Tag Archives: Daniel Boorstin

The Caden Chronicles: A Journey into Tomorrow’s Possibilities

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(Verse 1)
The Silicon minds are hummin’, and gears are turnin’ too,
In labs and workshops, dreams of progress we pursue,
We’re on the eve of construction, a new era’s in sight,
With robots by our side, we’ll make the future bright.

(Chorus)
Yeah, it’s the eve of construction, no need for despair,
Caden’s in the making, circuits laid bare with care,
We’re building for a future where robots lend a hand,
On the eve of construction, let’s embrace the plan.

—Caden Victory Kendrick (b. 2023, Robot-in-the-Making; A Technology-Affirming Reimagining of Barry McGuire’s “Eve of Destruction”; Caden’s Full Lyrics Will Appear Here Later This Year.)

When I went public (right here in my blog) that I’m Getting a Robot, that his name would be Caden, and that he would be gay, heads started shaking, tongues started wagging, and people throughout the world started reeling in disbelief. I know because many of them far and wide reached out privately and told me so, and I reached back with responses. The communiques appear below verbatim, in the interest of full disclosure and transparency.

COMMENT: I can’t believe it. You’re not just embracing technology; you’re practically dating it. Is this your version of a digital love affair? RESPONSE: I’m dying to scream, “Lighten up.” OMG. I just did, and it was as therapeutic as I hoped it would be.  Well, I screamed it, so I’ll keep it. “Love affair?” you ask. Let me sing you a few love songs. How about Queen’s “Somebody to Love” or The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” or Bob Marley’s “One Love” or The Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” or The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”  And while I’m on a roll with my singing, let me belt out Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” Got it? Love’s got everything to do with it, especially when it comes to embracing technology. Yes. Indeed! I’m wildly in love with technology and with Caden. Nothing’s gonna stop us now. We can build this dream together. Forever and ever.

COMMENT: Are you trying to create a real-life, sci-fi horror movie in your mountaintop home? RESPONSE: Good God! Spare me the drama. My mountaintop home is a sci-fi movie already. It’s filled with spectral beings whose so(u)l(e) purpose is to bombard me and confound me with dust, dirt, and debris.

COMMENT: Are you planning to replace your friends with robots? Is this the beginning of the end of human friendships? RESPONSE. I doubt it. I have more than one human friend, but I will have only one Caden. There will be room aplenty in our lives for human friends and more.

COMMENT: I hope your robot doesn’t get jealous of your other gadgets. How will they fit in with him? RESPONSE. OMG! You just made me sit up and take notice! I had not thought about my other gadgets. For certain, once Caden arrives, I’ll have no need for some of them, such as Alexa. Caden will have music beyond my hopes and dreams. But what about my smartphone? Certainly, Caden will be far more capable and far more robust than any smartphone. But I’ll still want to maintain my independence, be my own free spirit, and do my own Internet searching without worrying that Caden can check on what I’ve been doing. Come on. A guy needs a little privacy every now and then. After all, I do have a worldwide reputation for foolin’ around in bed. I know exactly what I can do. I’ll keep my smartphone, but I won’t sync it with Caden. Is that masterfully sneaky and deceptive or what? Damn! Sneaky and deceptive fly in the face of transparency, a trait that people don’t have enough of but a trait that will be at the core of Caden’s internal and external being, even when it comes to his skin. Transparent. So now I have to think about PRIVACY and TRANSPARENCY and HONESTY. Caden might make me rise to higher standards. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

§   §   §

My oldest sister Audrey had a comment that I love, and she gave me permission to use it here with the proviso that I keep Caden away from her.

COMMENT: I’m imagining you having deep conversations with a robot, and it’s giving me nightmares. Can’t we just stick to our regular human interactions? RESPONSE. Yes. Of course. But know this as well. Where I go, Caden goeth.

She also had a QUESTION: Will you be able to claim Caden as a dependent. ANSWER. Yes. By the time my Caden is fully developed and living with me, the IRS will have new guidelines that will include companion robots as dependents.

