New tech' set-up frustration

The temperature was a comfortable 18C overnight, pleasant for relaxed sleeping. By mid morning under a cloudless sky it was 27C rising to 33C, one of the hottest places in the UK for a change. In the early hours a message from Jasmine stated that she and Louie were boarding a flight arriving at Heathrow around one o'clock, hopefully arriving at Sophia Gardens by coach around half past five. At last, patience rewarded!

Netanyahu has been in talks with Trump in Washington for the past couple of days, promising a cease-fire deal, but announcing nothing in conclusion. Meanwhile people are killed daily at emergency aid points by soldiers and militiamen alleging they are controlling crowds or hunting Hamas fighters, no longer an army but a collection of insurgents. Killings reported seem indiscriminate and far more victims are women and children than can be considered random accidents. Too little is being said by international leaders backing either Israeli or Palestinian sides about this genocidal anarchy, as that would be an admission of inability to influence events or Netanyahu.  

Most Israelis appear to want the war to end and a deal made to return hostages and resume delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Apart from the Zionist fanatics who hold the balance of power in the Netanyahu government. Zionist fanatics who hold the balance of power in the government resist decisive action. Is Netanyahu delaying action until the government goes into summer recess, to impose a deal while there's not enough time for the minority to obstruct it? It would be a gamble. It would break the coalition, but any popular surge of support might re-make the coalition with a less extremist balance of power. Meanwhile each day more Gazans die, shot bombed or starved to death, while the world watches unable to intervene without the risk of destabilising the situation further and triggering a third world war.

Irvine Welsh was interviewed on this morning BBC Today programme about his new book, a sequel to his seminal 'Trainspotting' novel of thirty years ago, with the same characters growing older in a radically changing world. He made an incisive comment about the influence of the internet, especially social media and the emergence of AI. Things which may have developed as an information service have concentrated power in the hands of transnational corporations and operate with their own profitable interests in mind. If you search to inform your answer to a question you have in mind, it is more likely to tell you only what's in its interests to tell you, not precisely what you want to know, undermining our ability and desire to think for ourselves. 

Welsh identifies something I have noticed. I know all the information I need about transport timetabling is out there. I can ask a specific question about when the next 61 bus to town arrives at the nearest stop. In some instances Google search will list a few of the nearest match times, in others it will tell me how to search the required timetables, something I already know and can't be bothered with, as it's too fiddly and time consuming. It wants to drive me to one or more websites, or install an app to obtain the information I need. In each case, those devices will most likely pitch me advertisements distracting me from finding out the simple fact I need. It's not in my interests but it generates ad income and information about my search a third party will use to pitch me more ads I don't need to see.

I finally got around to setting up my new Moto G24, an onerous fiddly job. The tricky task of extracting and inserting the SIM and SD cards was relatively easy this time around, but with half a dozen different accounts and apps needing to be signed into and security notifications responded to, plus endless sets of terms and conditions to be agreed to at every move, on top of the hit and miss wholesale transfer of data between phones, it took a couple of hours. Hit and miss, as the process was interrupted by two separate incoming emails. The only annoyance was Google Wallet, insisting that I set up digital payment card details with an immovable demand filling half the screen space. No point in asking Google how to get rid of this. It didn't understand the question. Fitbit behaved itself however, but the Church in Wales lectionary app didn't transfer and had to be reinstalled. Anyway, the morning was over by the time I finished and it was time to cook lunch. Two big hake fillets poached in olive oil and lemon, plus usual veg.

After we'd eaten, I cleared up and had a line of washing to hang in fierce afternoon heat, then another hour completing set-up of  new Dell laptop, with a Microsoft account passkey, recommended these days for enhanced security. I then started unpacking and setting up the Mesh 1200 wireless network extender pack I bought at the same time as the laptop. The instruction leaflet contained no writing at all, just pictures of each stage in the process which took ages to decode without knowledge or accompanying explanation. I attached the hard wired extender unit and got this to attach to the internet, but completely failed with the other two wi-fi extension units. Google's written set-up instructions were plain and straightforward enough but didn't attach to the router or to each other. Most frustrating, contradicting assertions that set-up was a simple straightforward process.

