Ronique @ronique - Tumblr Blog

“Resist the temptation to think what afflicts you is peculiar to you. Have faith that what is in your consciousness can be communicated to the consciousness of all. And is, in many cases, already there.”

— Alice Walker, The Temple of My Familiar

#quote #quotes #literature #books #alice walker #the temple of my familiar

rosalesbeausderholle

One thing that worries me about the use of AI is whether or not it can worsen people's dementia and alzheimer's in the future. When my grandmother was first diagnosed, we got her math activity books. Now, my grandmother never had a formal education, but we did our best to keep her sharp, get her to do math and writing activity books, sudokus, playing board games that required some level of strategizing with her. Her family is prone to alzheimer's and dementia (both her siblings had it and deteriorated very very very quickly, which yeah, scares the shit out of me being her granddaughter) but she was the one whose mind lasted the longest, she only passed away two years ago, at 88, ten whole years after her initial diagnosis and sure, she had forgotten things, recipes and where she put her glasses and appointments, but she never forgot any of us, ten whole years in, she still remembered us. Now, this may have been luck, but doctors always said the constant mental work + companionship + medicine helped her a lot. So I'm thinking, these people who are now relying on AI for everything, from email-writing to thinking what's for dinner to casual conversations, I've even seen people rely on it to calculate what time they should leave their house if they need to be at a place at a specific time and their commute lasts X number of minutes. As if that's not... the simplest math operation possible? You shouldn't even need a calculator for that!!! Idk I don't know how long it'll take us to see the effects of this + exposure to brain-rotting short form content that is completely meaningless + people addicted to right-wing conspiracy style media. Idk I'm very worried. Please, read, read complicated books! Take up a book on philosophy and try to decipher it and make your own opinions on it, please buy a maths activity book and relearn how to do math, please get a hobby that involves lots of thinking and concentrating. PLEASE!!!

notalotgoingonatthisinstant

As a neurologist, I’ll give you the pretty name for it: cognitive reserve.

The way I explain it to my patients is that our neurons don’t regenerate. They make connections with each other and that’s it. If you don’t use your brain, they make fewer connections and, if one of them dies, you’re gonna miss it, because that was the only one that knew how to do X. Now, if each one of them has many, many connections, you won’t notice the difference when one of them dies. The others pick up the slack.

As of 2024, 45% of dementia risk factors are modifiable. Relevant to this conversation, 5% for less education and 5% for social isolation.

We absolutely are going to see the reflection of this, but it’s gonna take decades and it’ll be too late. So, for the love of your brain, pretend that it’s a muscle and make it work. People complain about “when am I ever gonna use this maths formula in my life?” You’re not. You’re teaching your brain to think logically. Those sinapses will be there for when you need to figure out your week’s schedule. English classes taught me how to interpret data and how to convey it in this text so it’s clear and you understand what I’m saying, not because I needed to justify why the curtain is blue.

Make your brain know how to do different things. Logic games, puzzles, taking care of a garden even if small, planning a church’s event or birthday, learn a new instrument, learn a few words in another language, look at a calendar every day, do some manual labor if possible. Do not, I repeat, do not let your brain get rid of sinapses by letting AI do everything. Your brain uses 20% of your body’s energy — do you really think it’s going to maintain connexions that aren’t in use?

Most cases of Alzheimer’s are sporadic, meaning no family history. Family history of a first-degree relative with Alzheimer’s starting before they were 80yo increases your risk in 2-3x on average.

TLDR: Yes. From the knowledge we have today, AI will increase the number and severity of dementia cases.

ronique

I teach.

It scares me how many young people are so willing to give up their minds, and independence, to AI.

I cannot reach these students. They do not want to be reached.

It's terrifying.

I hate AI.

#fuck ai #AI sucks #i hate ai

quotespile

“Let ’im hear me, I say. If he ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place, I can tell you.”

— Alice Walker, The Color Purple

#alice walker #the color purple #quote #quotes #literature #books #lit

soulofthedeep

Sound on to hear the water running through pebbles

#seascape #waves #pebble beach #sound up #sound on

ak-nm

#artists on tumblr #photography #art #ak-nm #oceancore #waves #ocean

quotespile

“To be honest and to be fair were not always the same thing.”

