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Emerging technologies are reshaping our future Issue #108 |
The Loss of Humour - Mirth and mayhem The role of humour in addressing excesses of neoliberalism |
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LAST WEEK'S WEBINAR Dress rehearsal for The Loss of Humour |
Webinar Invitation Last week's webinar was the dress rehearsal for ... The Loss of Humour featuring a skit "About Nothing" and several interviews 16MAR23 Join us 4:00PM MST Thursday |
I was up early wrestling with how to shape this week’s newsletter and retain the “Loss of Humour” theme, exploring the role of humour in resolving personal and societal anxiety triggered by the excesses of neoliberalism - the rise of unrestricted individual freedom/ expression. See HERE. Concepts banging around in my head woke me: “mirth” and “mayhem” and how they exist simultaneously just as what some view as good, others view as evil. Residential schools, wealth distribution, equality of opportunity, gender identity, are current examples. Ours today is a society segregating people into classes of victims and perpetrators. We are suffering a painful reality, the rebellion against injustices current and historical, real and perceived. Humour should be helping restore balance, reducing the tension, the anxiety, the fears by exploring the extremes without offense. Comedy whether it be in theatre, cartoons, or via on-stage comedians, can serve to explore conflicting viewpoints without offense. Each need to be heard – not shut down. We need more, not less.
Politicians also have the power to mediate. But today the public is frustrated by both the partisanship of politicians and the excesses of the neoliberal movement serving to undermine social cohesion. Continuing on the current path is undermining the conventional wisdom that personal and society conflict should be resolved without violence - that the justice system is preferred to resolve societal conflict. Extremists are eroding trust in the so-called "justice system", opting for measures to achieve "real justice" by prompting direct action often including violence to reflect their narrow views of the will of the people. The resulting fear is that we are witnessing a societal transition, that we are teetering on the edge of anarchy. Our series on free expression has been focused on the need for more mediators and more humour, more listening and less partisanship, particularly among people in power or those exercizing power.
Nothing says "resolution" more than humour and a respectful but well-timed joke. Our exploration of free expression includes more than whether the content is fact v fiction, true v false. It has revealed the importance of the nuances of expression, the intent and perception/ motivation, the impact. ChatGPT has features that can help; with more data and more computing power it will continue to advance and ultimately surpass human intelligence - iQ. But being smart isn't enough to be persuasive, that requires learning of relational skills, the nuances of expression - eQ.
So let's opt for tolerance and mediation. Mediation before partisanship. Mirth before mayhem. Evolution before revolution. Laughter before tears. Less ideology and more pragmatism. More music, less noise. The bridging of arts and science. The merging of the right and left hemispheres. A reclaiming of the relevance of humor to bring us together and find common ground. ChatGPT has given us - with some qualifications, a dramatic improvement for accessing knowledge. What we need now more than ever is people skills - how to communicate. How to express caring without offense. Love without fear.
Try it. Test your teacher. Your doctor. Your psychologist. We have an election coming - judge the candidates on their interest and capacity to add some levity to their campaign, to relate to people, to propose real answers to real questions without resorting to fear mongering or partisan pandering. And finally, join us Thursday for our public webinar featuring a Seinfeld skit "About Nothing" and the interview of several professionals about humour. Your input as a viewer will also be welcome. - Editor
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GenAI Tool Box Various and helpful apps. Visit HERE |
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Newsworthy - but Not So Funny Fusion Won't Arrive in Time. Opinion and reply HERE Russians Soldiering on Vodka HERE ChatGPT to Eat Oil and Gas HERE Inequality is overstated. Opinion HERE Silicon Bank Failure HERE China Tripping over Canada HERE Trudeau's Troubles Trending HERE |
IMPACT AND REQUEST
We are monitoring how emerging technologies are driving change and their impact on people and society, the economy and geo-politics. We and our partner - Troy Media, want to interview advocates for change, the leaders and the victims of e.g.: climate change, identity politics, energy transitions, healthcare reform, regulatory overhaul. Share your concerns, insights and recommendations. We are seeking stories of how people are adapting or not to change and the organizations that are or are not helping. Advances in technologies continue to shape our future for good or for otherwise. Are we vulnerable? Are our institutions capable of mitigating the risks of these technologies being used/abused in the interest of advancing utopian visions of post-modernism and identity politics? Do you have a story to tell? Let us know. Editor@KEInetwork.net
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