Despite a late departure Jasmine's flight arrived on time. Their coach arrived late, due to Friday rush hour traffic, but also due to city centre road closures for tonight's Stereophonics concert. The bus station was also closed, as I discovered when I arrived more or less on time to meet Jasmine and Louie. Incoming coaches parked in the town-side bus lane at the bottom of Cathedral Road. After a ten minute wait their coach arrived, and they stepped off it looking dazed and drained. The air conditioning on the coach was broken, so the temperature was thirty degrees or more in direct sunlight. We walked back slowly, grateful for the shade of tall trees most of the way. Clare fed them with omelette and chips, and by ten they were ready to start adjusting to the time zone change, catching up on a lost night's sleep. I pottered around with the Mesh set-up for another hour, then called it a day.

On AI avoiding the question posed

I didn't get up until after nine. A long time in bed, but I didn't sleep well, overstimulated by thinking about what I'm writing, and a big evening meal. Clare was up an hour before me, cooking breakfast pancakes. I did very little all morning apart from showering, washing my hair and exchanging messages with cousin Dianne about our family tree. Clare cooked fish and chips for lunch, and we both slept for a while before going out for a walk. I felt stiff and tired, Clare's arthritic hip was hurting so she did one lap of Llandaff Fields and return home, leaving me to continue walking a lap of Pontcanna Fields as well.

Loud music was emanating from somewhere the other side of the Taff, probably Coopers Field, suggesting an event was on. Later, young people returning to Pontcanna across Blackweir Bridge had faces painted in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine's national flag. Or else the colours represented a sports team they were supporting. A Google event search was surprisingly unhelpful, seeming not to understand the word 'today' unless it was qualified as 'only today', throwing up all sorts of irrelevant events at dates past and present. If this is AI at work, it's laughable ignorance. 

There seems to be no enquiry possible around the question 'What's on in Cardiff today' categorising and listing most major types of public event. Large language model AI algorithms need to be 'taught' by processing public information, they say, but for now it doesn't seem to be attuned to delivering basic general information, unless an event is being promoted hard. That's not always the information needed.

For the third day in a row I bumped into Richard on his litter gathering round. His afternoon bag contained a heavy coil of thick cable insulation dumped after its copper core had been stripped out. Earlier I found an unopened water bottle and Coca Cola can discarded on top of different rubbish bins. Consumers with money to waste buying more than they need and then dumping it. A cost-of-living crisis hasn't impacted on such selfish greed yet.

I copied my collection of music files from my phone to the Linux Workstation this evening. Building the database on Mint's 'Rhythmbox' music player was a slow process, so I watched episodes of the fourth series of Norwegian crimmie 'Wisting' while I waited. There were inconsistencies in the metadata of some of the MP3 files I created, so I found myself with multiple copies of folders and the relevant files spread between them. Rationalising these into single folders for each album also needs to be done, and that took more time attending to the detail in scores of folders. It's not a job I would entrust to AI, that's for sure. 

AI abuses teen girls

I felt the benefit of going to bed half an hour earlier than usual. It rained again in the night and was drying out by the time we had breakfast. The sky remained overcast for most of the day. I drove to St Edwards to celebrate the Eucharist, and was surprised when a lady accosted me outside and said how she appreciated my sermons - well thought out, informative, relevant - she said. I'm not sure I ever recall getting feedback like that before. I think she must be an ex-teacher to deliver such a concise appraisal. It's certainly what I aim for, and wonder how often how it comes across, but it's not the sort of thing you'd ever ask anyone, as if you'd fish for complements. 

