I'm privately asking our 20 finalists to say what they liked about one particular essay they voted for. Each time a new review is posted it will be on the current Substack, since that's what most subscribers will see. I've just issued the first couple of invitations to write, and, wherever they show up, please read them and add your opinions. Let's see if this is a workable way, for starters, to play with ideas for how to get this world on a better course.
This would be very hard for me...Mostly because I voted trying to come from the perspective of "oh, I can see that this could actually happen" and it also the essay had to have novel elements to it. Some of them were super feasible but they were addressing our earthly problems from a place that I saw as "less complex" so to me, even though they were amazing and possibly would bring tremendous transformations in the world, they weren't tackling the problem from the root (or close to one root) and I suppose I have that lens. ;-) In fact I believe that the 10 essays that I voted on (I just sent you 5) if I blended them all together in a blender I'd get a beautiful combination of deep rooted problem solving, systemic thinking, beauty and heart, tackling poverty and our nervous systems and all the good stuff that is needed. :-) I'd have a hard time explaining one essay on its own though. I also would probably vote differently today than when I voted so this is again tricky. What I would say, however, is that I loved the ideas and I was actually impressed by some of them and I believe they could in fact happen. Which is great! I also so loved the way the essays were written. They were fun to read.
I chose Round-Up (https://suespeaks.org/round-up/) as one of my 5 favorites because it was well-written, creative, and followed the rules of the contest. Most importantly, it had what I thought was a simple, yet workable idea — turning spare change into world change. At one point in his essay, Stuart says, “…it brought out the best in people, and tapped into their innate desire to be altruistic”, which I think is a good assessment of human nature—if not for everyone, at least for a large enough percentage of the world population to make a significant difference. Thank you, Stuart Johstone, for your contribution.
Here's the wonderful "Round-Up" Essay: https://suespeaks.org/round-up. Let’s see if this is a way to get conversation going about the essays that gets their ideas to be realized, with this being the first report to comment on. The proposal of turning “spare change” into world salvation seemed doable, where you can get what an enormous difference it would make, and why not have it be implemented? It isn’t something for just one oppositional camp but works for everyone, and is like a little aha that someone had that could turn into a powerful force for change. It is very well thought out and a good one to talk about.
Aer Lingus collects spare change all those coins from countries we have left, for donation to Unicef. Imagine a depot in every airport with banks ( big extractive profit mongers) freely exchanging donations into local currency for communiy housing…
A mystery. Stuart Johnstone must know it because his essay is the same name. It looks like he took it to a world-saving extreme, which is great. That there is this existing basis is a foundation to build on for playing a bigger game.
Hello. I’ve never seen this article before, so it’s pure coincidence. The Round-Up title just came naturally from the act of rounding up. It is good to see that it’s happening though, and I think it adds to the workability of the idea.
This seems significant. We pay attention to synchronicities. It's natural after the fact to recognize the logic, but it seems like some invisible hand could be in play where .something more is going on. Stuart, you have an actionable idea. How about following up with whatever auspice was responsible for what already is happening, for going further with it? Will you do that? Or me, or someone else? I'm going to make it my Tuesday Substack that would be something to use in making any contact. This is exciting!
Replying to myself here, I responded to that story, "That spare change you donate at checkout is adding up to millions for charities," today:
Take a look at what recently was submitted to my essay contest, How We Saved the World , writing from 2050 where the world is working, telling how that came to pass: "Progress on saving the world/From essays to pathways" https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/progress-on-saving-the-world. Scroll down to get the story of Round-Up. Will you connect me to the originators of what you wrote about, to see if they would be interested in taking their project further along the lines of the essay? Just think, a follow-up story for you!
I liked this one, too! I liked how doable it seemed, and how plausible. It feels like...recycling? When I was a kid, no one was doing it, but now, everyone has a bin in their kitchen. It takes a bit of institutional support and then it's easy to just say yes. I like it also because unlke the grocery store checkout "would you like to donate" projects, it gives the credit to the people, and it seems to actually make a difference. I would sign up for such a program in a heartbeat. I'm trying to think if I know anyone high enough up in banking...you know what? I might. Stuart, you have my email, please get in touch.