— Damon Galgut, Arctic Summer

#literature #quotes #Damon Galgut #Arctic Summer #quote #books #lit

shealwaysreads

Said this to a dear and much-loved friend today, but I think maybe we all might need to see it:

Long-fic is not the rent you pay to be a part of fandom.

Fic, full-stop, is not the rent you pay to be a part of fandom.

Art is not the rent you pay to be a part of fandom.

Constantly creating is not the rent you pay to be a part of fandom.

Fandom is a community, not a corporation, your productivity is not a payment you have to make to be here.

quotespile

“Americans on the average do not trust intellectuals, but they are cowed by power and stunned by celebrity.”

— Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer

#literature #quotes #Viet Thanh Nguyen #The Sympathizer #quote #books #lit

thirdity

“We have, each of us, certain charged stories or referents, the sorts of stories we tell those people we wish to befriend, so that they will see what has formed us. What is odd is that, over time, the same story can be used to make different points, though we may continue to befriend the same sorts of attractive strangers.”

— Louise Glück, American Originality

#Louise Glück #American Originality #quote #quotes #literature #stories #strangers

scoops-aboy86

Younger writers. Please, just know that you could not skip to different songs on a cassette tape, that’s CDs. With tapes you pressed fast forward or rewind and prayed.

Also, VHS tapes did not have menu screens. Your only options were play, fast forward, rewind, pause, stop, or eject.

Y’all are making me feel like the crypt keeper here, I’m begging you 😭

risingoflights

reblog to instantly disintegrate some of your peers to dust

reallyintoscience

Also, courtesy of an otherwise great book set in the 70s I just read: if you're writing about landlines, "blocking" numbers was not a thing. (Without police and exchange-level involvement, anyway, iirc.)

Caller ID (being able to see the number of the person calling) was a Cool Extra Feature that started being available in the 90s and you had to have a phone that could handle it and pay extra for the feature to be activated. And then you just didn't pick up the phone if that number was calling. Nothing you could do about them ringing you. And before that, every call was a mystery. Before answering machines, (a whole separate bit of kit originally) if you didn't answer you'd never know what the call was about.

mundane-theron-sca-etienne

And then there was that book the phone company left on your porch that doxxed the entire city!

keitrinkomfloukru

ronique

The old telephone system is called POTS, or Plain Old Telephone System.

Once a line was activated through POTS, the line would remain active even if the service plan was terminated.

This meant that you could plug an analog phone into an old POTS port and use it to dial 911 even if the phone company/customer had canceled the service plan.

And this worked even if there was no electricity to the house. Power was provided to the phone through the cable. All you needed was a basic analog telephone that did not require electricity, and you could still dial out to emergency services.

WHICH IS WHY THE SERIES FINALE TO STRANGER THINGS ANNOYS ME SO MUCH.

They didn't need to wait until power was restored to dial out. All they had to do was plug in an analog phone.

The amazing thing about POTS is that, in an emergency like a natural disaster, you're not reliant on cell towers or electricity to call for help. As long as the cable is still there, and it had a service plan at any point even if that plan was terminated, you can still dial emergency services.

It's a shame the POTS network is being removed from our infrastructure. It may be old, but dismantling this system means there is no failsafe now if your cellphone doesn't work or you lose power.

Yet another way big tech ensures we're at their mercy.

#POTS #plain old telephone system #80s #phones #big tech #writing #90s

holmesandtheroman

NOTICE: As more and more fanfic writers are using generative AI for their works (you uncreative dweebs), I hereby swear on everything I hold dear that I have not and will NEVER use generative AI in ANY of my written work. Everything I post will be organically and creatively my own.

shadowen

This is an anti-despair checkpoint! You must share something you're looking forward to before scrolling on.

ronique

@shutterbug-12 Happy Birthday!

I saw you'd said it was your birthday. 🎂🎉

I'm sorry - I've forgotten how Tumblr works; I tried to reblog your notes, but it didn't work.

Anyway, I hope you have an interesting but happy next year!

quotespile

“A lioness. She mates with her lion and he thinks the moment is about him when it is really about her, her children, her posterity. Her trick is to make him think that he is king of the bush, but what does a king matter? Really, she is king and queen and everything in between.”

— Yaa Gyasi, Homegoing

#literature #quotes #Yaa Gyasi #Homegoing #quote #books #lit