I hosted a RamsayTalk last week about AI.
Nothing new there. The world is awash in AI pundits, AI books, and AI doom and rapture.
What was new is that the speaker and author of AI Needs You, a big important book about AI, is a woman. Indeed, Verity Harding is the woman in the arena when it comes to tech’s latest save-the-world-end-the-world invention.
I asked her a couple of months ago who she would like to interview her from the stage, and instantly she said: Diana Fox Carney.
So there were 325 of us in the Bader Theatre last Wednesday watching two deeply expert and authoritative women discuss the prospects of an industry almost totally dominated by men.
The fact that few of us found this remarkable is a signal of just how much women have seized the podium of public debate. I remember in 2006 when Joan Steitz, then a Gairdner Award winner, was asked by Michael Enright on CBC Radio why there weren’t more women like her at the highest levels of science. She replied: “…because there aren’t more women at the highest reaches of science.”
Right. Even hyper-achieving women need to see people who look, talk and act like them. The rule of thumb now is you need at least three women on a board to even start to change its culture.
But more interesting was how Harding and Carney talked about the fiendishly dense issues around AI. They were reasonable, even deferential with each other. They didn’t interrupt. They took the time to lay out an argument; didn’t sloganeer and tried hard to answer questions from the audience as fully as possible. They were always professional, but also funny and frank.
It was all a little nostalgic and took me back to that mythical age when men discussed big issues this way too. When the public square was about ideas, not personalities; about answers, not agendas.
Let’s hope women can bottle and keep that as more of them take their place at the highest levels of…everything.
Meanwhile…
1. Grape-Coats? The website says: “Stella McCartney and Veuve Clicquot collaborate on the world-first luxury accessories crafted from grapes. Grapes? Indeed, they’re recycling grape and cork waste into vegan handbags and shoes. Not cheap.
But who says rich people aren’t eating any more?
2. Animals in motion. Penguins falling over cliffs. Cats striking back and back again. Dogs doing charity work.
3. The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions. The book by Canadian Eli Burnstein clears up some of life’s most nagging pairings: Morals or ethics? Maze or Labyrinth? Parable vs. Fable? He explains them all on CBC’s The Sunday Magazine.
Speaking of using the right word in the right place, here’s the most bizarre grammar ruleof all.
4. Stoning Afghan women. It’s not only allowed once again in the worst country in the world to be a woman, it’s encouraged. Said Afghanistan’s Chief Incel: “You may call it a violation of women’s rights when we publicly stone or flog them for committing adultery because they conflict with your democratic principles. [But] I represent Allah, and you represent Satan.”
If this news gets you down, don’t let your sadness embitter you. Because optimism plays a big role in your own well-being.
5. Rich routes. Here are the world’s top airline routes, by revenue. Air Canada’s service between Toronto and Vancouver used to be in the Top 10, with $745 million a year in revenues, but fell off the list.
6. Old age, big wedding, short marriage. The Golden Bachelor, featuring 72-year-old retired restaurateur Gerry Turner, drew huge ratings in January. Last week, Turner and his wife of three months, 70-year-old Theresa Nist, announced they were divorcing. Maybe there’s a better way.
7. “I just want a cease-fire so we can catch up.” A British surgeon, Dr. Victoria Rose, reports on the reality of a Gaza hospital.
8. Will AI take your job? It may be small comfort, but technology has feasted on old jobs for centuries, from ash burners and castrati, to samurai and knocker-uppers. At least AI can now free you to write your funeral music.
It can also bring back your fondest memories, even those that never existed. A synthetic memory is a digitally-reconstructed personal memory created with AI. Since 2022, Synthetic Memories has worked with immigrant and refugee groups to create images of scenes that have never been photographed or that were lost when families left their homes. There are big implications here for Alzheimer’s patients too.
9. The $1.6 trillion podcast. Nicolai Tangen is the CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management that operates Norway’s oil fund, enriched by the nation’s vast oil and gas revenues. He decided to host a podcast with the CEOs of some of the companies his $1.6 trillion oil fund invests in, among them Tesla’s Elon Musk last week.
10. The tech behind the butterfly. Behind the scenes with Madama Butterfly at the Royal Opera House. And who knew these actors were also great dancers?
11. What I’m liking. Earth Day. It’s this Monday the 22nd. In the calendar of Capitalized days, like Obesity Day (March 4), AIDS Day (Dec. 1), or International Women’s Day (March 8), Earth Day used to be a bit player. Its first celebration was in 1970 when Richard and Pat Nixon planted a tree on the White House lawn. Now, it’s like celebrating the birthday of someone in their 90s. So this Earth Day, try to do something to save it – and us – from suicide.