Much to my inner embarrassment, several people thanked me for today's sermon after the service. It seems that a few fresh insights which occurred to me were fresh for my listeners too. More often than not, people leaving  church say shyly as you greet them "Nice service Father" and that's all. You do the best you can to convey insights that make an impression on you from the texts you work with. You trust God to do the rest and it's enough to know you've not upset anyone or caused them to walk out in protest.

The roads were quiet and I was home for lunch by half past twelve. I found a small bottle of Prosecco in the back of the fridge, enough for two glasses, and opened it for Clare and Ann to drink in honour of their forthcoming birthdays, while the veggies were roasting. Then a circuit of Llandaff and Pontcanna Fields. 

At the far end, near Sophia Gardens there was a fund raising event for the Noah's Ark children's hospital appeal going on, for which, unusually dozens of cars were parked on the grass near to a long side-less tent. I wasn't sure whether the event was to start later, or was winding down after an early start. The river level had risen sufficiently due to recent rain for water to flow across the entire length of the weir. After a dry day it started raining heavily after dark, so I imagine the river will be even more swollen tomorrow.

After supper, we watched Antiques Roadshow. and then the final episode of 'The Woman in the Wall' with an emotionally dramatic conclusion, albeit a little long drawn out to my taste. Whether the element of the story-line about baby trafficking in the days of the Magdalene laundries in Ireland has any truth in it, I have no idea, but the portrayal of cruelty towards young women consigned to them reflected the reality of much harsher times and moral values lacking in compassion for the vulnerable and respect for their dignity, all in the name of a perverse notion of penitence and amendment of life, based on false spirituality which did great damage to the credibility of the church and Christianity in the 20th century.

A new story breaking in Spain this evening concerns the use of AI imaging to take photos of teenage girls posted on social media and re-render them naked. The perpetrators are young teenage boys finding that the lewd masturbatory fantasies common at their age can be turned into a perceptible reality and circulated on social media. Heaven know where such photos will end up. Needless to say, the girls and their parents are beside themselves with anxiety about the consequences of this invasion of personal privacy.

The police are investigating, and those mischievous lads are facing serious criminal charges as a result. Hopefully this will help to deter young people's use of social media for self-display and narcissism, and consider more seriously what is the real value of communicating virtually when person to person encounter is so much more natural and fruitful. Did AI designers see this coming? What do they propose to do to prevent such abuse from happening in the first place.

 

Coronation Eve

A day of clouds and rain, sometimes just a drizzle and others a fierce downpour. After breakfast I worked on my sermon for Coronation Sunday and responded to an email about the Q3 service rota from Mother Frances after entering dates I can do into my diary. I shared lunch cooking with Clare as I had chicken which I curried, and she had a fish to fry. Afterwards I chatted on the phone with my sister for over an hour, then went to Tesco Metro to get re-stock our supply of plant based milks ready for the weekend. Then I went for a walk around the park accompanied by occasional showers, and called in the Coop on my way home to get some things I'd been unable to carry earlier.

After supper there was a programme on BBC1 about the formation of a special 300 strong Coronation Choir to sing at the Coronation concert on Sunday evening. Select singing groups drawn from a variety of community voluntary service groups have been rehearsed separately from all over Britain and brought to Windsor Castle for a single rehearsal prior to the big event. One group taking part is Cardiff's Oasis choir made of refugees from 25 countries. They were filmed being interviewed when rehearsing in St German's during Lent. It's an inspired project with some great amateur singers, and an event that really celebrates unity in diversity through singing together. 

Tonight, even the punishing outcome of English local elections for the Tories is being overshadowed on news media by reports about the build-up to tomorrow's Coronation. Interviews with people camping out on the processional route or with some sort of role contributing to the event.

