While looking for photos to delete from my phone, I found a picture of a book page. I no longer know the book’s name, and I may be guilty of plagiarism for typing the quote here.
The information captured by my phone says it was taken on Monday, July 1, 2019, at 2:56 PM.
I remember taking it because I was browsing the gift shop at Cracker Barrel as a distraction while we waited for a table to become available so we could order our meal, then wait some more for the food to come. I found a little book of quotes and sayings. Thumbing through, I came across Benjamin Franklin’s epitaph.
The Body
Of
Benjamin Franklin,
Printer
(Like the covering of an old book,
Its contents torn out,
And stripped of its lettering and gilding)
Lies here, food for the worms.
But the work shall not be lost,
For it will, as He believed, appear once again
In a new and more elegant edition
Revised and corrected
By
The Author
Verifying the quote’s authenticity was quickly done. You can verify it yourself by visiting the Library of Congress. Use this address: https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/franklin/bf-trans61.html
When I first filled in the search box of what a friend calls “The Google Machine,” I used “The Body of Benjamin Franklin.”
The search engine on my computer now offers an AI-generated summation of the requested item. I strongly disagree with the AI’s response to my query. To me, the AI sounded like an opinion of those who have actively sought to bend our nation’s history to fit their picture of our nation’s future. This is what AI had to say:
“This inscription, composed in 1728 and later engraved on his headstone, uses the metaphor of a book to describe his own life and career. The “body” is likened to the cover of an old book, its contents removed and stripped of ornamentation — a fitting image for a man who was both a printer and a prolific writer. The “work” refers to his writings, inventions, and contributions to American society, which, Franklin believed, would endure and be refined by future generations.”
The AI-generated summary was one-sided and presented as the conclusion any reasonable fact-finding researcher would reach. The final two words of the epitaph, “the Author,” are assumed to refer to Benjamin Franklin himself. WHAT!?!? That is a ridiculous and ludicrous assumption! AI didn’t make that up. AI just found where some human made a leap into the abyss of their own stink’n think’n!
It’s not “AI’s” fault; it just leans into the ideology of the person who designed the parameters of this particular version.
It is my measured conclusion that there is no such thing as “Artificial” intelligence. Intelligence does not just appear out of nothing. Anything created is generated by someone doing a lot of intelligent things, like thinking. Like all created things, what is created is no more dependable than the person who created them.
The Creator God is the author of your life story. His Holy Spirit is the director, and His Son is the one who holds the starring role. You and I, as followers of Jesus, are in supporting roles. If we are not following Jesus, we are nameless “fill-in” extras in the crowd scenes.
When God destroys this broken “old” world and initiates His “new” world, all that is not part of His original imagination of what His love looks like and how it functions will be eradicated with total prejudice. Part of what that means is that where I chose to let my imagination (my will) superimpose His imagination, it will be turned to less than dust.
I believe that is what our brother Ben F. meant by “the Author.” It was not his writings or discoveries! His Author is Yahweh!
Hebrews 12:1-2
1Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Photo – The photo is the bottom third of Tripple Falls near Boone, NC.
Baldwin Heirlooms 