UR (Irr) Replaceable, (Un) Forgettable: Boom to Bust

What UR: From "The best thing since sliced bread" to something more "distant in memory". Perhaps a semblance of something, someone resembling ("they remind me of...."). We all have a place here. Will all be remembered for either what we did, said, or...even for "delivering" on what we pushed, campaigned for...even those who, more literally, delivered the bread. Did you ever, for instance, pause and think about how, "such a middling-sized bread company could manage such a feat...?" Well, a distant cousin of the original owner did and came to the conclusion of a semblance of something we all embraced as a "matter of convenience" but some-THING that would eventually threaten my very existence..."Mechanization"...

That is, to Say, Hi AI" "Say it isn't so!" That's what I say, at least. As I have shared here a few times Be4, I thought that at least my job security would be secured, that at least until I found something else I could do, that might approximate the incredible job satisfaction I've experienced over the years, something that would maintain my interest and provide a "supplemental income" for what used to be called, which will likely be a distant memory for generation $$$!!! -- "Social Security". Being able to do something I really found meaning in and derive what We Boomers used to call a "reasonable income", adding up to what I have offered to others as a good working definition of Occupational Success. Even after the voices of Siri and Alexa came online, and a few teens told me they downloaded this dude "Webot", there were an equal number that they occasionally called my office during so-called "off" hours, just to hear my message, as kind of a voice prompt, to recall our last "in person" convo...a bit of a remote memory, in and of itself. But now, NOW, comes a personally professionally threatening report, in the form of "AI is being trained to read Minds..." I say😖😟😢👎👎!!! Why should I feel immune, you ask. That is, collective wisdom should have informed me, after all...

Prominent Figures...go figure: People and things of prominence, who/which have served us well, found favor, throughout the years, many of which have been toppled (literally) as statues and portraits removed, and old conventions usurped, as in "Twenty things Boomers celebrated which are now L-o-n-g Gone..." Among which included paper checks and cursive writing, the combination of which gave me as host of this post, gave rise to new hope for not only new "creative content" (itself kind of a newer gen term for what we used to term "original and engaging"). Which reminded me of two "things" that we all learned about in school and even more so taught by earlier gens, in the form of our parents and their parents before them..."don't sign or try to pass off any rubber checks..." Lessons that were sometimes learned the hard way...

Many (un)Happy Returns: While the saying "many happy returns" on a happy occasion may also find itself on the trash heap, land-fill of so many others joining those in the "Time Immemorial" club, given the rubber stamp that two "Houses of Congress" put on what is now termed "raising the debt ceiling in order to avoid default" the future $$$!!! gen will likely find themselves in the throes, woes, of being on what used to be called "the short end of the stick" which combined with "stick it to 'em!" may very well become their new battle "de-cry" or the meanest of memes...Just how are we now supposed to do what earlier gens' elders reassured them...to simply

"Rest Assured" Which historically meant "you can be sure or confident about something" Which actually used to mean something to earlier gens, but will have those in the future "aghast" (mentally), "agape" (emotionally) and otherwise leave them with a HUGE, gap-ing hole to fill. Have them looking back, in kind of a "compare and contrast" assignment in whatever type of "formal education" they will offer in the future, with whatever are deemed essential, "core curriculum" -- which might, based on current trends, include "discriminate between AI and what we as $$$!!! gens call SUPER-ficial Intelligence: just how, in the HELL could they have passed this off as intelligent thinking...how does going deeper into debt get passed off as a good thing, whatever happened to 1 + 1 = ???!!! So much for what Boomers used to call "collective wisdom" -- you can throw that out the window, given that they themselves didn't seem to "give a care, not even one Iota" about littering our landscape with debt and bad checks...just whose signature appears on what they used to call the bottom line, and whatever happened to them who declared "the buck stops here"...???!!! Oh, well, at least the old saying "We R Screwed!" has had a lasting effect...Speaking of...

In Memorial, Ever-lasting Impressions: Of all those who have served with honor, laid down their lives on all our behalf, delivered us from what's still termed as "tyranny" and, in so doing, made the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them a great debt, one that can never be repaid in full measure.