Thanks SuAnn. I really appreciate the feedback. I've actually had this idea going around in my head since I was a child. This was the perfect opportunity to let the genie out of the bottle. I genuinely believe this is something that could be done - maybe not at the scale I've imagined - but I think it could work. The inspiration really came from the idea that affluent people can give away a few hundred dollars a year and it will mean nothing to them. One person won't change much, but if millions are doing it, there is potential for change on a grand scale. I guess - as I said - it's about realising the true potential of people power, which I don't think has really happened yet. Inspiration also came from government corruption, and the way politicians tend to serve themselves and their own kind. Here's hoping for a Utopian future, and not the Dystopian one we seem to be heading for. Is Biff Tannen really going to take over Hill Valley again?
Jeffrey identified a key leverage point for evolving a viable society: raising kids who are not conditioned into the status quo, and who indeed can think critically with compassion for themselves and others.
The real-world background for this is that public education systems in America have been heavily influenced by smart people in the 1800s who wanted students to learn basic math and literacy skills, but did not want them to think for themselves lest they challenge the current authoritarian system.
Therefore subjects were taught in silos, with no reference to the great issues of the day. And for decades America schools have used multiple-choice tests, and teachers ‘teach to the test’. Fortunately, there are many exceptions.
Of course, Artificial Intelligence is the new kid on the block. Ever more sophisticated programs will be developed that plausibly imitate actual human interactions. But they are not actual human interactions; kids will be communicating with machines that have no feelings or real empathy. In other words, kids will be trained to be okay with dealing with psychopaths, and they will fail to develop their own capacity for empathy and skillful social interaction.
Not good! Therefore those of us who care about a positive future for humanity would be well advised to champion rolling back the emphasis on STEM (science technology engineering and math) education, and instead focus on helping young people – and ourselves – become the kind of people that can create and enjoy a compassionate life-affirming culture.
This is great storytelling about what Andrew described. It should be a must read for anyone who works in education. It is such a beautiful evocation of the way to educate, told as a speech by a charming man to a graduating college class, about how it was in 2024. It is a gorgeous mapping of then and now, where every sentence says something meaningful. “…we hadn’t yet come to appreciate the reality that is so obvious to us today: that we are one species, one strain of being in a uniting ecosystem. Don’t blame your parents for not seeing it right away, or your grandparents for not seeing it at all. They were raised on chemical-infused food substitutes and grew up in a world fixated on advertising, with an internet driven by profit and fueled by rage.” The commentary on 2024 is so sharp. And, it has a great ending, where the Midlight Academy, that trained children in the way that prevails in 2050, struggled for survival until its graduates, 20 year later, took over the world. I think this is a perfect story.
One simple change in educational process, can be transformative. I’m a healer of collective and historic trauma..and a transformative educator. Teaching in circle where each participant can see everyone else, speaks from their own experience and is encouraged to participate even with a gesture, shifts the power dynamics in any classroom. It encourages deep listening , empathy and a sense of community, of learning together rather than competing for marks. Leadership is from the middle, not from above. Think Joanna Macy Work that Reconnects or Plum Village. Anyone interested in doing this, contact me through Resonant Earth Substack or my web address eimear@eimearoneill.com
I love the idea, raised in several essays, of raising our kids with better toolkits, and I think there are a lot of small groups already working on that in a variety of ways. How do we build out from and spread those efforts? What shall we do to bring that to reality?
I've shared it with some friends who are educators, asking if they can get it shared in their worlds. I'm realizing that's something we can do with a lot of the essays, where we share them with the people in our spheres who work in the fields the essays talk about.
Wow, what a story. You'd say that's the answer – get rich neighborhoods to embrace housing for the homeless. However, people who are down and out tend to trash their opportunities, so the rich neighborhoods and the middle-class ones don't want them. Why isn't this Boston situation pie in the sky? That's something to investigate.
Also, to be followed up on, is the link you provided to what's even closer to the contest subjects. It would be great for people to read the comments about other essays before the comments about the Round-Up essay your link is in: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/another-winner/comments.
On Saturday, on Zoom, we’ll talk about how to do follow-up. Sorry that India doesn’t work for Zoom – come home soon!
I know people say that that's the tendency, but I'm not sure that's as true as it seems, and I think sometimes it's for lack of wraparound support or because tis treated like a charity project and not as a welcome to the community. I'd love to see more about the back bay project and how it works.
My fav was Benches and Snacks ( I loved the The End of the Beginning, too Very Vonnegut-esque).
