Lost wonder

The latest AI invention will take a lot of the marvel and the mystery out of life 

We all lead wonderful lives, often without realising it. Walking through a park we might notice a flower and wonder what its name is. On a street we’ll come across a large imposing building, and we’ll wonder what it is. 

We look at the sky and wonder why it’s blue. We sit by the sea and wonder why it’s salty when the rivers and rains that feed it are not. 

It’s all this wondering that makes our lives so wonder-full. But will we soon lose this wonder? An AI device called Meta consists of an ordinary-looking pair of spectacles with a mic attached which tells you whatever you want to know about where you are and what you’re looking at. 

It will not only tell you the name of the flower that you happen to see, it will also tell you the names of surrounding flowers and plants which, combined, will make an attractive floral arrangement. 

Meta will give you the name, height, and other details about the building before you, and tell you why the sky is blue and the sea salty.

And if you want to know where the closest restaurant or mall is, Meta will tell you how to get there. 

Wonder how Meta can do all these things? Wonder if Meta is hitched to a cloud of limitless data somewhere in cyberspace? You needn’t wonder. Because Meta will tell you how Meta does what it does.  

Meta is marvellous. But by being marvellous, it takes the marvellousness, the sense of wonder, out of life. 

It’s like reading a murder mystery in which the murderer is revealed on Page 1. Or watching a suspense movie, where the cliffhanger end is shown at the start, making everything that comes after literally an anticlimax.  

It’s our sense of wonder, the small and large mysteries that surround us, which add relish to our lives, like reading a mystery novel or watching a thriller. 

Wonder if life would be life without wonder? That’s a Meta-physical question even Meta mightn’t be able to answer.

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