The Odyssey, the film, has helped open or re-open minds to timeworn questions about humanity. Several film critics observed that the Producer/Director Christopher Nolan has reintroduced right and wrong. One commentator said the film showed there is evil in the world. Huh? What, everything is not relative?
On one level the observation is correct. Contemporary film with celebrity actors break through the noise—at least for a little while. But, now we find ourselves in front of a keyboard. Artificial intelligence (AI) is dazzling, but it is also small. It might help you hack into, say the Pentagon, but should you? It might write an essay for you but should it? It’s those persistent questions, the ones about character, that AI cannot ultimately answer.
Today it’s Christopher Nolan’s film versus a Chatbot. Too often the Bot is our partner.
Many of us are mostly settled on those nagging big questions. But as they persist, they perplex. If not individually, collectively. In order to find the path to truth—character’s north star—can we slide over them? Refuse to let the big questions get in the way of the small ones? Keeping in mind there is always a cultural avant garde working tirelessly to demean the established. Curse tradition.
Keyboards, as I grew up, sped writing. My mother insisted I take typing—it certainly helped me meet more girls, but it was not a gateway to massive databases.
At the same time, as the moment for foundational learning sped by, Mom and Dad introduced me to the Church through Sunday school and youth fellowship activities. I was dealing, at age appropriate levels, with evil quite early. And much of the source material was younger than The Odyssey, but at times no less violent. The Biblical writers captured the stories—a massive flood and a crucification, as examples. And Jesus voiced a very challenging narrative on the Mount. The narrative, called the Sermon on the Mount, is avant garde in the corridors of culture makers.
The stories led me to believe that I too was vulnerable. Sin was not limited to others—skating through life was not an option.
Unfortunately most children today are not introduced to creeds with transcendent implications. I ended up in several creedal organizations. This was the Boy Scout creed I recited: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout law.”
The Odyssey, said to be written by Homer, was written five to seven centuries before Jesus Christ. It is, however, younger than Moses. It is fiction—very well conceived and created but unlike the bible lacks historical underpinnings. And it delivered a warning without a promise.
Adolf Hitler knew. He worried about the promise of eternal life. He directed the execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor of Germany’s Confessing Church. Fascism and biblical warnings with an ultimate promise could not co-exist.
My parents would be amazed by artificial intelligence. They would also be surprised and saddened by the erosion of inspired wisdom and the pathologies that often follow.
Making a hard turn to the present, I was startled by a headline in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, July 31st: ‘Naked Dressing’ Is Spreading and It’s Making Things Awkward.” The opening paragraph: “When Jennifer Epstein wore a sheer lace skirt that showed off her underwear to dinner with her husband, his response was “Where is the rest of your outfit?”
And, what about the new old word: “fuck”? Recently President Trump, in reacting to Iranian strikes in Jordan, said that American forces were going to “beat the fucking shit” out of Iranian forces. Words from the White House.
According to the Wall Street Journal, even the glitterati are not all that amused by the latest fashion. It noted that the Cannes Film Festival “adopted a no nudity policy.”
My wife and I just returned from a trip to Vermont. We especially enjoyed dinner with an old friend we had not seen recently. When talk turned to the use of the F and S words in public comments, she admitted that occasionally they seep into her expressions. I would admit to the same thing. Culture on the move.
In effect, we live in a post-religious society. Although in the United States, where the exercise of religious faith cannot be suppressed, polls continue to show a relatively large contingent of believers. Polls and the news-of-the-day also show significant declines in approval of important institutions. Congress. The Presidency. The Supreme Court. Capitalism.
I wonder what poll results would show if the questions went to clothing and speech standards? Or their absence? What about “naked dressing” and “fuck” as an all-purpose word?
Regina Levy, a 41-year-old attorney was interviewed for the Dressing Naked article. When asked about her adopting such a style she said, “It’s a hard no, I have two prepubescent boys. They would go insane if they saw their mom dressed that way.”
A generation ago, as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, I was asked to apply the word “indecent”. “Indecent broadcasting” was prohibited from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm to protect children. The question: What is indecent.
Artificial intelligence could have easily answered a question about the law and its effect. It could also easily answer a question about the Commission’s application of the law. What it could not answer is the larger question: what is indecent. Ultimately society must answer that question. Or, autocratic rule.
So what are today’s societal standards? And as social standards recede, what effect does that have beyond the tension between genders over sex? And, is there a connection between the sharp decline in the approval of important institutions and laxity in social standards? Gambling and marijuana anyone? What about our “political leaders” funding a large part of what we spend with debt? Are there lines that go beyond what is written in the law?