There was one detail which particularly touched me, a report that arrangements have been made for the Chief Rabbi Ephraim Murvis, to stay close to Westminster Abbey and walk to the service, as it's being held on the Sabbath. An Orthodox Jew wouldn't use transport but can walk up to three quarters of a mile for pleasure on the Sabbath. It's a measure of respect for his religious tradition and high public office that security provisions have been made to enable him to do this. Other guests have to arrive by car or bus with their security escort! It's an expression of what it means to the King to be 'defender of faiths'.  As head of the Church of England he's defender of Christian faith dutifully protecting the freedom of everyone to follow their own faith in pursuit of the common good. To act exclusively about our beliefs is a sign of insecurity and weakness, ultimately a manifestation of a lack of faith.

Tonight's episode of  'Astrid - Murders in Paris' was about the assassination of a hi-tech entrepreneur, an innovator in developing artificial intelligence making use of a human avatar modelled on the attributes of a particular woman whose death had been unexplained and untimely. The complexity of the plot isn't as important as the notion that sophistication in the humanoid interface to a computer was so realistic it was hard to tell it wasn't a real person conversing with an enquirer through a video screen. This was used for deception and incitement to murder. The rapid acceleration of AI capability in recent months is now provoking concern about its controllability, and what happens if it fall into the hands of 'bad actors', the latest piece of jargon for criminals, villains, baddies etc. 

This storyline was written about the time the pandemic started, filmed and broadcasted early after lock-down. It wasn't quite science fiction at the time. Meanwhile we've seen the rise of fake news and 'false flag' operations in the Russian war over Ukraine, so fiction and reality are already meeting each other in unfolding events. AI computing is very energy intensive and has a big carbon footprint, but will this new wonder tool be an asset or a liability in the battle to save humankind from the catastrophic effects of global warming? I can't say I'm optimistic.

A is for Archbishop as well as A.I.

Last night my first 'covid passport' expired and as we have a matinee concert performance to attend at the RWCMD this afternoon, renewal was my priority after breakfast. I failed to get a result from the NHS digital app on my phone which referred me to NHS Wales digital equivalent without providing a weblink that would land me exactly on the page I needed. Or if it was there, it was somewhat obscured from plain view by too much irrelevant advisory text. I had to google the correct page on my PC to reach where I needed to be, and then it was straightforward to download and put on both my phones. Perhaps I'm just old and stupid, but perhaps some stupid old digital feud between governmental IT silos of the four nations is the reason.

In this week's diocesan newsletter was a short greeting video from newly elected Archbishop of Wales, Andy John, Bishop of Bangor. It's not a contentious appointment, but he's a safe pair of hands coming into office as the Province presses ahead reforming the structure of its entire parochial system, with one Benefice the size of a conventional area Deanery in many cases replacing individual Parishes many of which were probably carved from the larger area Deanery centuries ago. Why a 'Ministry Area' structure needed to be overlaid on the existing historic entity is hard to see. Admittedly demographic and social changes have occurred that make some ancient Deaneries boundaries irrelevant. They could have been tinkered with, but I suspect that would be more expensive legally than overlaying a new Ministry Area structure on a grouping of churches and then dissolving the ancient structure in one fell swoop.

Really, it's the way the plan has been implemented which is a problem for some. Some churches which have fought hard to survive, want to stay as they are and feel they will lose their identity, alleging their members have not had enough say in this decision. Others are now too impoverished and weak to care. Llandaff diocese has been a slow starter in this process. Pressure to complete has come at the most inopportune time during the pandemic, but more seriously because it can no longer afford to pay an adequate number of parochial clergy. 

A heart-breakingly difficult dilemma, as harsh as that faced by British churches at the reformation, when monasteries were dissolved, and monks who served as parish clergy were deprived of a living if they couldn't adapt to new vernacular liturgy or loyalty to the state. Some clerics are farced with redundancy and early retirement, or offered part time posts with free accommodation. Others are non-stipendiary clergy already or young enough to make a new career in secular employ, whether they want to, or not. It's been coming and avoided for as long as I have been in ministry. I retrained as a teacher forty years ago with that in mind, but somehow it never happened in my full time work life, and here I am in my seventies often working the equivalent of a half time minister's hours as a volunteer, and happy to do so.

