Today we put another highly successful W&W meeting in the books; a meeting that was ably chaired by Samir Stasi. We were pleased to greet Ebi Taebi as a guest. I would add Patricia Abergel’s name here as well, except that she’s now joined the club as a member, thereby depriving her of that label. (But that’s a good thing. Welcome aboard, Patricia!)

Going around the circle to start the meeting produced some interesting results. First of all, many were those who referred to some combination of winter, snow, and shovelling;  generally not in glowing terms. Yes, it’s been a tough month of January and the snowbanks are mountainous. Let’s hope that February will be kinder to us in that regard. We learned that we have several devoted Mahjong players, in Talynne and Susan. (May we hope they’ll get together to give us a presentation to promote their game? I’m sure many of us would be interested in learning about it.) We also had two devoted practitioners of Tai chi declare themselves; Len and Ebi. (An opportunity for another joint presentation in the future?) Patricia spoke to let us know about an enchanting French chanteuse named Eva Le Noir. What a talent she has! — if you don’t know her work, listen to Eva singing a classic song by Charles Aznavour; Hier encore. When I first heard her rendition of the song, I thought I was falling in love….

Next up on the agenda was a rundown of the various special interest groups that are up and running. Next week will see a meeting of Vasu’s History & Current Affairs group, set for Friday at 4 p.m., at the Thornhill Pub on Yonge Street. (Yes, they do discuss both of the named general topics, but let’s be frank: there’s quite a bit of socializing going on too. I recommend it to you if you’ve got that time free on your calendar.)

Following this we were treated to a short presentation put together by Vasu, informing us about the achievements of British mathematician Alan Turing. He was a brilliant cryptanalyst who made an heroic contribution to the Allied war effort during World War II and was highly influential in the early development of computer science. Unfortunately, societal prejudices of that time led to his disgrace and tragic death. Here’s a link to Vasu’s slideshow if you want to take a quick look at Turing’s story.

After this introduction to an early pioneer of artificial intelligence, I followed up with a presentation of some of the ways in which I have made extensive use of two AI platforms: ChatGPT (my friend Clara) and Google Gemini (my friend Jiminy). I started out by using ChatGPT casually, as many people do. Here’s the link to a recipe ChatGPT produced for me recently when I listed what I had available in my fridge at the time. Next I showed how useful the platform is in helping me with my work as a teacher, both in creating lesson plans and in evaluating my students’ work — among many other tasks. I wouldn’t be able to do my job nearly as effectively otherwise; the advent of AI has boosted my job performance many times over. Lastly, I showed several ways in which it has helped me in my new career as a writer, both in vetting and editing The Clown King, and in enabling me to create a website (prafesser.com) with no experience whatsoever in web design. I don’t mean to suggest that any of these tasks were easy; but with the AI’s assistance — and lots of persistance — I was able to produce results that would otherwise have been far beyond my abilities. Note I wasn’t making a presentation trying to extol the benefits of artificial intelligence — merely demonstrating some of the endless ways in which these extraordinary (civilization-changing) tools can be used.

After the social break Sarab Sandhu stepped up to offer us his presentation titled Breathe and Live. Sarab shared the considerable expertise he has attained after many years of study of the complex science behind this simple process that keeps us alive through every moment of our existence. He is also much advanced in the practice of breathwork for abundant health and enhanced longevity. His next presentation, he told us, will involve a practical workshop in which we can learn some of his techniques. I urge you to get in touch with Sarab if you would like to explore this topic with him and take advantage of his profound mastery. 

The final activity was orchestrated by Samir. He put together an exploration of the question as to whether we should follow the recent example of Australia and ban the use of social media platforms for children under the age of 16. He divided us into groups and we each discussed one facet of the four questions listed here. It’s a complicated issue, as are so many of the challenges being presented to us in the modern world. Suffice it to say that the arguments both for and against are complex — and also that finding answers to the issue is of critical importance to the health and well-being, not only of adolescents, but of all of us.

This has been another overlong meeting report — I do beg your forgiveness, but it’s not my fault. So damn much happens at every single one of our meetings!! (That’s a good thing, though, right?) I hope to see you at our next meeting on Friday, February 13th; 7 – 9  p.m. at the YRP station.