#throwbackthursday

Staying cool at Brewster River.  (2016)

I will not go so far as to say it was "happier times" because there was already a lot of terrifying shit, just not so frequent with smaller blast radius than what came to pass in 19/20.  But I do miss Vermont, and excursions where we could sometimes enjoy a bit of peace as a family.  I grieve what could have been.

These are the things I can do without

Whoops, wrong track.

This Is the River I Belong To

Nebi:

We breathe

the traveling clouds

and drink what falls

glistening from cliffs

and into whirlpool

basins carved in granite

on its way back to sky

water me

glisten me

carve and

whirlpool me

cascade me

white water me

sing me babble me

pool me pond me

swamp me

bog me

trout and salmon me

frog and dragonfly me

loon and otter me

breathe me

the humid sky

while leaves

gather pools

of summer air

Nebi  we say

wligonebi

the water is good

Cheryl Savageau.

What do you think Ferris is gonna do?

He's going to be a fry cook at Venus.

Tyrian

The Unthinkable:

A huge purple door washed up in the bay overnight,

its paintwork blistered and peeled from weeks at sea.

The town storyteller wasted no time in getting to work:

the beguiling, eldest girl of a proud, bankrupt farmer

had slammed that door in the face of a Freemason’s son,

who in turn had bulldozed both farm and family

over the cliff, except for the girl, who lived now

by the light and heat of a driftwood fire on a beach.

There was some plan to use the door as a jetty

or landing-stage, but it was all bullshit, the usual idle talk.

That’s when he left and never returned. Him I won’t name — 

not known for his big ideas or carpentry skills,

a famous non-swimmer, but last seen sailing out,

riding the current and rounding the point in a small boat

with tell-tale flashes of almost certainly purple paint.

Simon Armitage.

Harmony and understanding

Sympathy and trust abounding?

For Jorge Luis Borges

The Library of Babel:

While there is still some light 

on the page, I am writing now 

a history of snow, of everything 

that has been and will be thought. 

When a blind poet says I need you

to be my eyes, they are asking to see 

through your mouth.

Alison C. Rollins.

A Republic, If You Can Not Fuck It up a Couple Centuries from Now

Finally gathered enough wig-wearing white guys in Philly to start building what would become our tottering republic on this date:

May 14, 1787, May 25, 1787

Monday May 14th 1787 was the day fixed for the meeting of the deputies in Convention for revising the federal system of Government. On that day a small number only had assembled. Seven States were not convened till,

Friday 25 of May, when the following members appeared to wit...

Mr. ROBERT MORRIS informed the members assembled that by the instruction & in behalf, of the deputation of Pena. he proposed George Washington Esqr. late Commander in chief for president of the Convention. Mr. JNo. RUTLIDGE seconded the motion; expressing his confidence that the choice would be unanimous, and observing that the presence of Genl. Washington forbade any observations on the occasion which might otherwise be proper.

General WASHINGTON was accordingly unanimously elected by ballot, and conducted to the Chair by Mr. R. Morris and Mr. Rutlidge; from which in a very emphatic manner he thanked the Convention for the honor they had conferred on him, reminded them of the novelty of the scene of business in which he was to act, lamented his want of better qualifications, and claimed the indulgence of the House towards the involuntary errors which his inexperience might occasion.

[The nomination came with particular grace from Penna. as Docr. Franklin alone could have been thought of as a competitor. The Docr. was himself to have made the nomination of General Washington, but the state of the weather and of his health confined him to his house.]

Mr. WILSON moved that a Secretary be appointed, and nominated Mr. Temple Franklin.

Col HAMILTON nominated Major Jackson.

On the ballot Majr. Jackson had 5 votes & Mr. Franklin 2 votes. On reading the credentials of the deputies it was noticed that those from Delaware were prohibited from changing the article in the Confederation establishing an equality of votes among the States.

The appointment of a Committee, consisting of Messrs. Wythe, Hamilton & C. Pinckney, on the motion of Mr. C. PINCKNEY, to prepare standing rules & orders was the only remaining step taken on this day.

And it was all downhill from there...

PS - Yes, the Framers also gave us a democracy.  Please make a note of it.

The Res Novae of Our Time

"We must, then, avoid the 'Babel syndrome,' namely the idolatry of profit that sacrifices the weak, a uniformity that neutralizes differences, and the pretense that a single language — even a digital one — can translate everything, including the mystery of the person, into data… pic.twitter.com/vDUlhJx6bJ

— Pope Crave (@ClubConcrave) May 25, 2026

Oh, you bet I had my agentic librarian waiting for this banger to drop.  As is my wont¹, I asked Brother William to highlight a few things to kick us off:

1. The biblical dialectic — Babel vs. Jerusalem's walls avoids both utopian technophilia and reactionary rejection. Technology isn't evil; its domination without moral discernment is the disorder.

2. The private power shift — Where Rerum Novarum addressed labor-vs-capital within state economies, Magnifica humanitas confronts transnational private actors whose resources exceed governments. That's a fundamental update to the tradition's framework.