While Clare had her online piano lesson, I listened to last Wednesdays Reith lecture about the use of A.I. in warfare, and what a challenge it is to agree global banning status for autonomous 'killer robots' that is equal to the ban on chemical and biological weapons, as different interested parties have different ideas of what autonomy consists of. Superpower governments are the most reluctant to agree to a universal ban for fear others will develop them in order to get the upper hand in the global strategic situation. 

The thought of killer drones that can use A.I. to select individuals based on facial recognition and target them for assassination with greater precision than a remotely operated unmanned aerial vehicle, is really disturbing. Tiny drones are already in development that can carry out covert surveillance, even indoors, and swarms of tiny light bearing drones performing aerial ballet were used in this year's Olympic games opening and closing ceremonies demonstrating the huge advances in remote control which have been made in the past few years.

After her lesson, Clare went to school for a couple of hours and I cooked lunch ready for her return. We had tickets for the matinee performance of the students' Christmas concert at the Royal Welsh College at three and walked over there through Bute Park. To my surprise, it turned out to be a full Christmas Carol concert accompanied by the College Big Band with fresh arrangements of a wide range of well known carols done in full strength music theatre mode, with jazzy swinging gospel numbers and fast moving choreographed ensemble singing by groups of singers and soloists. 

Everything was sympathetically re-interpreted and delivered with astounding energy. I was feeling rather jaded when I arrived but invigorated and awake when we left. I wanted to jump up, clap and shout hallelujah, but I'm not sure if that would have been deemed appropriate in an audience of staff members, elderly patrons like us, and just a selection of students (it was being live streamed for other students and family members around the world). Whether they were believers or not, they put conviction, heart and soul into performing in a way that seems lacking in church services.

I'd like to think that performing songs of faith so excellently might work its own miracle on those taking part. It's long been known that taking part in a passion play can lead a sceptic or someone going through a barren patch to a spiritual awakening. From my own experience I can say that the more I've preached and taught, the more confident in faith I've become without ever losing my natural scepticism and desire to test and question all religious assertions. I believe and hope this can also be true for others.

The sun was setting in a clear blue sky as we walked into town for some shopping before going home. With all the Christmas illuminations and streets full of brightly decorated market stalls, it was quite an enchanting scene. After supper, I settled down and watched a couple of episodes of the third series of 'Crossing Lines', ad free on the computer. There are major changes of cast in the new series, due to some characters being killed off, or disappearing from sight for reasons inexplicable so far. Only three characters from the first two series re-appear, and are joined by three more. Intriguing stuff.

Not so smart web

After breakfast this morning I took my blood pressure and was relieved that the average of three best readings wasn't as worryingly high as it has been lately, even if it is still high by doctor's benchmarks. I thought I should report back to my GP, and attempted to do so as requested, using the Practice website. It's mostly a portal to information streams about health concerns, with an auto-triage system to enquire about a vast range of medical and administrative concerns. But it is far from user friendly. It seems to have been designed by a medical encyclopedia geek, who really has little idea of what the system is like for end users. I couldn't find a way to send a simple report directly. 

After half an hour of trying to fit my report into a small message window on one of the pages and pressing send, an automatic message appeared telling me to phone the surgery or 111 urgently. So I rang the surgery and got the automatic queuing system. I didn't have to wait long to reach the head of the queue, but was then disconnected! So, I spent another half an hour writing and printing off a letter and then took it around to the surgery, giving a little feedback about the system. 

I find it amazing that the system is built round a complex series of interrogatory menus - heaven  help you if you don't describe symptoms or  use language in a culturally different frame of reference to that of the program designer. All those wild eyed enthusiasts in government and medical bureaucracy tell us how it's going to be great when A.I. systems make light work of diagnosing the ailments of the masses. It's the ultimate extension to the industrialisation of medicine in the past half century. Advocates are deaf to challenges about A.I. inbuilt discriminatory tendencies leading to sick people not being taken seriously in time of need, because they are atypical. 

