Generative AI and the Living Journey of Knowledge

Rebecca’s Reading Room continues in the long tradition of the Victorian and Edwardian reading rooms. Those were places where neighbours gathered not only to read books and periodicals, but to exchange ideas, wrestle with change, and imagine new futures together. They were not silent archives but living spaces where knowledge was shared, questioned, and renewed. Curiosity was welcomed as a companion, not a threat.

An Ancient Libary

In that spirit, I return to two articles that have sparked my attention: What AI Doesn’t Know: We Could Be Creating a Global “Knowledge Collapse” from The Guardian and the original essay published in Aeon. Both ask an urgent question. What kind of knowledge will endure in a world increasingly shaped by generative AI?

It would be easy to interpret these articles as warnings, but I see them as invitations. The story of human knowledge has never been linear. It has always evolved through experiment, missteps, rediscovery, and renewal. Generative AI is not an ending. It is a new iteration of how we seek to understand the world.

Much of the concern around AI centres on the fear that traditional and local knowledge will be erased or overshadowed. Yet across the world, I see communities working harder than ever to preserve oral histories, languages, teachings, and the quiet wisdom carried through families. Long before the internet, knowledge lived in stories told at dusk or instructions passed by hand and gesture. Now many are turning again to these roots, recording grandparents’ voices, digitising folktales, gathering recipes, songs, and memories that would otherwise fade. In this way, technology becomes not a replacement for tradition but one of the tools that helps us hold it.

With my mother, Frances, on our day to record memories of her life in the 1930’s

This is where I believe generative AI belongs. Not as an authority but as a companion. Not as the keeper of knowledge but as a participant in remembering.

AI challenges us to look again at how knowledge is formed. It asks: Are we attending to the stories that shaped us? Are we listening to elders whose voices carry a lifetime of living? Are we rereading letters tucked into drawers, the ones scented with time? Are we writing down the wisdom we hope to pass to others?

Whenever we share a recollection, interpret a poem aloud, or weave a family story into our writing, we are participating in the ancient journey of keeping knowledge alive. Generative AI, with all its imperfections, pushes us to be more intentional in that work. It reminds us that wisdom is not something we outsource. It is something we cultivate through attention, curiosity, and care.

The author of the article ends with a story about his father’s herbal concoctions and the humility to say that he never knew if they truly worked, yet he has come to recognise that admitting uncertainty might be the most honest place to begin. That quiet admission feels like a doorway into something essential.

Perhaps the future of knowledge will not be decided by algorithms but by our willingness to honour what has always endured. True understanding grows through relationship, memory, and the gentle courage to say that we do not yet know everything. Emily Dickinson once wrote, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” Maybe this is our new angle: a fresh way to honour the wisdom that has sustained humanity across centuries.

Knowledge is not collapsing. It is shifting. And this moment invites us to tend it with renewed intention.

People everywhere are beginning to record, remember, and share their stories again. That is how knowledge survives. That is how it grows. That is how it becomes future.

May we remain faithful stewards of the memories entrusted to us and generous storytellers for those who will follow.

Rebecca

Tell all the truth but tell it slant —
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise…

Emily dickinson

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Ruled by Numbers, Rescued by Words

In a recent article, “Ruled by Numbers: How Data Dominates Every Facet of Our Daily Lives”, Noah Giansiracusa captures something we all sense but rarely articulate: our importance is being compressed into metrics. Writers are judged by TikTok followers, artisans by Instagram reach, even teachers and politicians by their YouTube subscribers. The message is clear: if you want to matter, you must be measurable.

And yet, some of the richest dimensions of human life resist such measurement. Friendship, imagination, wonder, and belonging—these cannot be captured by algorithms or ranked on leaderboards.

Giansiracusa offers the idea of “Robin Hood math,” reclaiming numbers from the institutions that wield them as tools of comparison, and instead using them as a means of empowerment. Numbers, after all, are not the enemy. But numbers alone are not enough. Words are needed too—words to remind us of what is immeasurable, words to carry the resonance of what cannot be counted.

It is here that I return to the idea of a Reading Room, a space shaped by the spirit of the Victorian and Edwardian salons. These were rooms where people gathered not for clicks, likes, or algorithms, but for dialogue, reflection, and the companionship of words. In such rooms, life was measured not by numbers, but by shared imagination.

Perhaps the most radical act we can make today is not to reject numbers altogether, but to resist letting them define our worth. To read a book without posting about it. To write a letter with no guarantee of reply. To listen—truly listen—to another person. To live in the immeasurable.

My Takeaways

Reading this article reminded me why I began this Reading Room. Blogging, podcasting, and sharing online can easily fall into the trap of quantification—views, likes, followers. But here, I choose another way. Here, I measure life not in numbers, but in presence, imagination, and the joy of connection.

With gratitude for your presence in this Reading Room. Until next time, may your days be measured in wonder, not numbers.

Rebecca

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