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Maureen Elyse Gilbert's avatar

A friend sent me this short NPR clip - it’s brilliant and I have to admit I love TRAVs commentary:

https://www.npr.org/2015/04/01/396757462/acautionarytaleaboutselfdrivingcars

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Cab's avatar

You are an adventurous woman! What an experience. And your conclusion is so true, the importance of the "random surprise variable....".

A reminder of O'Donohue in the poem Vespers, ".... surprises that dawn could never have dreamed..."

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Maureen Elyse Gilbert's avatar

Love that poem 🙏🏻

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Trisha Benson's avatar

I loved this article! I have used ChatGPT quite a bit...and boy do I miss the randomness of a human mind...the way it weirdly connects one topic with another, so there you are starting with a political debate and ending with waxing poetic on a sunrise. Or the fantastic element of creativity that humans have. I don't doubt that AI will just get better and better until we can barely tell the difference, but there is something unique and always will be to the random surprise variant!

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Corwin H.'s avatar

As I’ve aged, I have found that the beauty in life is often best found in the imperfections. Every dent reminds us of some previous collision and probably has a wonderful anecdote waiting to be relived. Thanks for the living reminder of that truth!

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Michele B. Voss's avatar

O'Donohue's "Surprises that dawn could never have dreamed..." stanza ends "The golden echoes of worlds behind voices...". No talking to the driver? ---No PRESENCE of a human driver 🤔😢 🫣 I might have stepped out of the cab and told my taxi app "Send a Human driver, please." I am assuming though that you knew what mode if transportation was arriving? 💃🏻🥳

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Susan Korthase's avatar

FLATTER....yes, these personless interactions, these cold, disconnected media, make life flatter. We can all recall infuriating exchanges with drivers, seasoned with insights into lives we've never known.

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Maureen Elyse Gilbert's avatar

Yes! Flatter is the perfect word.

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Audra White's avatar

These sentiments are relatable.

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Jeff's avatar

General rambling alert... but this post is somewhat of a fun plot twist to some of your other posts on here, about trying to figure out where your life is heading, how to figure out the right path, direction, approach, etc. I think this taxi ride serves as an interesting insight into how we need to allow facets of our life to play out...without our control. Let God, the universe, luck, or whatever you believe in be the one to guide you to what your destination is, while you sit back and enjoy the ride while making the most of the journey. And much like your post, that's also the scary part....to realize you're not in control, that you can't talk to the "driver" of your journey, and to be forced to accept that you are simply a passenger on this crazy trip called life.

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Maureen Elyse Gilbert's avatar

The best metaphors in writing are implied not stated right 😉

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