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ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: Robot Sophia is inspiring — until the lights go out
The wave of AI has created inflated expectations and is high on the hype curve
Every fortnight, before I sit down to write this column, my mind runs, a bit like a rhizome, in different directions, surrendering often to serendipity. This is in part because I always try to find something that lies in between the shadows and lights of discussions on global and national political economic trends or states of affairs. Like most people who write on current affairs for a living — inasmuch as it is possible — I usually try to find a hook or an angle, something that meets the basic requirements of proximity, time, relevance and impact. The hook may be an event or a statement by a political leader or public intellectual, or any new development in the world of ideas and of "things". The problem is that once I find a hook, the mind sets off (like a rhizome) and I rarely know, before I start writing, where I will end up. The act of writing becomes an exploration, a way of trying to make sense of things. It would be rather foolish to look at the world through a single lens....
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