Real human diagnosticians pick things up which no digital device ever could. The pandemic has forced medics to do much of their work without seeing or examining patients directly. Having a personal relationship with a GP over years is being replaced by being acquainted with a practice medical team which may or may not have enough useful specific knowledge to make an accurate diagnosis. Loads of unread notes in a file system, digital or paper, aren't information giving a whole picture. Someone suffering may tell their story differently to different medics. Sure diagnostic tools are most valuable but not as valuable as personal knowledge of someone, mutual regard and trust.

Having spent a week taking my Olympus OM-D with me on my daily walk, I took the Sony Alpha 68 out with me today for a change. With my long telephoto lens, over twice the weight of the Olympus, it's noticeably more demanding to carry. I took a lot more photos in one day than I've been taking with the Olympus, it's a lot more flexible in the range of photos you can take with it, maybe too because I'm used to it, I take more advantage of it. The Olympus telephoto lens is not nearly as flexible, even though it's very light in comparison. I'm lucky to have interesting kit to play with, to see how I can get the best photos of subjects that please me eye, mostly landscapes, building and trees in different light.

This evening I finally watched the NCIS episode in which Pauley Perret aka forensic genius Abbi Sciuto leaves the series. It was controversial when it was first aired a couple of years ago and I had already read a summary of the story. Interesting to see how it was presented, however, discreetly sidestepping the brrakdown in relationship between Perrette and Mark Harmon the show's lead actor and co-director.

Mystery of healing and hall of mirrors

Being somewhat confined to the house, so-say 'looking after myself' i.e. not letting my unresolved ailments get out of hand, is for the most part a dull and uneventful routine, so a week can slip by with little of interest to report or reflect upon. Today was an exception however.

Today, I visited McTimoney chiropractor Clive Taylor again. This certainly does me good, and the value added is in the accompany conversation. Clive has been an active practitioner of alternative kinds of therapy for over thirty years, and speaks confidently of his understanding and experience of the nature of healing being embedded in the relationship he has with his clients, not just in a social way, but in the physical connection which therapy requires. Without any need for interpreting this in a metaphysical way, he speaks of the importance of laying on hands, resting and centering himself, and then letting his hands be guided to work on the other person's body. It's a process Rachel and others also speak about in their therapeutic work. 

It's part of what we are, what we can be for others. I like it, and trust this more than I trust the analytical and rational approach of busy modern medicine, which seems to have broken everything down into procedures. While I have no objection to this in principle, there can be so many procedures that some get missed out, avoided because of the pressure to deliver. Really I feel we need both approaches, but this calls for more time than we ever seem to have these days.

After this, I drove over to Dinas Powis to have coffee and a conversation with Russell on the subject of Artificial Intelligence. He's interested in what the church may have to say about it. I can't really say what theologians or Christian philosophers are publishing on this, let alone what Bishops and others have to say. In the end, it's a matter of morally evaluating the use of various AI resources and concluding whether they are a blessing or a curse, and that's complex enough. The key worry seems to be over progress towards autonomous self replicating systems, promised by visionary promoters to be with us in a couple of decades.

Seeing will be believing. All sorts of things are possible in lab conditions, like cloning sheep, but that's not turned out to be as perfect as hoped for. It's not just that such immense complexity can be perfectly reproduced, but that, to put it simply, the date, time and location of any clone is different from the original, and this alone my be enough of a change in the basic precondition for perfection to avoid flaws at a genetic or systemic level. We think that various mathematical universal constants governing the laws of the universe are perfect, unchanging and absolute. For the most part they are,  until someone comes along with new observations of certain conditions which call the presumed absolute into question. There may be no end to the process of refinement in search of ultimate truth. Maybe, an infinite regress is all we can expect, like a hall of mirrors.