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New-Fangled News for Boomers, Gen X and Anyone Else Trying to Keep Up with Technology

Skelley’s Snippets ✂️

🛸 Looking for a classic Russian sci-fi novel from the 1970s, written during the height of the Iron Curtain? Brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky published Roadside Picnic in 1972, inspiring both a film and a video game titled STALKER. The story centers on daring rogues who risk death with every trip into forbidden zones to retrieve alien artifacts, which possess strange and sometimes terrifying powers. In Russia, the term stalker (сталкер) caught on as a metaphor for mystery, decay, and post-Soviet existentialism.

🕹️ Fire up your childhood memories with the Kinhank Super Console X2 Pro—a retro gaming beast packed with thousands of classics from NES to PlayStation, plus modern Android streaming in one plug-and-play device. Reviewers love the nostalgia overload and massive game library, though some wish the instructions were clearer. At 43% off ($89.97), it’s a steal. You get two systems, wireless controllers, and 4K output.

👍 At Comic-Con, a robotic hand stole the spotlight. The Ability Hand, created by neuroscientist Aadeel Akhtar, began as a mission to help a young girl in Pakistan who was using a tree branch as a crutch. Now it's the fastest bionic hand available and the first with real touch feedback. Built from aerospace materials and designed for precision, it lets users feel what they hold. This is not science fiction. It’s the future in your hand. As featured in Fast Company.

📚🤖Large Language Model Beach Reads

Summer is linked with good beach reads. And given the spirit of this newsletter being what it is, I asked four AI models for their best fiction novel recommendation written between the years 1970 and 2024. Yes, yes, you could have easily done this too, but you didn't. And now it's all done and ready for you to read below. You’re welcome! :)

Make what you will of their answers. I will be over here minding the store. -LC

TLDR:

• ChatGPT: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (1994–1995)

• Grok: The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006)

• Claude: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (2015)

• Gemini: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1970)

Grok: [I recommend] The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006). In a post-apocalyptic world, a father and son journey through a desolate landscape, struggling to survive while clinging to their humanity amidst scarcity and danger. I chose this book for its hauntingly beautiful prose and profound exploration of hope and resilience, making it a gripping and emotionally resonant read.

Claude: I'd recommend The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin (2015). The story follows Essun, a woman searching for her daughter in a world where catastrophic seismic events regularly destroy civilizations, and people with the power to control geological forces are both feared and enslaved. I chose this book because it masterfully weaves together groundbreaking worldbuilding, complex themes about oppression and survival, and deeply human characters while revolutionizing the fantasy genre through its innovative narrative structure and unflinching examination of systemic violence.

Gemini (Google): [I recommend] One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, first published in English in 1970. This multi-generational saga follows the Buendía family through the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo, blending magical realism with historical and political themes. I chose this book because it is a masterful work of literature that showcases incredible storytelling, imaginative scope, and profound insights into the human condition and the cyclical nature of history.

🗣️ To Err Is Human[ity]

At The Skelley we love to explore what is possible as AI continues to infuse itself into our everyday lives. From asking it for summer reading suggestions (see above) to relying on its complex automated functionality that will soon be present in every piece of electronic hardware, the capabilities and use cases are nearly endless.

But how does it compare to humans at engendering trust? Of course it is important to maintain a sense of healthy skepticism toward any information you consume online whether it’s AI or human-generated, but it’s becoming clear that people still value authentic human interaction when seeking insights to their problems.

To be fair humans are fallible and in some cases deceptive. And people don’t need any help representing the worst that humanity has to offer on the internet or in real life. But as the saying goes, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater when the bathwater is people trying, however imperfectly, to connect with one another. So when I saw this article from Entrepreneur it comes as no surprise that Reddit’s relevance is growing in this age of the LLM oracles (little “o”).

The ubiquity of instantaneous information, as good as it might be, might just be intensifying the desire for people to talk to one another even if asynchronously in online forums. It’s comforting to know there are other humans out there with their flawed thoughts and answers. It leaves room for people to doubt, reassess, and develop their own perspectives and ideas as a counter-balance to the ever increasing certainty from AI. And from what’s been reported recently about statements made by a certain AI model, that ability to push back against a potential Borg-like entity is becoming more crucial as time progresses.

A few decades ago many of us started to lose our sense of intuition the first time we used a navigation device in our cars to go somewhere we already knew. That intuition and willingness to guess, revise, and trust ourselves as well as others is worth protecting… even if we get lost once in awhile. -LC

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DISCLAIMER: Nothing in this newsletter is financial advice or any other kind of advice for that matter. This is strictly for entertainment and fodder for occasional thoughtful reflection. The owners of The Skelley may benefit financially when readers click on links in the publication.