Not long before I read Benches and Snacks I was at talk with Roger Hallam - he's one of the founders of XR and Just Stop Oil. He's a hardcore activist who has served a lot of time in prison.
I've heard him talk before and he can be very direct about the challenges we face and the solutions he proposes - which are revolutionary.
However, at that talk he was stressing the vital importance of just sitting and chatting to people. Of those interactions which have no purpose beyond being an exchange pleasantries and gentle inquiry. Benches and Snacks really played into this idea. And ultimately I think this is how change manifests itself. We need spectacle, we need transgression (or there'll be no impetus to change - nothing to talk about) but the real change takes place in the quiet conversations between friends, neighbours, acquaintances and strangers. And we need to nourish and nurture places where that can happen. (We can't really rely on the state to do it for us as the last thing they want is revolutionary change).
Good going, Jonathan. If I'd made the ultimate decisions, Leela Sinha's Benches and Snacks -- https://suespeaks.org/benches-and-snacks -- would have been right up there for my Grand Prize along with the delicious essay about stuttering that's the prize-winner here. You've beautifully expressed the value of this homespun sort of idea, that's something, as we go along, to try to actually get to happen.
Thank you! And yes, that's what I've learned, too. When I was in Maine during the push for equal marriage, the way we got it to pass was by appeals to people by their literal neighbors, people they lived and bought groceries and fished next to. The ads had real people and their city and name on the screen, because those 1-1 relationships make alllll the difference when it comes to building empathy and therefore local opinion and therefore state policy, as it turned out. I'd love to see more front porches and benches (and the communication skills to be good neighbors because when we do get past pleasantries we need to stay in relationship if we can). Do you live in a place where you can talk to strangers easily?
A finalist that I voted for was The Empathy Chip (https://suespeaks.org/the-empathy-chip/) by Ben Wakeman because it provoked within me the strongest, most visceral, emotional response out of all the finalists. I almost voted this piece as my first choice for this reason alone, but ultimately let my fear of the story’s potential hold me back. The response I felt was toward the idea of a technological device plugged into my brain. This wasn’t the first time I had confronted that idea, but it was the first time I actually felt a door within myself crack open to it. I’m not saying I am in full agreement with the concept or of the suggested reality in its entirety, but the overall direction of this imagined reality intrigued me as out-of-the-box and very different. The Empathy Chip catalyzed a deep self-reflective period for me, more so than any of the other essays. I felt the invitation to question my beliefs, my biases, response-ability, and what I thought I knew about myself and the world. Moreover, I resonated deeply with the story’s root in empathy. Ben’s piece speaks toward the past and future in a way that highlights but doesn’t define us as our individual and collective history. And it does so in a way that focuses on our capacity for understanding. This, ultimately, feels significant and transformative.
This was the shortest finalist and one of my favorites. What I so loved was the power of the one thing the essay is about, an artificial "companion [who] knows you. It knows your anxieties, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. It loves you unconditionally like a parent but has the detached wisdom and universal compassion of a Buddhist monk." In my laundry list of odd ideas is a job where you hire a real person just to tell you how wonderful you are, like this AI version that is so much more potent in that everyone would have one full-time. Just think how happy people, pleased with themselves, would create the world we want to be in! And hey, given modern technology, maybe that AI appreciator could become a reality. Start a Go Fund Me and I'm in!
You know, it's funny. I realized after posting this comment that Ben's essay speaks about an AI companion, not a 'chip in the brain' as I had read-in (twice!). The Virgo Moon in me found this displeasing upon the realization, but I kept the post up anyway because I felt there was something else I was giving expression to that correlates with Ben's piece. Perhaps the companion of empathy has been, will be, and is ourselves.
I'm privately asking our 20 finalists to say what they liked about one particular essay they voted for. Each time a new review is posted it will be on the current Substack, since that's what most subscribers will see. I've just issued the first couple of invitations to write, and, wherever they show up, please read them and add your opinions. Let's see if this is a workable way, for starters, to play with ideas for how to get this world on a better course.