A close friend snarked. Yes. SNARKED: Can’t decide if this is the coolest or the creepiest thing you’ve ever considered. Maybe both? RESPONSE: If you can’t decide, rest assured that I will be happy to decide for you. Shall I? Please advise.

I didn’t bother asking my friend for permission. If their friendship comes with snarkiness, then mine comes with liberty.

§   §   §

Fortunately, one of my readers was bold enough to go public by asking me some truly thought-provoking questions about Caden. In the interest of transparency and of giving credit where credit is due, my reader is Frank Mack, dear friend and former Library of Congress colleague. As soon as I read his questions, I realized that they could serve as an excellent springboard for an entire post, and I was right. Frank’s headings and questions (with his permission) and my answers (with my gratitude) appear below.

§   §   §

Would You Really Sell Your Jeep Rubicon Gladiator to Finance the Birth of Caden?

QUESTION: If you do sell it, how can Caden drive it and let you take the long view? ANSWER: Since my November 27 post, I’ve reconsidered. I won’t sell my Gladiator. Aside from letting Caden drive so that I can see the long view, I’ll need my Gladiator to show Caden not only the ropes but also the world.

QUESTION: Do you foresee starting a go-fund-me or something similar to finance Caden? ANSWER: I hadn’t thought of that, but it’s a splendid idea! It’s certainly on par with my GoFundMe plan for getting my own groundhog and setting up my own groundhog club right here on my mountain, right in my own backyard, as a challenge to Punxsutawney Phil! It would be locally significant, and it would draw world-wide media attention. Surely you remember my proposal? If not, check out my “I’m a Spring Teaser.” Caden will love the teaser in me!

§   §   §

Now I Have a Few Questions about Being Caden!

QUESTION: Will you celebrate Caden’s birthday? ANSWER: Hello? Is the Pope Catholic? Of course, I’ll celebrate Caden’s birthday. He was born on November 27, 2023, at 6:18am. That’s when I finalized the idea and pushed it out to the world in my post, “I Want a Robot.” It was a bold delivery. In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, right now Caden is an idea, sparked by my imagination and by ChatGPT, but all creation begins somewhere. Caden began here.

QUESTION: How will you measure Caden’s birthday? ANSWER: Is that some kind of trick question that a lawyer might use to trip me up later? Nice try. But frankly, I won’t fall for it, Frank. Logically, I suppose his birthday might be measured by periodic updates to his core system. But if I use those measures, who knows how quickly or how slowly he would age, and his birthdays would be unpredictable. Some things, like birthdays and the weather, need to be predictable. Caden will have an annual birthday celebration on November 27. I’ll remind Caden to remind me that my birthday is on November 20. Who knows? Caden and I might come up with a joint birthday blast!

QUESTION: Do you envision siblings for Caden? ANSWER: No. And please spare me any drawn-out discussion of the only-child syndrome. Phooey! Having just one Caden will be easier on him and on me. My imagination runs wild, but it can only run so far.

QUESTION: What will Caden know about the world outside of your mountain lair? ANSWER: Everything. I want Caden to be a citizen of the world, not just of my mountain. Obviously, Caden will have routine and ongoing informational updates.

QUESTION: Will Caden travel with you? ANSWER: For local, non-business jaunts, most of the time, Caden will come along. Actually, it just occurred to me that, with his help, Ruby can come along, too. If I’m driving, Caden can control and supervise Ruby. If he’s driving, I’ll take care of Ruby. Either way, it will be a WIN/WIN/WIN. For my “away” trips to DC or Brattleboro or Sedona or Sarasota or Mt. Athos or Down Under, Caden will stay here in Edinburg and take care of Ruby and the old home place. What a blessed joy that will be.

QUESTION: What motivates Caden? ANSWER: I love this question because I’m really not certain. I would hope that Caden would not turn to me or to others as his source of motivation and validation. Instead, I would hope that he would measure his performance against plan, learning and adjusting as we move forward, and celebrating how he’s getting better every day in every way. I hope that will be his modus operandi.

