CHATGPT and the Baby Boomers

The University of the Third Age is meant to be fun.

More specifically, it is a nationwide network of learning groups aimed at encouraging older people to share their knowledge, skills, and interests in a friendly environment.

But essentially it is intended to be an enjoyable exchange of social interactions that stem from crochet lessons through line dancing and even watching movies at a community level.

A few gallant souls take their membership to an even higher level, and actually try to learn something – like languages or – in my case – macroeconomics.

This year I pondered through the enticing menu on offer of Politics and the Economy, The Arab-Israeli Dispute and a delightfully intriguing – Mind Stirrers. My eventual choice of Australia’s Future Challenges and Opportunities was based on the fact that not only had the class been operating for four years, but that most of the two dozen attendees were regulars.

So every Thursday morning I have sat ‘in class’ in front of the whiteboard, as our Tutor presented headlines, concepts, and graphs at an alarming rate. We even had homework – reams of Readings that came regularly each week to prepare us for the ongoing subject in hand. These have roamed from Global Economics, Inflation and Infrastructure, and Diminishing FoodBanks.

This brings me to last week’s subject – the housing crisis: a problem that seems to have been globally relentless in varying forms, but exacerbated more recently by Covid. This has led to subsequent high shortages in the workplace for manpower and products.

Some surprising facts emerged. Apparently, Australia is not doing very well in its policymaking, and we have a lot to learn about how to garner our politics toward long-term policies in order to alleviate many of our nation’s ills. Hence we had, Best Housing Practices in Singapore and Finland

One of our presenters thought to lighten the doom and gloom of these revelations by turning to new technologies that will shape the thinking of all the Gen Z’s and Y’s to come. By feeding in a few ‘ facts he ‘invited,’ or ‘challenged’ CHATGPT to write a light-hearted poem about the situation.

And here it is.

MACRO ECONOMICS – U3A STYLE

April 2023

By – Artie Intel

In Australia there’s a housing crisis so dire

It’s become a topic that all must admire.

The U3A Class set out to explore

How Singapore and Scandinavia tackled it before.

With notebooks and pens, they sat down to learn

And soon the classroom was all astir

They learned about housing that’s affordable and clean

With ample space and gardens so green.

In Singapore they have flats that are high

With shared amenities that will make you sigh

They built them up and not far out

Saving precious land without a doubt.

In Scandinavia, they have social housing,

A system that’s fair and quite surprising

They built for people of all income levels

Ensuring all had roofs of different bevels,

The U3A Class took notes and discussed

And soon they realized they had to adjust

Their thinking, and approach to housing needs,

If they were to solve the crisis in need.

So they got to work and started to plan

To build affordable homes for every man

They looked to Singapore and Scandinavia

And with best practices came up with an idea.

To build up and not out was their first thought,

With shared amenities, they’d give it a shot

To build for all income levels they would follow

To ensure that everyone had their own burrow.

And with hard work and a lot of care

The U3A Class did what was rare

They solved the housing crisis in their town

With best practices from overseas renowned.

Now everyone has a home in which to live in

With green gardens and shared amenities within

Thanks to the U3A macros Class

Their town is now a model one that will last.

This was somewhat daunting to the class, especially those of us with writing or teaching interests. A poem that any poet would work on for days or weeks and be pleased to put a name to, Artie Intel had completed in minutes. Which in turn evaporates all the collective lifetime skills of the U3A members.

But of course, the bigger picture is emerging. False Facts are more difficult to decipher in print, Audio can be decoded and re-assembled and Pictures can be cropped or enhanced to suit. News Media now lies somewhere between Documentary and Creative Fiction.

I wake every day to the joy of a new day but am sincerely thankful that I no longer have to make decisions on anything more exacting than “Do I want fries with that?”

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