Of Chatbots and Activism
[ copy paste from a listserv I’ve joined, two typos fixed ]
From: kirby urner via disarm.discussion.wilpf list
Date: Sun, May 25, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Subject: [disarm.discussion.wilpf] Chatbot gossip about me; Peace and Social Justice Committee meetup (May 25)
I just did a vanity prompt on Perlexity.ai:
How does Kirby Urner, a champion of the Buckminster Fuller syllabus and avid blogger, approach the wars in Gaza and in the Ukraine?
Note that I didn’t mention anything about WILPF in my prompt but it did come back with that affiliation.
Kirby Urner is known as a champion of the Buckminster Fuller syllabus and an active blogger, often writing on themes of peace, disarmament, and social justice. He is also recognized for his contributions to the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), particularly in the area of disarmament, as highlighted in a piece co-authored about Carol Urner, a leading advocate for peace 1.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/how-does-kirby-urner-a-champio-2W3f60jvQVilTmQl6jPT1w
So it’s picking up on something I wrote about mom.
As I wrote to my daughter just now (one typo fixed), sharing the query:
It punts, meaning it doesn’t know, but it thinks it can predict, based on what little it found. Kinda pathetic in a lotta ways. It clearly didn’t take the time to read my blogs at all, in the context of quickly generating a reply.
I haven’t checked Grok or other LLMs but wanted to share as a heads-up that these bots are a source of gossip, and suggest you might wanna prompt about yourselves and/or about WILPF etc. from time to time, just for kicks.
Also:
I attended Multnomah Meeting’s Peace and Social Justice committee meeting at noon today, in the meetinghouse. I had my blog post about the Portland-Mariupol Sister City proposal color printed in a 3-ring binder, but it didn’t come up on the agenda, because our focus is shared actions involving the meeting as a whole, its public image and when to use the banner (in what parades and events e.g. the Aug 6 Hiroshima-Nagasaki Day coming up).
Most of what I do, even if as a Quaker following leadings and journaling about them, is as an activist acting on my own recognizance, not trying to be a spokesperson for Multnomah Meeting as a nonprofit business organization. Ditto WILPF. I realize my views on Ukraine and Gaza are my own, for which others are not responsible.
I did manage to express my admiration for the Grande Ronde and Tulalip tribal networks in how they’re colluding to upgrade Cascadia’s ecosystem, in terms of healthier river basins and wetlands. This was during the Land Acknowledgement section.
When discussion turned to ideological purity and where to draw the line when joining with others in protests or parades, I brought up my caveats about NATO, saying that even though I’d joined the Hands Off! protest with gusto, that didn’t mean I couldn’t nuance my participation via the online journal (blog) format.
Kirby
