"Say potato."
That's clearly the most fun sentence I'll write all week! :-)
Hopefully by now you've already read today's Good Enough chapter about the writer who joined Tinder, found herself caught in the monotony of small talk, and created her own version of the "Turing test" to expose the Tinder bots masquerading as real people.
In the midst of the getting-to-know-you small talk, when she was suspicous of a bot, she would say, "If you're human, say 'potato.'"
Here's the thing: "Bots don't have a programmed response for something so absurd" (p 153).
Funny, right? But what does any of this have to do with anything, you ask?
Well, remember the post from the other day about The Velveteen Rabbit and becoming real? That's what this is all about: the fact that AI (artificial intelligence) can only approximate human behavior to a point because humans are flawed and good enough, not perfect.
"None of us is perfect, and somewhere in those imperfections we can be found" (p 153). I like that: we are found in our IMperfections.
I find profound beauty in these words: "Maybe it's true that it hurts a little to become real and risk intimacy with a stranger who might become that friend we're looking for. Or we might be the one they need at that precise moment. Perhaps it is our real job to help one another become more real, one absurd question at a time" (p 153).
Blessed are we, opening our hands in readiness to risk intimacy, to receive the gift of friendship and give it in return (p 154).
Pastor Allison
I'm curious:
Remember this post and it's "A Good Enough Step" about letting your pen do the talking and naming what your soul wants to say to God? Well, if you haven't finished that yet (I'm pointing the finger at myself here), maybe circle back and work this into that.
Or, follow the "A Good Enough Step" on p 158 and "Write a terrible poem about longing for a friend." One way or another, express the disappointment and longing growing inside of you in an attempt to name it and then let it go.
