policy changes repealing many of the restrictions so its database may not be completely up to date. Otherwise it is accurate enough to pass as a pretty good high school essay on the subject, which should make every educator pause because your world just changed.
And businesses, media platforms, publishing companies, and everything involving any kind of written communication. Though there is much criticism of ChatGPT’ accuracy, this is a first version and, because AI learns from its mistakes, it will continually improve.
As a professional communicator, this has me rethinking everything I do, but as a writer, I want to experiment with it.
To be honest, this blows my mind. I think of the backstory on The Matrix where the narrator states that the singularity came with the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and the world rejoiced, until…
That moment is upon us and when you think about it, it is a big deal, maybe the biggest we have seen since the dawn of information science.
You’ll be hearing a lot about this. As writers we can’t ignore the ramifications. Consider this: I could have published that piece on Medium under my name and made money from it exactly as it came out of ChatGPT, unedited and created in seconds.
I didn’t because it does not have my voice or perspective but there will be a time (it might be here) where we can prompt those things too.
Hmm…Happy Holidays! M
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