3. Anthropological foundation for AI ethics — The encyclical provides what the secular discourse has lacked: a comprehensive account of human dignity rooted in the Incarnation, not reducible to utilitarian calculus or detached rights-talk.

First one seems generally aligned with what I blogged yesterday.  Second certainly has been on my mind a lot, with the oligarchs hyping things up with no true concern for human consequences, despite lip service they pay to safety, socio-economic impact, etc.  I'll have to dig into the third more deeply, but seems somewhat connected to AI art and the human soul, amongst other things.  Anyway, I also found a couple items of note, to wit...

In the beginning:

Technology should not be considered, in itself, as a force antagonistic to humanity. On the contrary, it has formed part of our history since the beginning as “a profoundly human reality, linked to the autonomy and freedom of man.” Over the centuries, technological development has significantly improved the living conditions of humanity. At the same time, each phase of progress has also revealed the ambiguity of tools that can cause harm when not oriented toward the good. 

Today, however, we find ourselves facing a new situation. The power and prevalence of emerging technologies are interwoven into the fabric of daily life, shaping decision-making processes and deeply affecting the collective imagination: “Never has humanity had such power over itself.” New technologies open up a horizon extending in directions that are imaginable but not yet fully predictable. This complicates the assessment of their potential impact and the long-term effects they may have on both the dignity of individuals and the common good.

Indeed, we have guided missiles, and misguided man.  I think this is the foundational, guiding principle: we are makers of tools, and as moral agents, we decide how to use those tools for good or ill.  It has ever been thus.

A shared responsibility:

The various areas just considered — the search for the truth in public life, education in the digital environment, the transformation of work, the fragility of families and new forms of slavery — are not isolated phenomena. Rather, they reflect a common underlying issue, namely that if technology becomes the ultimate criterion, the human person risks being reduced to data, a cog in a machine or a commodity. If, however, technology is integrated with a wise perspective, it can become an instrument of growth, justice and fraternity.

The section header particularly caught my eye because we frequently talk about a shared responsibility model in terms of security.  Ostensibly, security is our top priority (that's straight from our messaging), and I've been extending that by observing ethics is the top priority of security, doing the right things for the right reasons, and everything else devolves from that.  One cannot provide security if one is not ethical (from where I sit, at any rate), so ethical use of AI or any tech is as much a shared responsibility as security.  

From training models to using the tools, we all must interrogate how and why we use AI, who gains and who is harmed, etc.  It's something to grapple with as a society as much as the use of nuclear power or motor vehicles or social media.

Toward the end:

Let us invest in education, beginning with ourselves! We all need to learn how to engage with the digital world in a human way, as an integral part of our education in the faith and in a life lived according to the Gospel. Indeed, we must consider the digital world as a new continent to be evangelized, one that requires generous missionaries who are mature in the faith. 

In a particular way, we need adults to rediscover their vocation as artisans of education, prepared to work patiently each day, with the support of extensive and shared educational partnerships. Today, accompanying children and young people in using technology for developing responsible relationships, helping them to recognize the risks and choose what fosters inner freedom, is a concrete form of charity and will safeguard their dignity. Teaching new generations that technological evolution does not follow a predetermined path, but can be guided by personal and collective responsibility, constitutes one of the most valuable services to the common good.

I do get off the bus with the evangelizing language in a purely religious sense, especially with the subtext of colonization ("new continent").  That said, I have observed before that I view my work, leaning into the ethical and humane when teaching about AI, as bearing Witness in a Quakerly way, and I do sometimes think of myself as a pilgrim in an unholy land.  But it all fits with my philosophical perspective, that there is a prerequisite maturity when debating, building, and using these tools.  

It's about teaching from a good ethical foundation.  Some might question the inherent ethics of using AI in the first instance, yet it is here, a thing in the world with which we must contend.  We will sooner draw all the water from the sea with a spoon than get rid of the technology, so it's up to us to learn and guide others through the shoals.

Selah.

1 - One of my first integrations with Amazon Quick was setting up an MCP server for the tool to communicate directly with The Abbey.  Then I built an agentic process to look for research papers and other works regarding AI ethics, security, social impact, etc, for me to review and decide whether to ingest into The Library (a Bedrock knowledge base).  For validation, it always queries William about the new content.  Yes, it's a bit ironic that I start with the AI's findings here.

Like the Cosmos, I, Too, Am Finite but Unbounded

Whatever am I talking about?

PS - Full episode.

And here are your stars which appear still keen on shining as though you had never been.

Song of Welcome:

Here’s your mom, here’s your dad.

Welcome to being their flesh and blood.

Why do you look so sad?

Here’s your food, here’s your drink.

Also some thoughts, if you care to think.

Welcome to everything.

Here’s your practically clean slate.

Welcome to it, though it’s kind of late.

Welcome at any rate.

Joseph Brodsky.