This would be very hard for me...Mostly because I voted trying to come from the perspective of "oh, I can see that this could actually happen" and it also the essay had to have novel elements to it. Some of them were super feasible but they were addressing our earthly problems from a place that I saw as "less complex" so to me, even though they were amazing and possibly would bring tremendous transformations in the world, they weren't tackling the problem from the root (or close to one root) and I suppose I have that lens. ;-) In fact I believe that the 10 essays that I voted on (I just sent you 5) if I blended them all together in a blender I'd get a beautiful combination of deep rooted problem solving, systemic thinking, beauty and heart, tackling poverty and our nervous systems and all the good stuff that is needed. :-) I'd have a hard time explaining one essay on its own though. I also would probably vote differently today than when I voted so this is again tricky. What I would say, however, is that I loved the ideas and I was actually impressed by some of them and I believe they could in fact happen. Which is great! I also so loved the way the essays were written. They were fun to read.
What to do with all of the best ones????
I chose Round-Up (https://suespeaks.org/round-up/) as one of my 5 favorites because it was well-written, creative, and followed the rules of the contest. Most importantly, it had what I thought was a simple, yet workable idea — turning spare change into world change. At one point in his essay, Stuart says, “…it brought out the best in people, and tapped into their innate desire to be altruistic”, which I think is a good assessment of human nature—if not for everyone, at least for a large enough percentage of the world population to make a significant difference. Thank you, Stuart Johstone, for your contribution.
Here's the wonderful "Round-Up" Essay: https://suespeaks.org/round-up. Let’s see if this is a way to get conversation going about the essays that gets their ideas to be realized, with this being the first report to comment on. The proposal of turning “spare change” into world salvation seemed doable, where you can get what an enormous difference it would make, and why not have it be implemented? It isn’t something for just one oppositional camp but works for everyone, and is like a little aha that someone had that could turn into a powerful force for change. It is very well thought out and a good one to talk about.
Aer Lingus collects spare change all those coins from countries we have left, for donation to Unicef. Imagine a depot in every airport with banks ( big extractive profit mongers) freely exchanging donations into local currency for communiy housing…
The Round-Up essay is about such a thing writ large, to where it funds things that change the world.
Has to come back to share this article ..https://www.npr.org/2024/03/10/1236458377/charity-roundup-donations-stores-fundraising?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR3Ml-oAGWwWbgyA1jQLNS6Sl1_Xehr5LynnwOqGHRIjwImOahDYNLU-3M4
A mystery. Stuart Johnstone must know it because his essay is the same name. It looks like he took it to a world-saving extreme, which is great. That there is this existing basis is a foundation to build on for playing a bigger game.
Hello. I’ve never seen this article before, so it’s pure coincidence. The Round-Up title just came naturally from the act of rounding up. It is good to see that it’s happening though, and I think it adds to the workability of the idea.
This seems significant. We pay attention to synchronicities. It's natural after the fact to recognize the logic, but it seems like some invisible hand could be in play where .something more is going on. Stuart, you have an actionable idea. How about following up with whatever auspice was responsible for what already is happening, for going further with it? Will you do that? Or me, or someone else? I'm going to make it my Tuesday Substack that would be something to use in making any contact. This is exciting!
Replying to myself here, I responded to that story, "That spare change you donate at checkout is adding up to millions for charities," today:
Take a look at what recently was submitted to my essay contest, How We Saved the World , writing from 2050 where the world is working, telling how that came to pass: "Progress on saving the world/From essays to pathways" https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/progress-on-saving-the-world. Scroll down to get the story of Round-Up. Will you connect me to the originators of what you wrote about, to see if they would be interested in taking their project further along the lines of the essay? Just think, a follow-up story for you!
I liked this one, too! I liked how doable it seemed, and how plausible. It feels like...recycling? When I was a kid, no one was doing it, but now, everyone has a bin in their kitchen. It takes a bit of institutional support and then it's easy to just say yes. I like it also because unlke the grocery store checkout "would you like to donate" projects, it gives the credit to the people, and it seems to actually make a difference. I would sign up for such a program in a heartbeat. I'm trying to think if I know anyone high enough up in banking...you know what? I might. Stuart, you have my email, please get in touch.
Thanks SuAnn. I really appreciate the feedback. I've actually had this idea going around in my head since I was a child. This was the perfect opportunity to let the genie out of the bottle. I genuinely believe this is something that could be done - maybe not at the scale I've imagined - but I think it could work. The inspiration really came from the idea that affluent people can give away a few hundred dollars a year and it will mean nothing to them. One person won't change much, but if millions are doing it, there is potential for change on a grand scale. I guess - as I said - it's about realising the true potential of people power, which I don't think has really happened yet. Inspiration also came from government corruption, and the way politicians tend to serve themselves and their own kind. Here's hoping for a Utopian future, and not the Dystopian one we seem to be heading for. Is Biff Tannen really going to take over Hill Valley again?
