Carls in the Wild
I enjoyed the piece about the National Park Service (“Overcrowding the Outdoors,” Fall 2023)—especially when I recognized Angie Pius ’24. My family and I spent time in Yellowstone last August and had such an amazing visit. My girls, Nora (11) and Evelyn (13), loved taking part in the junior ranger program, and only after reading this article did I realize that Angie swore them in when they completed their Yellowstone badge. Oh how I wish I was wearing my Carleton shirt that day!
—Jessica Gygotis Rosenbaum ’96
Remembering Bob Will
As a member of the “senior alumni group,” I generally turn to the Class Notes section of the Voice to get the latest. While I was aware of the passing of economics professor Bob Will (“Farewells,” Class Notes, Winter 2024), it brought back memories of this exceptional man. As my 40th-reunion year approached in early 2000, I received a letter from Bob. He said he was “cleaning out some old files” and thought I might be interested in one item. It was a copy of a 1961 letter of recommendation that he had written on my behalf to the company I joined after Carleton. I had never seen the letter, and it probably accounted in large measure for the career that I embarked upon. That reconnection led to spending some time with Bob at every Reunion after that until the pandemic cut short all our lives in 2020. Everyone has someone in their life that they will never forget . . . Bob is on my short list.
—Dan F. Pearson ’61
I sat in on one of Professor Bob Will’s economics classes as a prospective student. Much to my surprise, he kept referring to me during his lecture, “As Tracy would agree . . .” His warm and welcoming demeanor was one of the reasons I chose to attend Carleton.
—Tracy Fullerton ’78
On Being Organic Beings
Your article on artificial intelligence (“Ghost in the Machine,” Winter 2024) is intriguing. I’ve thought about AI in some depth. The interface between organic and inorganic minds is the study. We must remind ourselves that we may be considered by some people and by religions as sacred beings placed here by God. But realistically we are organic products of more than 300,000 years of evolution. We are mammals, like whales and dogs and bears. We are animals. Artificial Intelligence is plumbing the depths of what it is to be an organic being. I don’t believe this can work for AI, given its nature. Our problems in the Middle East, for example, are due to primitive genetic programming of tribalism. Tribalism is intrinsic to our DNA. How can AI possibly interpret and integrate such understanding? The question needs study.
—Peter Gentling ’60
I’m writing to object to the use of the term “hallucination” to describe the information fabrication that a chatbot or LLM can generate. Machines do not hallucinate. Machines do not have minds. Yes, it is an uphill battle to try and dissuade people from using the word hallucinate to describe the fabrication of information by AI, but I will continue to try.
—Nikki Pope ’79