We should all sit in a quiet room from time to time and just think about where we are and what’s going on around us. Technology is sometimes moving faster than we can adapt. In just a few years, we have moved from using a pencil and paper to put down our thoughts to allowing artificial intelligence (AI) to write a story that it thinks are our own thoughts.
Grandpa never drove a car. When he headed the horse home from town, the horse could take him home by itself. Now there are cars that can take you anywhere that there is a signal for GPS. My latest truck can steer itself, travel whatever speed that I select, slow down if the truck is getting too close to the vehicle in front of me, and speed up once I pull out to pass. But, I have personally watched tractors and other new expensive machines shut down unexpectedly when a glitch in the computer system happens.
Farmers can now get robotic milkers that milk the cows by themselves, can mix and deliver a predetermined ration to the cattle by itself, spit out reports that can take all day to read about the health of the cow, how much milk she gave and when, how much feed she ate, her temperature, her weight, if she might be sick or coming into estrus, and dozens more predetermined reports. If those robots that feed, clean the barn, milk, and keep track of every occurrence that happened suddenly get a glitch, it calls you or some other paid person to tell that person that it shut down, and does it 24 hrs per day or night. If the electricity suddenly goes off, everything stops until it is restored. For many thousands of dollars, the farmer can buy an automatically controlled standby generator which starts up and switches the power supply from the power line to the power from the generator. But that also triggers a phone call to inform the farmer to check on all the other robots and be sure that they have adjusted the clock and reset the system to get everything running as normal.
A little fuse can shut down a million-dollar tractor at the back of the farm and if the farmer forgot his cell phone at home, he will have to walk back to the shop, barn, or house. Fixing that little fuse may take a technician from the dealership to come out with a service call that can cost hundreds of dollars, plus the little $10 part.
When we visit our doctor for that yearly visit, the doctor checks all our vital signs and usually asks for a series of blood tests that could be checked by AI, but while the doctor is checking you over, his eyes are watching you for any little thing that is not normal. His ears are listening to how you respond or talk. I’m not ready for AI to assess my health yet. Today, we do most of our communication with some sort of computer. When we chat with our family, friends, co-workers, or the doctor, those personal visits are analyzed by real people, and they notice little nuances that a computer can never see. We used to take time to visit or talk to family, neighbors, and friends every few days. We noticed little differences in their health, weight, mannerisms, speech, etc. Today, we have to take time to keep an eye on our friends. Our dog notices any change in us from day to day, but the dog cannot tell our neighbour.
Sixty some years ago, when we delivered our milk to the little dairy down the road in eight-gallon cans every day, the local dairy farmers met every morning. One morning, George had his hand all bandaged up when he brought his milk to the dairy. Dad asked him what happened to his hand, and George replied, “Oh, the barn door slammed shut with wind and crushed my fingers!” On the way home, Dad stopped at George’s place and asked, “George, what really happened to your hand?” George said, “By damned Louis, I knew that you knew that there was no wind this morning to blow the door shut. I stuck my hand in the exhaust fan to see if it was working!” Dad looked at George’s hand and cleaned it up better before re-bandaging it.
Today, with all the stresses in the world and fluctuating prices, parts availability, and rising mental pressure, we must take more time to check on our friends and neighbors. As we care for our friends and neighbours, just an excuse to borrow something or a five-minute chat can be a lifesaver to a troubled person. Friendship is priceless and time spent will come back a thousand times. The most troubling thing to a person with mental fatigue is thinking that they are not needed anymore or a burden to others.
Chris Judd is a farmer in Clarendon on land that has been in his family for generations. gladcrest@gmail.com