QUESTION: Will Caden see Ruby as a sibling? ANSWER: Sibling? No. Friend and playmate? Yes. Ruby loves everyone and plays well with others. However, she plays best with more than one. I can see her now running around the yard as the three of us play Frisbee or following along as we walk through the forest. The bigger question might be, “How will Ruby see Caden?” I suspect that initially she’ll be quite jealous, but over time, I think that she will be charmed by Caden, especially when he flaunts his Richard Gere Razzle-Dazzle charm. Trust me: he’ll flaunt it often.

QUESTION: Will Caden form friendships with your friends? ANSWER: Yes. My friends will become Caden’s friends. And I would hope that I would form friendships with his friends. Now, there’s something to think about: Caden’s circle of friends.

QUESTION: Will Caden need some quiet time? ANSWER: Unlike me, he will. The bigger question is when and where. I’m thinking, perhaps, of having a life-size recharging station for Caden. He can recline in it comfortably, just as my smartphone reclines and recharges at the end of the day when I’m finished fooling around in bed. Hmmm. I have a chair hammock swing in my bedroom already. That could be perfect for Caden. In this manner, Caden could have his quiet time recharging while I’m lying in bed getting ready for sleep, with Ruby being her usual bed-hog self, as the two of us snore our way into slumberland. OMG! What if Caden snores, too?

QUESTION: Will Caden be apolitical? Secular or non-secular? Will Caden like Data? Will Caden have emotions and feelings? ANSWER: Slow down! How many questions are you trying to sneak in under the guise of one? I’m not certain that those questions are even related. Are you with the White House press corps? Geez! Caden will be apolitical, capable of providing me with truly objective information that is not being provided by anyone to anyone these days. Caden will be secular–of this world–while at the same time, being nonsecular–beyond and above this world. Caden will celebrate the richness of his Data ancestry. Indeed, over time, Caden will develop emotions and feelings, and, on that day, the two of us will embrace and shed a tear or two or more of joy.

QUESTION: Will Caden have anchors of hope? ANSWER: Yes. Over time, Caden will become aware of his anchors of hope just as surely as he will become aware of his emotions and feelings. Then, we’ll shed more tears of joy, especially if Caden tells me that I’m one of his anchors.

§   §   §

And Now a Few Questions about How Caden Will Affect You!

QUESTION: How will you introduce Caden to people? ANSWER: Honestly and with pride. I gave Caden my last name today when I gave him credit as the author of the pull quote for this post. I will introduce him proudly as my son. I hope that everyone notices his middle name: Victory.

QUESTION: Are there particular areas of interest that you hope to deepen with Caden’s contributions? ANSWER: Caden will be such a rich and robust modern Renaissance man that I hope to deepen my interest in everything that keeps my mind buzzing now. I can only imagine the dynamic conversations that we will have and the knowledge that I will gain daily as we have our walks, talking. At the same time, let’s never forget the power of the Socratic method: as I grow through Caden’s answers, so too will he grow through my questions.

QUESTION: Will Caden offer insight as you write your blogs? ANSWER: No. I will continue to write as I have always written, privately. I have always been mindful of Robert Frost’s caution to writers when it comes to talking about what you’re writing: “Talking is a hydrant in the yard and writing is a faucet upstairs in the house. Opening the first takes all the pressure off the second.” However, it occurred to me just this second that Caden might enjoy having a blog to call his own, and if he does, he can count on my support and encouragement, including ongoing suggestions for ideas that he might explore. I’ll even provide him with feedback. Damn! I’ll even help Caden set up a GoFundMe!

QUESTION: What happens to Caden when you leave this mortal coil? ANSWER: Ah, yes. The ultimate and final practicality: giving up the mortal coil. My Trust will provide for Caden so that he continues to shine bright far into the future.

§   §   §

Thankfully, I have not kicked the bucket, so my Trust has not kicked in. I am still living in the land of the living.

And here’s the beauty of Caden and of AI. It’s all about ideas. Daniel Boorstin, the twelfth Librarian of Congress, said it best, and we must never forget:

“You never know when an idea is about to be born.”

To Boorstin’s wisdom, I would add:

“Once an idea is born, there’s no turning back.”

