[FRIAM] genai and critical thinking

[steve smith]

On 2/12/25 12:55 PM, glen wrote:
> What you mention below is the fulcrum for a larger argument against 
> (most) modern cities. 

Our own Jenny Quillien is involved in an international group studying 
related things:

    https://www.sustasis.org/

I may be misrepresenting her interests and engagements so will leave it 
there.

> We had a kind of speakeasy pub in the basement of this guy's house in 
> Portland. No business license or nothing. If you drank there, you had 
> to donate something ... sugar, eggs, homebrewing supplies, whatever. 
> It reminded me of the alewife tradition. If it weren't for the 
> (ultimately gentrification based) zoning laws, there would be more 
> walkable pubs. 
I remember (hearing of) the phenomena During COVID of upper midwest 
Garage Taverns where people would leave their garage door open and a few 
lawn chairs and tables and a beer fridge... Door open means "Tavern 
Open" and if the residents were there you could join them (at COVID-safe 
distance) but in many cases they might be off on some errand and another 
neighbor or two might be there hanging out...  if you didn't want to 
clean out your garage or have people over in it, you could just 
contribute by restocking the fridge with your (or someone else's) 
favorite libations...
> And even though there's a subsistence economy around such things, it 
> wouldn't be so stupidly commercial as it is now.
>
> Sure. We don't want shanty towns. But zoning can be done well or 
> poorly. If you can't walk to the pub, maybe it's your duty to have the 
> pub at your house? And a tea house is just as much of a pub as the rec 
> center at the Lutheran church, especially now that the kids are 
> turning away from etoh toward thc. We even have a kava pub here in 
> Oly. My libertarian homunculus asks why we don't have more opium dens 
> and rave spaces. Stupid puritans, at home making friends with LLMs: 
> https://jaredhenderson.substack.com/p/replacing-our-relationships-with

I *could* host my own Pub at my house... or tea house... wait! I already 
do!

    We hold a weekly Poetry Salon on (most) Sunday afternoons which
    involves Rye Whiskey and a light meal after sharing some poetry...
    stuff we might have written, or discovered.    Jenny even brought
    Richard Gabriel a year or so ago and he told us about his Inkwell
    writer's toolkit (also did a Wedtech at SimTable with a bit more
    tech bent).   It is all word of mouth and we rarely have more than
    six, and often as few as three.

    I generally provide the "light meal" but others bring appetizers and
    sweets.   At least one regularly replenishes our Rye stock.  Now our
    chickens are laying consistently, we send a half dozen eggs home
    with the occasional visitor as well as the occasional excess produce
    (haven't been very aggressive about growing the last few years)
    including neighbor's pear and apple surplus (September).  We used to
    (in another lifetime) host much more regular impromptu "garden
    parties" and for periods of times could depend on uninvited drop-in
    guests bearing libations or foods...    i is much more the way I'd
    like to live... but most folks just can't quite do this?

      The 3 families who are close enough to amble-down the lane we
    never see outside their vehicles we are the only property without a
    locked automatic gate and multi-car garages and signs saying "I
    don't dial 911 - protected by Smith&Wesson" and "No Trespassing -
    Survivors will be Prosecuted!".   We all smile and wave at the
    mailboxes and we can entice one of them to visit now and again for
    very specific purposes (pick up some eggs) but always on a hit and
    run basis.   I think they think we are "hippies" (Mary DID paint a
    giant peace sign on an old cable-spool in the back yard, so fair I
    guess!).

    In another lifetime I used to do more of this, including making
    drop-ins hyper welcome (crack a beer, or pop a wine-cork, make a
    light meal a the drop of a hat)... but the larger culture just
    doesn't respond well to this.  I've hosted 3  locals from this list
    from time to time, but I'm just far enough off the "beaten track" it
    isn't easy to just "Drop In!"...   my bad.

    So I have two Whiskey Tumblers, one for me and one for chatGPT...
    and we drink together and talk of "Cabbages and Kings, etc". while I
    wait for someone to "drop by".

- Steve

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