Well, this week came even more evidence that the words ‘digital’ and ‘future’ need to be used carefully together.
First, we have some very intelligent people arguing that within two years artificial intelligence (AI), potentially, could begin to eat the hand that feeds it.
Really? We might have robots who can do simple or even complex tasks, and ChatGPT that can write an academic essay using made up references, but is AI at the stage where it is capable of understanding the nuances of human thought and spirit?
And then we have Apple announcing a new, £3,000-plus, virtual augmented reality headset which needs a battery pack attached to the wearers’ belt.
Great if we are using it to assist surgeons carrying out complex operations in the depths of our skulls, but if I want the reality of a breeze in my face while looking from a clifftop across the sea, I will go to St Bees Head!
Really, what is Tim Cook thinking?
Of course, we need to move forward but we need technology that can be used to enhance human activity not be a threat to our way of life.
So, is there a way we can have a future where we are able to deliver a sustainable future to our children?
I trust regular readers will recognise that I believe in supporting local farming and am sceptical when anyone increases the burdens on these long suffering food producers and land managers by suggesting changes to practice.
Okay, a bit of rewilding by increasing the mouse and vole in my local fields or more sparrow in the hedgerows might appeal to the hunter that lives inside, but apart from having a rogue Tegu lizard in Moorclose, reintroducing the lynx or wolf is a step too far.
But let’s consider a technological advance in farming that might just be on the right side of progress.
James Dyson, he of the vacuum fame, is Britain’s largest farm and land owner. He has attached sensors to his tractors that can identify individual weeds which the tractor then targets with chemicals. No more widespread spraying, his system reduces the amount of chemicals.
Now, I don’t think Mr Dyson invented this system, his forte is eye-wateringly expensive household and consumer products, but when someone who owns as much land as he does starts talking about it, the farming and wider communities listen.
So here is an example of how technology can work for humankind (and us felines).
In Cumbria, in terms of farming, we have everything from arable, dairy, poultry, beef/lamb with the latter found on our coastal regions and on the bleakest uplands.
And, in Cumbria, we have a strong advocate for sustainable farming with the farmer-come-author, James Rebanks.
Mr Rebanks is, relatively speaking, a small time farmer who has way more Twitter followers than acres! But, like Dyson, when he speaks, people listen.
Well, actually, that isn’t quite as true as it should be. If politicians listened to Mr Rebanks and other ‘coalface’ farmers, we wouldn’t have jumped into a trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand where our farmers will have to compete with the massive agri industries with far lower animal welfare standards.
Fortunately, this week, Rishi Sunak stepped back from asking for a full trade deal with the USA, hopefully because of the damage allowing unfettered imports of chlorinated chicken and factory farmed beef would be our domestic farming.
The US Congress has made it clear, if there were to be a full trade deal, then the US would want to virtually ‘own’ the relationship and for our farmers to compete they will have to increase the use of pesticides, overuse the soil and sacrifice both animal welfare and wildlife on their farms.
We need to listen more to the Rebankses of this world and less to the political party apparatchiks of all persuasions, especially those who accept payments or hospitality from lobbying groups who work against our farmers.
And we need to harness technological advances to enhance every day activities, not spend gazillions introducing technology that blights our lives. For example, can anyone explain to me what social media such as Facebook does to enhance human wellbeing apart from making gazillions for its owners.
And why do we see so many people glued to their mobile phones? Will their hands fall off if they don’t have their Samsung/iPhone/Huawei in front of their eyes blocking the view of the real world?
Let’s listen to Mr Rebanks and his ilk and let them work with Silicon Valley types to develop stuff that actually does some good and can enhance our way of life so we can smell the wildflower meadows, look after our animals and feed the people with wholesome, seasonal and LOCAL food.
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
