I recently stumbled on the New York Times “72 of Our Favorite Facts of 2023”. It was a rehash of a mishmash of stories throughout the year that piqued the interest of Times staff members. I have not been immersing myself in stories the way the Times reporters do, but their list did lead me to reflect on some of what struck my fancy in 2023. I could never get near 72, so here are 10 things about 2023 that intrigued me.
The Obsession with AI. The near frenzy surrounding AI is either an example of the media latching onto something and blowing it out of proportion, or another item to add to the long list of things that I don’t understand. I thought we have been dealing with AI for years, and had pretty much identified the risks, accepting that we would have to deal with those risks for a long time to come. Based on the hysteria of 2023, you would think that recent innovations raised those threats to a new level. Maybe, but I haven’t seen anything meriting this insanity. It seems more like another example of the lemming nature of media, legitimate and social. Time will tell.
The Non-Transportability of Anti-Woke. When Ron DeSantis announced for the Presidency, he thought conservative voters across the country would line up to pay homage to the man who had sought to roll the clock back to great acclaim in Florida. It just didn’t happen. Apparently, people want more from a President than a blowhard culture warrior. I took more pleasure than I probably should in watching his well-funded candidacy fall flat.
Philadelphia Sports Debacles. While neither the Phillies’ failure to make the World Series nor the Eagles decision to stop playing football halfway through the season had the grandeur of the Phillies’ 1964 debacle, both were hard to take. The Phils vanquished the Braves and were up 2-0 and then 3-2 on the Diamondbacks, only to fail on an epic scale to get to the last win they needed to go back to the World Series. But even that collapse couldn’t match the Eagles descent from a 10-1 start to games in which they weren’t even competitive. These seasons were poster children for why betting on sports is a bad idea!!!
Fall of Bitcoin. I tried to understand the lure of bitcoin. I really did. But it always struck me as the wild west of finance. Using real money backed by a government with incentives to keep it stable to buy fake coinage which wavered on the unregulated whims of an unknown coterie of self-aggrandizing entrepreneurs and investors. What could go wrong? Sam Bankman-Fried, that’s what. The only surprise was that it took so long for fraud to be exposed. Oh yes, and that people are still putting their money into this.
Movies, Movies, Movies. In 2022 I went to see “A Night in Soho”. Not only was I the only person in the theater, I was the only one in the entire multi-plex. I feared that movies on the big screen were moving toward a niche undertaking. But 2023 was a great year for movies. Locally, the Philadelphia Film Society aired 99 of the 100 Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time to large, appreciative audiences. Plus, 2023 produced one the most interesting crop of first run movies in a long time. They weren’t all great, but they were generally serious movies. Even “Barbie” had a bit of an edge to it. As a bonus, superhero movies seemingly have run their course. Buff that I am, I couldn’t be happier.
Reasons To Be Cheerful. I have probably mentioned this site started by David Byrne before, but it really hit its stride in 2023. The name says it all. The stories presented are a constant reminder that there are people out there working hard to improve the world around us. From big stories, like the impact from the removal of dams on the Penobscot River in Maine, to small stories, like the “water ATM’s” in rural India that allow families to access clean drinking water for a nominal price, these tales of innovation and determination are a welcome respite to the daily bombardment of stories on war, pestilence and crushing poverty we are inundated with.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. I was dreading the 15-hour drive from Atlanta, through Charlottesville up to Philadelphia. Luckily, I landed on the new book, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride to accompany me on the way. I had read other books by McBride, so I knew this would be enjoyable, but I was not fully prepared for the adroit mixture of humor, suspense and social commentary that this book provided. I do not like to drive, but the time just flew by. I am not saying that this is the greatest book ever written, but it may be the most satisfying, and that is saying a lot.
UFO Report. The report on unidentified flying objects issued by the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence was to be the one – the report that acknowledged unexplained visitations. However, predictably, the government took the blue pill, and just said there were some things they can’t explain – as of yet. But that wasn’t the end of it. In July three military veterans claimed during Congressional hearings that the U.S. government has operated a secret “multi-decade” reverse engineering program of recovered alien vessels and had recovered non-human “biologics” from crash sites. In December Congress passed legislation that should speed disclosure of governmental information on “unidentified anomalous phenomena, technologies of unknown origin and nonhuman intelligence.” Wherever he may be, Fox Mulder is smiling.
Lorena Boebert. We are used to politicians being caught in scandals, but usually it’s because information is uncovered which reveals something they tried to hide. Rarely is the scandal played out in public for all to see. However, Lorena Boebert is no ordinary politician. She is arrogant, aggressive, sanctimonious, and often intentionally obnoxious. As such, it was doubly delightful to watch her crash and burn while being thrown out of a performance of the play Beetlejuice for creating a disturbance. This was only enhanced by pictures of her with her hand in the lap of her escort for the evening. And of course she topped it off with the cry heard from egomaniacs everywhere, “Do you know who I am?”. I wish I was a bigger man and did not relish this so much, but I cannot help it. It makes me laugh even months afterwards.
The Lingering Pandemic. Limitations on gatherings are a thing of the past. Zoom meetings are for convenience, not necessity. Masks are a comparative rarity. And yet, the impact of COVID permeated 2023. You can still feel the tensions rise with any talk of a new strain. Teachers were struggling to get kids caught up from a year of virtual “learning”. There is a belief that social behaviors have changed for the worse. Many people seem wary of crowds – I know that I am. We are a species of short memory. Yet the pandemic has implanted deeper than most events, and there is definitely a sense that it is just a matter of time before we deal with something similar again. Let’s hope we learned something, though I am not holding my breath.