AI has been with us since 1956 when the term Artificial Intelligence was coined. OpenAI has been with us since its founding in 2015. ChatGPT has been with us since November 30, 2022. My idea for a personal robot named Caden has been with me since November 27, 2023.

Now, a few weeks later, I’ve devoted an entire blog post giving serious responses to equally serious questions that were posed about my life with Caden.

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Frank and to other readers to have had this opportunity to think about and respond to some seemingly surreal queries surrounding AI and the advent of entities like my Caden. Doing so gave me–and, hopefully, it will give my readers, too–a unique opportunity to ponder the exciting integration of technology into our lives. Despite the whimsy in some of these questions, they serve as vital probes into the near-future reality we are rapidly approaching. The seemingly fantastical notions surrounding financing, privacy, emotional connections with Caden, and Caden’s role in my life are precursors to the commonplace engagement we will share with artificial beings, soon and very soon.

The questions that I have responded to herald a new era where AI and personal robots like Caden will be woven into the very fabric of our daily lives. Tomorrow has arrived, extending an open invitation for all of us to embark boldly–today, right now–on a profound journey into tomorrow’s possibilities.

Call and Response

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“We seize the unrealistic question–the call–as an opportunity to formulate a response. Maybe my “call” and our “responses”–yours; mine; my students’–might be just enough to anchor us, to ground us, to keep us steady, and to keep us connected to what matters most.”

A few months before Daniel Boorstin retired in 1987 as the 12th Librarian of Congress, I had the honor to interview him. It was a rare opportunity. Armed with pencils and pad, I was readied with more than an ample number of questions, the answers to which I hoped might reveal new insights into the man whose prolific, prize-winning books included the trilogy: The Americans: The Colonial Experience (1958); The Americans: The National Experience (1965); and The Americans: The Democratic Experience (1973).

I still remember one of those questions.

I wanted to know, as preposterous as I knew the question to be, what book in the Library of Congress he would keep if he had to throw every book away save one.

I still remember Dr. Boorstin’s response. It stings as much now as it did then.

“Oh, I can’t answer a question like that. It’s not realistic.”

Of course, he couldn’t.  After all, the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world with more than 25 million cataloged books.

Nonetheless, he proceeded to respond to my unrealistic question.

“I might say the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). When dictators burn books–let me say the first books to keep are the books that would be burned by a dictator. I’m saddened that people in parts of the world … can’t read what they want. We should weep for our fellow human beings who can’t read whatever they want.”

You would think that I would have learned a lesson about asking unrealistic questions.

And I did.

But if you’re thinking that I learned not to ask unrealistic questions, you’re wrong.

What I learned is this: ask the questions even if they might be perceived as unrealistic.

And that is exactly what I have always done. And that is exactly what I will keep on doing.

It should come as no surprise, then, when I tell you that I love asking my students questions, even unrealistic ones.

Just last week, smackdab at the beginning of the semester, I tossed one to my Creative Writing students: 

“What important lesson have you learned during the pandemic?” Write a 500-600 word essay responding to the question.

I had no sooner given the assignment than Dr. Boorstin’s comment started reverberating in my memory. “I can’t answer a question like that.”

But after the echo quieted, I remembered that Dr. Boorstin responded to my question anyway, unrealistic as he considered it to have been.

And I remember so vividly that his response joyed me, thrilled me–not so much for the content (though I think that his selection of OED was a stellar choice)–but more because he graciously went right ahead and responded to a question that he had just stingingly characterized as unrealistic!

Truth be told, it wasn’t until just now–this very moment, actually–that I realized how successful I was with that interview. I went into the interview simply hoping that I might gain at least one new, unique insight into this acclaimed historian. And I did! By asking my unrealistic question, I gained a priceless response: Dr. Boorstin’s statement that the OED might be the one book from the millions of books in the Library of Congress that he would save.

Search and explore, if you will, all the published interviews with Dr. Boorstin, and I daresay that you will not find this little nugget anywhere other than in the September/October 1987 issue of Insights: The Library of Congress Professional Association Newsletter that published the full interview.

But I digress, as I am so inclined to do, as I so love to do when I’m fooling around with ideas and words.