Another essay had a similar enough idea, about peeling off small fees to make massive social impact, that you and David Gardener might enjoy some creative play together. His essay: How an Idea Whose Time Had Come Brought in an Era of Ice Cream for Everyone: https://suespeaks.org/how-an-idea-whose-time-had-come-brought-in-an-era-of-ice-cream-for-everyone-updated-edit/
This made me smile (and not just as the mom of a stutterer ;)
I voted for Jeffrey Dunne’s Changing the World: A Reflection. (https://suespeaks.org/changing-the-world-a-reflection)
Jeffrey identified a key leverage point for evolving a viable society: raising kids who are not conditioned into the status quo, and who indeed can think critically with compassion for themselves and others.
The real-world background for this is that public education systems in America have been heavily influenced by smart people in the 1800s who wanted students to learn basic math and literacy skills, but did not want them to think for themselves lest they challenge the current authoritarian system.
Therefore subjects were taught in silos, with no reference to the great issues of the day. And for decades America schools have used multiple-choice tests, and teachers ‘teach to the test’. Fortunately, there are many exceptions.
Of course, Artificial Intelligence is the new kid on the block. Ever more sophisticated programs will be developed that plausibly imitate actual human interactions. But they are not actual human interactions; kids will be communicating with machines that have no feelings or real empathy. In other words, kids will be trained to be okay with dealing with psychopaths, and they will fail to develop their own capacity for empathy and skillful social interaction.
Not good! Therefore those of us who care about a positive future for humanity would be well advised to champion rolling back the emphasis on STEM (science technology engineering and math) education, and instead focus on helping young people – and ourselves – become the kind of people that can create and enjoy a compassionate life-affirming culture.
This is great storytelling about what Andrew described. It should be a must read for anyone who works in education. It is such a beautiful evocation of the way to educate, told as a speech by a charming man to a graduating college class, about how it was in 2024. It is a gorgeous mapping of then and now, where every sentence says something meaningful. “…we hadn’t yet come to appreciate the reality that is so obvious to us today: that we are one species, one strain of being in a uniting ecosystem. Don’t blame your parents for not seeing it right away, or your grandparents for not seeing it at all. They were raised on chemical-infused food substitutes and grew up in a world fixated on advertising, with an internet driven by profit and fueled by rage.” The commentary on 2024 is so sharp. And, it has a great ending, where the Midlight Academy, that trained children in the way that prevails in 2050, struggled for survival until its graduates, 20 year later, took over the world. I think this is a perfect story.
One simple change in educational process, can be transformative. I’m a healer of collective and historic trauma..and a transformative educator. Teaching in circle where each participant can see everyone else, speaks from their own experience and is encouraged to participate even with a gesture, shifts the power dynamics in any classroom. It encourages deep listening , empathy and a sense of community, of learning together rather than competing for marks. Leadership is from the middle, not from above. Think Joanna Macy Work that Reconnects or Plum Village. Anyone interested in doing this, contact me through Resonant Earth Substack or my web address eimear@eimearoneill.com
I love the idea, raised in several essays, of raising our kids with better toolkits, and I think there are a lot of small groups already working on that in a variety of ways. How do we build out from and spread those efforts? What shall we do to bring that to reality?
I've shared it with some friends who are educators, asking if they can get it shared in their worlds. I'm realizing that's something we can do with a lot of the essays, where we share them with the people in our spheres who work in the fields the essays talk about.
Hence my comment above, Suzanne
Congrats to Glen!
Ok this wasn't anyone's essay that I read but! Look these people are doing something right! About housing!
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2024/0214/Why-Boston-s-wealthy-Back-Bay-said-yes-in-our-backyard
Wow, what a story. You'd say that's the answer – get rich neighborhoods to embrace housing for the homeless. However, people who are down and out tend to trash their opportunities, so the rich neighborhoods and the middle-class ones don't want them. Why isn't this Boston situation pie in the sky? That's something to investigate.
Also, to be followed up on, is the link you provided to what's even closer to the contest subjects. It would be great for people to read the comments about other essays before the comments about the Round-Up essay your link is in: https://suzannetaylor.substack.com/p/another-winner/comments.
