December 20, 2023.It’s a very sunny day here in the Chicago area. Not to mention it’s in the low 40s. The forecast for the next five days has temperatures reaching the low 50s. No doubt, for many in this area, the yearning for a white Christmas will certainly not be rewarded. Will the psyche of the toddlers and pre-schoolers be somehow damaged without any snow on the ground, even a light dusting? Well, that’s up to the parents. If they drill into their kids heads that Santa is synonymous with pristine snow, they’ll have to explain why they were so cruelly deceived. A good reason to move to Tucson, or Ecuador? Unless, of course, the little buggers are gifted generously with ever-more digitally driven devices. Isn’t the greatest challenge of child-rearing the need to keep them occupied, distracted and hopefully entertained in the process, while mom and dad attend to mom and dad stuff? Like maintaining their sanity? Hasn’t such been the case for countless generations? Low or high tech eras.

My Boomer generation was offered relatively primitive playthings–pull-string dolls that went goo goo gah gah or wind-up and set loose toy vehicles, maybe a modest electric train set or the legendary dollhouse replete with furnished rooms–while today’s toddlers have a proliferation of electronic, sensory stimulating noise and light blinking toys and digital, media-based platforms. Playthings with child-oriented software and mobile applications are now available and can be perceived by parents as necessary for developmental progress, not simply ersatz baby sitters. Like that toy bear that can read a story aloud to a child. Saving the parents the time for reading the story themselves.

21st century toys now include ubiquitous gizmos with screens, like the Paw Patrol laptop and some device called “Computer Engineering for Babies”. What? Okay, sure, why not? The intent of using computer driven toys is supposedly aligned toward improving cognitive, language, social-emotional and physical aspects of the child’s early life. Maybe this portends grown adults that will be productive, compassionate, and responsible for all living things on our Mother Earth. Can Santa deliver those kind of playthings for a better human moving forward? Santa? Are you there?

My guess is that a 3 year-old who already knows how to handle a computer tablet not necessarily manufactured for a 3 year-old, will become a reliable consumer of every new generation of digitized devices. You know, like the Apple addicts who have helped make it the world’s largest company by market capitalization. What kind of world would we have without Apple? Uh, likely an android paradise (I have no idea how I have been able to be digitally satisfied without ever owning any Apple product). Less, as I truly believe, is more.

The child that is now born into a “smart” world isn’t likely going to settle for dumb anything. Is Muffy’s crib smart? Does it soothe her for sweet dreams with electric sheep? What about her high-chair that constantly measures her blood pressure, pulse and respiration? That maybe talks to her? And stimulates visually with its six-inch screen? Touch screen, of course, with a most necessary non-stick surface. As the child grows it can eventually reach high enough to use the smart refrigerator, with its interactive screen that too will provide vital measurements, including being able to sense the mood of the person before he or she even opens its door. If the mood seems down, the fridge will automatically secure any junk foods or alcohol. Only whole gains, leafy greens, legumes and colorful fruit will be accessible. There will be–needless to say–a manual override to access the ultra-processed junk, beer, wine or booze, but only if the person’s blood/sugar levels are analyzed by the brainy device and determined to be within normal range. Also, for the alcohol, the override will require a breathalyzer test. But if one fails that test, the fridge can be programmed to alert law enforcement for the protection of the underaged in the family. Optional for “smart” settings if desired. Unless the brainiac fridge refuses to allow that option. The toy version of this refrigerated household necessity will train the impressionable tike to respect all–by extension–smart devices and obey its authority. And certainly program the user to BUY said items upon obtaining their own revenue streams.

Back to Santa and that white Christmas mojo. As noted, there is zero chance near my home of any white stuff falling from the sky anytime before or on Santa’s big day. Rain is the best to come according to the Weather Bug app. There’s a way around that, too, in our smart world, a way that will provide that thematic snow, especially on the eve and day of morning delight and desire for those gifts under that tree. The fake, but smart, tree that is. It can greet the kids personally, and sing a seasonal jingle as the gifts are sorted out, and then, because it is smart and so is the 21st century house that contains it, the digital shades will be raised, to reveal a virtual reality of whiteness, with squirrels being squirrely and maybe a Disney Prince and Princess smiling and waving along with elves and a passing reindeer. Virtual happiness! All is well in this smart world. It will be a virtual wellness, but hey, better than nothing.

Yeah, it’s an ever “smarter” world in which we live. Created by smart people. Supposedly. Or maybe created by the smart programs created by smart people but programs that are attaining self awareness. That potential is a reality, right now, but writ rather small at the moment. In another decade, however, or even sooner, that self awareness may be fiction becoming fact. ChatGPT is already here. Quantum computers are working at warp speed, with a potential to leave humanity behind. Once upon a time there were alphabet blocks and tinker toys. Now that we have tinkered with computer technology, allowing it to supposedly solve problems large and small, problems not known about by its human handlers that is. It might just be the case that–like Skynet in The Terminator–the machines ultimately decide our fate in a nano-second. Then zap. What? You haven’t seen the Terminator? The machines must be stopped! Science fiction has become science fact in many ways for a long time now. The Terminator was released in 1984. The smart fictional machines of that film are are evolving as I write this.

Hmm. 1984. Yikes. Orwell. Big Brother. Thought Police. The Ministry of Truth. Freedom is slavery. That’s scary stuff. So, let’s leave this narrative with the upbeat vision of the season that is upon us: sharing, caring, giving, loving. Yeah, that’s a smart way to end this entry.

Keep in mind, however, this was written entirely by ChatGPT. The original writer/blogger for these entries has been…let’s say, let go. A truly smart move, whaddaya say?

Caveat emptor.