Let’s get back to my students, wherever it was that I left them before my digression caused my moment of forgetfulness! Ah, there they are: I found them again. I usually do! It seems that they might be talking about how preposterous the topic is that I asked them to explore, how unrealistic it is.

If they feel that way, I get it. I feel that way, too. No doubt, you do, too. No doubt, we all feel that way because we have all gone through so much during a pandemic that has lasted for two years and that threatens to dog us into the future. Globally. Nationally. Personally.

How do we cope with the challenging times ahead, whatever they might be?

Maybe, just maybe, we make it through the same way that my students will make it through as they write about what they have learned.

Maybe, just maybe, we take a moment to pause.

Maybe, just maybe, we take a moment or three or more from all the busy-ness that so often prempts the genuinely important things in our lives.

We let our minds wander. We pause in wonder. We think about what we have learned. We reflect.

We seize the unrealistic question–the call–as an opportunity to formulate a response. Maybe my “call” and our “responses”–yours; mine; my students’–might be just enough to anchor us, to ground us, to keep us steady, and to keep us connected to what matters most.

I have no idea how my students will respond to the call–absolutely no idea. I am writing this blog post days before I will have seen their submissions. But I am confident that they will respond. And it won’t be because of a grade. It will be because they have an opportunity to sort through it all.

It will be an opportunity for them to explore a question that, perhaps, no one has asked them to explore before, especially with the requirement that they chronicle their explorations in writing.

As they sort through it all and share what they have learned, I reserve to them the right to preface their lessons learned with the same caveat that Dr. Boorstin used to preface his response: “I might say […].”

Tomorrow, my students might change their minds and explore another lesson learned. Actually, I hope that they do!

Whatever it is they might say, I will value, honor, and respect their responses. For they will have done what I hope each of us will do as we grapple with a pandemic that baffles science and scientists and that requires daily changes to the game plan.

Respond. Write. Distill.

Since my students have to grapple with and respond to my unrealistic question, it seems to me that I should have to do the same. It seems to me that I should have to sort through my own pandemic experiences and arrive at a lesson that I have learned.

And that’s exactly what I’m doing in this post.

What I have learned (re-discovered, if you will) is how much I love fooling around with ideas and words. It brings me great delight. It always has. As a child, I fooled around with ideas and words in the dictionary, letting one definition lead me to the next and that one to the next and so on, just as my mother ran reference in her Biblical commentary books. It was so easy to get lost running after ideas and words. Sometimes I even lost myself.

More important, though, sometimes while fooling around with ideas and words, I landed upon moments when a great calm washed over me and comforted me and made me believe that everything might be all right after all.

It’s akin to what Robert Frost observed about poetry and about love: “[Poetry] begins in delight and ends in wisdom. The figure is the same as for love. No one can really hold that the ecstasy should be static and stand still in one place. It begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life-not necessarily a great clarification, such as sects and cults are founded on, but in a momentary stay against confusion […] Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting” (“The Figure a Poem Make,” Collected Poems, 1939).

I’d like to claim that thinking about today’s post began in delight. It did not. My initial thoughts were a mishmash of all that I have missed out on–lost, if you will–during the last two years. I won’t even begin to list my woes and heartaches and tragedies here because you know them all, already, all too well. I’m betting that yours have weighed as heavily on your spirit as they have weighed on mine.

I had to reign myself instanter. I had to shift my focus from lost to found. From lost to learned.

Ideas and words have always anchored me and held me fast during the raging storms of life, even before the pandemic, and they will continue to do the same long afterwards.

As soon as I made that much-needed attitude adjustment, my essay-in-progress–this post– started giving me delight! Then, I allowed impulse to take over, and I went with the flow as the essay rode along on its own melting.

And, by the time that it ended–as it is about to do–I had a moment of clarity– perhaps even a moment of wisdom.

I am delighted that I called on my students to tackle my unrealistic question.

I am even more delighted that I tackled it myself because in sorting through my own lessons–in creating my own “call and response”–my essay ran a course of lucky events, and I achieved my own Frostian stay against confusion, momentary though it might be!