On Saturday, on Zoom, we’ll talk about how to do follow-up. Sorry that India doesn’t work for Zoom – come home soon!
I know people say that that's the tendency, but I'm not sure that's as true as it seems, and I think sometimes it's for lack of wraparound support or because tis treated like a charity project and not as a welcome to the community. I'd love to see more about the back bay project and how it works.
My fav was Benches and Snacks ( I loved the The End of the Beginning, too Very Vonnegut-esque).
Not long before I read Benches and Snacks I was at talk with Roger Hallam - he's one of the founders of XR and Just Stop Oil. He's a hardcore activist who has served a lot of time in prison.
I've heard him talk before and he can be very direct about the challenges we face and the solutions he proposes - which are revolutionary.
However, at that talk he was stressing the vital importance of just sitting and chatting to people. Of those interactions which have no purpose beyond being an exchange pleasantries and gentle inquiry. Benches and Snacks really played into this idea. And ultimately I think this is how change manifests itself. We need spectacle, we need transgression (or there'll be no impetus to change - nothing to talk about) but the real change takes place in the quiet conversations between friends, neighbours, acquaintances and strangers. And we need to nourish and nurture places where that can happen. (We can't really rely on the state to do it for us as the last thing they want is revolutionary change).
Good going, Jonathan. If I'd made the ultimate decisions, Leela Sinha's Benches and Snacks -- https://suespeaks.org/benches-and-snacks -- would have been right up there for my Grand Prize along with the delicious essay about stuttering that's the prize-winner here. You've beautifully expressed the value of this homespun sort of idea, that's something, as we go along, to try to actually get to happen.
Thank you! And yes, that's what I've learned, too. When I was in Maine during the push for equal marriage, the way we got it to pass was by appeals to people by their literal neighbors, people they lived and bought groceries and fished next to. The ads had real people and their city and name on the screen, because those 1-1 relationships make alllll the difference when it comes to building empathy and therefore local opinion and therefore state policy, as it turned out. I'd love to see more front porches and benches (and the communication skills to be good neighbors because when we do get past pleasantries we need to stay in relationship if we can). Do you live in a place where you can talk to strangers easily?
A finalist that I voted for was The Empathy Chip (https://suespeaks.org/the-empathy-chip/) by Ben Wakeman because it provoked within me the strongest, most visceral, emotional response out of all the finalists. I almost voted this piece as my first choice for this reason alone, but ultimately let my fear of the story’s potential hold me back. The response I felt was toward the idea of a technological device plugged into my brain. This wasn’t the first time I had confronted that idea, but it was the first time I actually felt a door within myself crack open to it. I’m not saying I am in full agreement with the concept or of the suggested reality in its entirety, but the overall direction of this imagined reality intrigued me as out-of-the-box and very different. The Empathy Chip catalyzed a deep self-reflective period for me, more so than any of the other essays. I felt the invitation to question my beliefs, my biases, response-ability, and what I thought I knew about myself and the world. Moreover, I resonated deeply with the story’s root in empathy. Ben’s piece speaks toward the past and future in a way that highlights but doesn’t define us as our individual and collective history. And it does so in a way that focuses on our capacity for understanding. This, ultimately, feels significant and transformative.
This was the shortest finalist and one of my favorites. What I so loved was the power of the one thing the essay is about, an artificial "companion [who] knows you. It knows your anxieties, fears, strengths, and weaknesses. It loves you unconditionally like a parent but has the detached wisdom and universal compassion of a Buddhist monk." In my laundry list of odd ideas is a job where you hire a real person just to tell you how wonderful you are, like this AI version that is so much more potent in that everyone would have one full-time. Just think how happy people, pleased with themselves, would create the world we want to be in! And hey, given modern technology, maybe that AI appreciator could become a reality. Start a Go Fund Me and I'm in!
You know, it's funny. I realized after posting this comment that Ben's essay speaks about an AI companion, not a 'chip in the brain' as I had read-in (twice!). The Virgo Moon in me found this displeasing upon the realization, but I kept the post up anyway because I felt there was something else I was giving expression to that correlates with Ben's piece. Perhaps the companion of empathy has been, will be, and is ourselves.
Wow! I imagine the smile on his face with such surprise! Beautiful Suzanne! I'll have a read.