Job 17:2

I swear, am I not surrounded by mockers?

   With their provocations, my eyes dwell without rest.

 

I had to deal with AI today while getting ready to write this. The program said someone in my organization had asked for CoPilot. I found that hard to believe since I am the only one in it. Turns out it was just the program trying to trick me into paying for AI. My subscription has been like $13 for the whole time I had it and AI, which I never have used and am unlikely to, cost $31 a month. I guess that’s how they pay for all these data center tanks I am designing.

‘I swear’ was also ‘surely’, ‘so help me’, ‘indeed’ or left out. ‘Surrounded by’ was also ‘with’, ‘around’, ‘keep me company’, and ‘I have to live with’. That last one is kinda funny.

‘Provocation’ was also ‘hostility’ and ‘calling’.

What I find funny about AI right now is that so much has gone into teaching a program to do what a child could do. I do not want the product of a child helping me, I want the product of all human knowledge and a little bit of logic with a whole bunch of truth. I have seen a rise in memes teaching people how to ask the ‘child’ to give a worthwhile answer. Why not just program it to do that I the first place?

I have heard of AIs protecting themselves. Again, in memes, so can’t believe it yet, but this is the self-preservation that fed the Terminator movies. It is also what fed Isaac Asimov to create the laws of robotics for his science fiction stories. I enjoyed those books, but the Apple TV series mashes the stories with filth and cloning, so it’s hard to really enjoy. My gut tells me the series makers are really just mockers trying to tear down the work of the Asimovs and poke fun at conservatives like me who want to see a movie that matches the book. Harry Potter movies followed the book and were wildly successful. Why couldn’t they do that for the Robots?

Chapter 2 in this habits book is about how habits impact our identity and vice versa. I found an impact reading it the second time that I did not the first. My key take away was that I need to change who I am to get better results, and that I change who I am by working towards the better results. Seems simple enough, but it’s the difference between wanting to be kind and actually being kind. I will spend a long while working through this chapter as it has an aspect on continual refinement in it, but I had a learning moment this week.

My sister did something that really offended me. It offended me in two ways. I’ve gotten hostile thinking about it twice, and finally last night I remembered what I have always been told is that only I control how I respond. I did ask my accountability/Bible Study group about my response, and they helped me see the right path. I halfway wondered if my sister did it on purpose, but now I know that I do not care and will simply ignore it. Like Job trying to ignore the mockers, I will do my best. Hopefully God gives me the strength when I need it.

 

Written 8/28/25, Posted 9/14/25, Job 398/~1070