Of Ink And Algorithms

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer)
Navigating the Changing World with Classics and Code

By Muhadisa Syed

“I have lived a thousand lives and I've loved a thousand loves. I've walked on distant worlds and seen the end of time. Because I read.” says the famous“A Song of Ice and Fire” author, George R. R. Martin. While bibliophiles, newspaper perusers would concur without a doubt, the impact of this quote may resonate throughout the global audience. As part of the generation that must both guide society and keep pace with its changes, finding a pole star to navigate through life's complexities serves as more than just the serendipity we direly need.

When the present is more of a time-machine, ever evolving, there are speeds we do not recognise anymore. Those are but the speeds that run life. The timelessness of classics, the natural swiftness of books does not limit itself to numbered titles. It stretches to encompass what geographies cannot limit- knowledge. So, long as humans put to use the abilities that render the newfound Intelligence artificial; the faculty of sensing, experiencing and making sensible sentences, the core of an informed younger generation stands guarded.

To gauge why tributaries of Tigris River flowed red is easier now, the blood and blue of that ink continues to serve as testament where the true essence of existence lies. To blend the concept of time as fine as Monet did with light, taking a handful of blue water from Tigris, a handful of library-laden water from Volga, such metaphorical potion of books kindles the spirit on staying gold as old with the freshest flesh for future. Our evolutionary competition is no more with animal species. The contender is a human trained, man-made entity with every next update pushing it closer to our complex mind and living brain. Unless, of course, we hold tight to our roots, know the how's to our why's- we may be safe, just enough to keep the line between the living and the artificial in place.

The barks of trees, the carvings on stones, the cave walls together with today's notes app have one common human tendency driving them; the need to document. The vigour of the Enlightenment laid foundation for the modern society, embodying the success of humans as a race. Pamphlets, newspapers in every corner, from courts to cohorts of commoners depict relentless perseverance along with the conscious choice to create which continues to provide us a sense of connection to the world. Our Kindle Era was possible only because someone aced it in the Candle Era first.

There's more to books than serving as a mere repository of symbols, whether bound between royal leather or delicate paperbacks. Amidst the dark shadows of nihilism that hover as more and more human professions turn to AI prompts, from museums to stories of
battlefields, from sanctum sanctorums to caves, from greatest minds to mute hearts, from teachings to experience, the secret to utility and relevance- a sense of purpose resides in these wise reservoirs of meaning.

Tormenting questions, fear-inducing what If's and the clouding ambiguity seem to have surrounded the vivacity of the youth, because if the AI, the robots are being directed to be more human, aren't the humans being chased? We who grew up hearing, The pen is mightier than the sword discover it only now it is so as its power lies in the words written, for it were humans who handled swords on horsebacks and humans who freed countries with the pen. For it is between those pages one's conscience is nursed. Without having to go through everything that makes or breaks it, yet going into a new life, a new door with every word of the book opened and absorbed, our sensitivity, our uniqueness, our purpose resurface. The premise however, reiterates, are we even living our own and only one out of Martin's thousand lives or have we reduced ourselves to mere headcount for bots, for stats? As, with every word written, every character made, is a new life given, an old love saved.

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