Know Jack #494 Fiction Turned Fact

I read this week that Amazon has added a new feature to books. It’s called Ask This Book. It is an AI program to answer readers’ questions. Didn’t understand a passage—Ask This Book will explain it to you, in its own words. Not the words of the author, the words of AI. And I used to think Lit teachers were bad about that.

It makes a distorted kind of sense alongside an article I read from The Washington Examiner. In that article, college professors from some top universities report that they are reading to students, many of whom have trouble comprehending complete written sentences. AI summaries have replaced the Cliff Notes, which replaced actual reading.

And why not all change is good, right? I don’t really blame the kids (and yes, they are kids) who have been raised to pursue the path of least effort. Then again, it may satisfy a psychological need in students. Lord knows their parents didn’t read to them. What boggles my mind is that these supposed institutes of higher learning find it acceptable. Meanwhile, taxpayers are furnishing educational grants for this level of “education”.

We used to wonder why Johnny couldn’t read. We let it go on, and now Johnny can’t think. It’s a natural progression. I hear young people in a superior socialist voice ask who will pick our crops when the illegals are gone. If they could read and think about what they read, they would know the answer.

Back in the early 70s, I read a book called Come Nineveh, Come Tyre. It is not horror, though I still tell people it’s the scariest book I’ve ever read. It no longer scares me. I have resigned myself to its tragic end as I watch it unfold.