Not exactly John Henry, but still a lesson on humans and technology

I received numerous responses to last Thursday’s column lamenting the incompetence of Artificial Intelligence to identify a Dick Van Dyke Show episode that included a hand-walker trying to get national attention, but one of the best had nothing to do with the classic television series.

Reader Rick Dana Barlow sent me a link to the Sunnyside, Washington, Sun newspaper of Jan. 22, 2020, which included a “sampling of the stories published during the past 100 years reflecting everything that made the Sun the original voice of the community.” One of those stories was a profile of Willie Guy, described as a “Sunnyside celebrity” who made it to an episode of NBC-TV’s “Real People” program in January 1980 because of his abilities as a hand-walker.

Among many thoughts Mr. Barlow’s email aroused was the thematic connection to the DVD episode I had been trying unsuccessfully to find. Other readers — including a suburban transplant now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who reads the Daily Herald’s e-edition — correctly led me to the episode in question as Season 5, Episode 8, titled “Odd But True,” in which lead character Rob Petrie reluctantly tries to make it into a Guinness Book of World Records-style publication because of an odd collection of freckles on his back that can be connected to form an image of the Liberty Bell.

And their conclusions came almost as quickly as Artificial Intelligence had rushed to provide to me incorrectly. “The minute I read your column I knew which episode you were referring to,” wrote Karen Black, whose email arrived just after 8 a.m. Brian Marsalli, said he is a huge DVD fan, and thanks to a “decent memory” and a “quick online search,” he also identified the episode right away.

Marion Blase credited instant recognition of the episode to a devotion to DVD reruns and offered an observation that succinctly described the point of the column I wrote — “I may not be smarter than AI, but I'm a WHOLE lot more trustworthy!”

That statement sums up well the approach we should all take to information that technology provides, but it’s good to remember that we humans have our flaws as well. Among the responses I received were plenty of “I may be wrong, but …” or “I think” hedges, and they included a wide range of details from the show.

As respondent Melanie Burki said it, “AI, like all new technology is only as good as its ability to help improve human ability and less recklessly thrust upon us ‘dopes’ who prefer to use their critical thinking (and common sense).”

The entire experience brought to mind images of John Henry driving his steel hammer faster and deeper into the rock than the railroads’ new drilling machine. Yes, digital media and AI have their promise, but good old-fashioned human determination still has its advantages — though, thankfully, none of the respondents to my column had to give up their lives in demonstrating technology’s vulnerabilities.

And, with Willie Guy, the experience also brings us back to what started the whole thing — a theme I was exploring about how the inspiring, dramatic or just plain eccentric things people do make fodder for appealing news stories, but only up to a point. Guy, a former state champion wrestler, made his impression on the folks at NBC, but apparently did not achieve his ultimate goal — a line in the Guinness Book of World Records.

He did make an impression on Rick Dana Barlow, though, and it lasted, lo, these 55 years, which emphasizes the lasting value of describing unique human talents and accomplishments.

Finally, let me point out that I confirmed the accuracy of the various responses to the column not merely because of the abundance of similar answers but by finding the Dick Van Dyke Show episode in question and watching it in its entirety. It was all in the interest of good journalism, of course.

• Jim Slusher, jslusher@dailyherald.com, is managing editor for opinion at the Daily Herald. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jim.slusher1 and on X at @JimSlusher. His book “To Nudge The World: Conversations, community and the role of the local newspaper” is available at eckhartzpress.com.