Can we believe anything ever again?

I’m in the camp that’s very skeptical of artificial intelligence. Granted, I was already mostly dismissing everything I read online whether it was through Facebook posts, Twitter, etc. Before I ask this next question, it’s important to clarify that AI is obviously still in its infancy stages and it’s not always hard to discern what’s fake but… is there anything AI can’t do? That’s the frightful question at the forefront of my mind when anyone talks about AI nowadays. It became so much more clear to me in the aftermath of the Coldplay cheating scandal. Here’s the original video of the pair caught at the Coldplay concert. And then I’ll include another one with a few AI creations. Take notice of how realistic the fake videos are, not perfect of course, but very close.

We’re already heading in a direction I don’t like at all. Soon there will be video or audio of everyone saying everything. At that point, we can’t believe anything. That is, unless we see it or hear it for ourselves in person, verified, and documented. These are the crazy times.

For instance, can you imagine the field day scammers are going to have with the incredible capabilities of AI at their disposal? What they’re already doing is sickening but if a Nigerian prince actually sends me a video and explains why he needs to deposit a thousand dollars in my account, and he mentions me by name and has a member of my bank call me to verify, how can I say no?

Seriously though, what’s going to keep someone from destroying the reputation of someone they don’t like, just because they can? Maybe the time we live in now, this very moment, can be a turning point for all of us. Use less social media? Post less photos and videos of ourselves, making it less likely to be manipulated? I don’t have the answer and maybe we’re already past the point of no return. Not to get all religious on you, but the longer I live and the more I experience, the more I believe Jesus came at the exact perfect time. In today’s media-saturated world, with hackers, liars, and especially with AI now, no one would believe someone like him existed or could do the things he was recorded in the Bible doing. They’d just say it’s all fake. Which, kind of oddly, is what they said 2000 years ago, too.

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-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Ate a What??

I don’t think Piper was always eating everything but as she got older, her appetite expanded. Kind of like when you become an expert at something and crave a bigger challenge. That’s how she was with eating. Food? Nah, that’s for peasants.

Piper ate a lot of things that should not be eaten. Well, I take that back. One of them was actually food, I suppose. Have you ever seen a seahorse? One random day we found one on the shore, it had already died somehow. It’s not every day that you find a seahorse so I brought it up to the house to, I don’t know, have it on display. Yeah, that didn’t last long. Just for a moment Piper was left on the porch of the beach house and you can guess what happened when she was unsupervised out there. Seabiscuit went bye bye.

She’s eaten books, papers, napkins, as seen in this library book I eventually had to pay for.

I’ll just get this out as quickly as I can: She’s also had a used tampon in her mouth. I’ll spare you any pictures. The lengths that pup went to digest things was pretty impressive. I guess she had the stomach for some wild things, I’ll give her that! Everything was ranked #1 in her belly, but she will always be #1 in my heart.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper in the Wild – Post 9 of 15

Piper loved being in the woods. She’d go to the nearest forest anytime the opportunity presented itself, which was more than I liked, that’s for sure. Not because I wanted her to be unhappy, it’s just that I worried for her. Her nose got her into some pretty delicate situations. Maybe she was chasing a rabbit. Or I had looked the other way for a few seconds too long. Then boom, she was off and running!

Here I go again on my own… traveling down the only road I’ve ever known…

It’s a blessing and a curse having a beagle. On the one hand, I love that Piper was very good at hunting without a single session of training. But on the other hand, like I said, it made me nervous because she wasn’t really afraid of anything. In Tennessee that’s mostly OK where wildlife is concerned. But once we moved to Florida, all I could imagine was Piper having a run-in with a gator or a snake and how I’d manage explaining to authorities that Piper dominated them both.

OK, I’m just being silly. Piper never had an encounter with an alligator or snake (that I’m aware of) but the most scared I ever felt was a day she was gone for 4 hours on the coast of Florida where there are gators, snakes, and bears. I searched, my whole family searched (we were in the middle of a beach family reunion), but we all came up empty. It wasn’t until later that day we got a call from a nearby vet’s office that someone had picked up a beagle trotting along the only paved road in the area. She had travelled miles and someone miraculously found her and took care of her for one night. I picked her up the next day. To this day, she never told me what she did or where she went, I guess that’s a secret I’ll never know!

I miss my wandering beagle. Even when she played Houdini, she always somehow made it back home. I loved being with her and I don’t think there will ever be another one for me like Piper.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper and Her Never-Ending Curiosity

Piper was as curious as a private investigator and this characteristic of hers showed up a lot. When she was a puppy and the washer was open, she couldn’t resist giving the dishes a quick once-over before they were washed.

Many years later but the same curiosity. How cute, right? But it wasn’t always adorable, I’ll admit. Her being food driven meant I had to be strategic about everything in the home and in the last few years, in the camper.

Treats seemed to help guide her decision-making so it was smart to have a few on hand at any given moment (and I didn’t have them on hand enough!).

It’s kind of weird now that I don’t have that awesome, food-driven dog to watch out for. I’m less cautious setting Asia’s (my other dog) food out in the morning or afternoon. I can leave books on a table and not fear for their shredded safety. But I miss Piper terribly still. Her threat of chewing things kept me on my toes and now I just think about her every time I see something she would’ve loved to destroy or eat.

-Out of the Wilderness

Piper Loved People – Part 7 of Piper’s Farewell

The more people I meet, the more I love my dog.

For Piper, it was the exact opposite! For every dog she met (and every dog was inferior to her highness 👑), she loved people more. She never told me exactly what it was about dogs that annoyed her so maybe let’s just say she was a diva… kind of like her dad. 🔥

Piper, go play with that dog! Nah. Piper, help that dog find some rabbits! No thanks. People, on the other hand, she loved people almost as much as she loved chasing rabbits.

My family, friends, neighbors in Nashville, she’d come wagging her tail to them, hoping for a treat or a friendly pat on the head. Ok, it was mostly for a treat but still, she loved having her belly scratched. The picture below is Piper trotting towards my neighbor one cold January morning, which is saying a lot because if you’ve been following along with these posts, you know how Piper despised being cold! He and his wife loved Piper and she loved them. See her tail up in the air and her ears swaying with excitement? She couldn’t wait to visit with Bobby and Joyce.

Piper was part of a flock that flocks together. I’m talking about my siblings, their spouses, my parents, my nieces and nephews. When we get a dog, it’s us welcoming a new member to the family. Piper fit right in and made it easy to love her. We’ve always loved beagles going all the way back to my childhood when we got Belle, I was only 4 years old. So Piper carried on the Wilder beagle tradition and trust me when I say there were plenty of belly rubs, treats, and smiles to go around for her and because of her. Here’s a pic with Piper and my sister and another with my dad. I love that we are dog people.

Piper had a personality as big as her ears and now her beagle legacy is firmly established. Spunk. Drive. Sass. Love. She had it all.

-Out of the Wilderness