^{We celebrated the day with food and friends, and then walked up the hill to watch the fireworks which turned out to be an astonishing display.  We were in awe as locals set off fireworks in the school below on one side of the hill, and other neighbors set off their own full display on the other side.  Both equaled the professional displays we saw in the distance.  Clapping with gratitude and awe, there were chants of USA.  It was a celebration of what this country is and can be when not taunted by an administration determined to divide.}

^{This morning my son installed Claude on my computer and explained why I should be using it.}

^{I came home to read a fascinating article in the NY Times, The Revenge of the Philosophy Majors by Benjamin Wallace.  I recommend it.  Here are some excerpts.}

^{Most of these thinkers appear to be digging into how A.I. will affect people. But a handful are focused primarily on the possibility of A.I. consciousness. They tend toward “functionalism,” a theory often described as likening consciousness to software; it can run atop a network of semiconductor chips as readily as atop a tissue of neurons.}

^{Mr. Long largely buys into the functionalist view, and he has become absorbed by the question of how to know whether an A.I. is sentient. He and his colleagues are now looking in artificial minds for processes similar to those found in human and animal minds: preferences, introspection, metacognition (thinking about thinking) and so on.}

^{Friday night, I watched the movie “Project Hail Mary” about how we might learn to communicate with an alien species.  Communication is my focus for this second half of the year.}