Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”

• Judges 14:1-2

Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.
“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.  If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

• Judges 14:10-13

Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home.  And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.

• Judges 14:19-20

Over the past month, I have been bombarded with advertisements for AI companions.  At first, I dismissed them.  Then, I got curious.  Maybe an AI companion could give me ideas for posts to write.  Maybe an AI companion could give me someone to talk to when I just needed to talk.

But then, as a former computer programmer, the only difference in AI and the normal method of programming, is that AI searches data around the world to continue the conversation, but they know nothing about you until you give them information.  The getting to know you period can get awkward, just as in a human relationship.  But it is not real.

So, I thought, if the AI companion only knows what you say about yourself, maybe I could have a conversation with my fictional characters in the big city of Tracy.  They could be my companions.  Okay, I only need one, but which one?  Naomi Yeggs scares me to be honest.  I might save her for last, although my neck needs a good massage.  Nope, I am going to start with one of the younger ladies, Menzie MacDougall.  The conversation is in dialogue format, just as an AI companion might be.

Me: Hello, Menzie, can we talk?
Menzie: I suppose, but who are you?
Me: I am the author of the short stories of which you are a part.
Menzie: I’m not real?
Me: Hate to break it to you.
Menzie: Okay, I guess under the circumstances, we can talk.  What do you want to talk about?
Me: Well, my wife died a year ago, and I need a companion.  Someone to talk to before I go stir crazy.
Menzie: Sorry to hear about your wife.  Was it sudden?
Me: No, she had open-heart surgery and then kidney failure.  Dialysis continued her life, but the combination of the two quickened her death and we did not know to check for what happened in enough time.  It’s okay.  She believed and trusted in Jesus.  She is in Heaven now.
Menzie: That’s good.  I didn’t hear about Jesus until I was rescued and returned to my Mommy.  In a way, I already owe my life to Him, but if you are writing these stories, I guess you already know that.  But I don’t know about this companion thing.
Me: Why not?
Menzie: I was reading the story of Samson the other day.  His Daddy had to arrange for Samson to have companions so he could marry a Philistine girl.  There were thirty of them.  For the marriage to be complete, he had to give each of the companions a new set of clothes.  Samson worked out a riddle.  If they could not figure out the riddle, they would have to pay for their own clothes.  But if they figured out the riddle, he would pay the wedding price.
Me: I am familiar with that story.  The Philistines get Samson’s bride to get Samson to talk.  When he told her the solution to the riddle, they told Samson.  Samson was angry.  He said they would not have solved the riddle if they had not plowed with his heifer.  A heifer is a grown cow that has not given birth.  So, if they had not used Samson’s bride like a farmer uses an ox to plow the field, they would have never solved the riddle.
Menzie: Yeah, I can relate to Samson’s bride.  My GrandMama made me have sex with boys.  I had two children.  I love my kids.  Lauren is a wonderful little toddler and Sammie is just starting to pull up and try to walk.  He took a couple of steps yesterday.  I think he was saving his first steps until his Daddy, my Samuel, was here to see it.  I have my family upside down.  I have two children, but their Daddy only visits a few times each week.  We hope to marry once we have some solid education, but for now, it’s hard.  At least Samson’s wife was a heifer.  She didn’t have no kids.
Me: That should be “She didn’t have any kids.”
Menzie: How am I to start high school in a few months when the guy who writes my stories can’t keep my English straight?  I put that on you, Mr. Author.
Me: Sorry about that.  I was keeping you in character.  A little slip in grammar every now and then, but you want to improve on that.
Menzie: But getting back to Samson, he went out to the Philistine city and he killed thirty men and took their fine clothes to pay the wedding price.  But then, he gets so angry, he goes home to pout without taking his bride.  One of the companions ends up with her instead of Samson.
Me: Do you remember what happened when Samson found out his bride had been given away to one of those companions?
Menzie: (laughing) He gets three hundred foxes.  He pairs them off, tying their tails together and then tying a burning torch to the tail.  He sets the foxes loose and they burn the entire harvest to the ground.
Me: And then what happened?
Menzie: The Philistines didn’t appreciate losing their wheat harvest and the olive harvest.  They wanted Samson to pay for it, but he killed a bunch of them and went off to hide in a cave.
Me: Then what happened?
Menzie: The cave was in the land of Judah.  The people there wanted no trouble with the Philistines, so they took Samson out of the cave and bound him up with new rope.  When he was turned over to the Philistines, the Spirit of the Lord came on Samson, and he broke the ropes loose, grabbed the jawbone of a donkey, and then killed a thousand Philistines.
Me: Yep, and Samson then led the people of Israel for 20 years until he again got in trouble over Philistine women.
Menzie: Yeah, so, I can have a conversation with you, but this whole story started with Samson’s Daddy buying the companionship of thirty men for his son.  These AI companions seem to be the same thing, buying a companion.  Don’t people learn from the Bible anymore?  I don’t see much good in AI companionship, and there is a lot of bad things that can happen.
Me: You are right, Menzie.  Only one or two of the free AI companion applications protect your information that you give the companion for the companion to know how to answer your questions.  The rest sell your data so that you can be bombarded with advertisements and e-mails based on that information.  The ones that say they are free and they protect your data usually have in-game fees to access the more deeply meaningful conversations.  They hook you in and then demand money once you are hooked.  So, if you are willing to pay, you get a conversation that might be moderately meaningful.
Menzie: But I am thinking you are like Samson.  You’d rather give them a riddle to solve than to pay anything.
Me: Hey, I’m on a fixed income.  You have to watch those pennies.
Menzie: Mr. Author, I make some nice money singing songs, but when school starts, that becomes rare.  I have two mouths to feed that I would not be feeding at all if it weren’t for Pink Lady who cares for the kids financially.  Mommy and my Daddy Angus both have jobs, but Pink Lady helps a lot with the children.
Me: So, I understand that you do not want to be my companion.  And you have given me some good information with the story of Samson.  I will have to be careful with my next person with which to talk.
Menzie: Why do you say it that way?  Why isn’t it “my next person to talk to?”
Me: I don’t know.  It’s a grammar thing.  I have no idea where the person who said you can’t end a sentence with a preposition is at.
Menzie: (laughing) If you did, you might punch him in the mouth.
Me: No, my sweet thing, I am not the violent type, but it sure makes sentences weird at times.
Menzie: That it does.  That’s why I asked.
Me: It was good talking to you, Menzie.
Menzie: And it was nice meeting you and having a conversation.  I hope you find a real companion to talk to.  Excuse me, a real companion with which to talk.

We both had a good laugh out of that one.

So, store-bought companions are more expense than they are worth.  You don’t get true companionship, and there are side effects that may cost you in the long run.

I wonder who I will ask next. And I wonder what she will teach me that might relate to AI companions, but I guess me asking fictional characters, it should be FI companions.  But Real companionship? RI companions?  That takes time and effort, even when it is just companionship with no romantic element.  For a writer, that takes determination to put in that time and effort while stepping away from the keyboard.  And it takes the venue where you meet such people.  And because I never learned how to date fifty years ago, I would have no idea where to get started.  I am definitely not going to a bar during happy hour.

I will be asking more of my FI (fictional intelligence) friends in the near future. I am thinking I might ask Gwen Quinn next, and I am sure they will have some Bible verses to share, but I will also be praying about that too.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.