Readers write
DOT tree cutting increases noise and heat
Thank you for the article about the excessive cutting of trees by the Georgia Department of Transportation along Ga. 400, which is also cutting trees along Highway 316 between Lawrenceville and Athens. The increase in traffic noise is deafening and the increase in temperatures will be significant.
Surely there are more thoughtful ways to accommodate our transportation requirements than turning Georgia into a sizzling asphalt parking lot.
DONALD EASTMAN, BARROW COUNTY
Trump enables one of the world’s worst dictators
Mike Luckovich’s recent cartoon labeling President Donald Trump as a “Putin Poodle” was spot on.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Trump (during a preemptive call before Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy) how upset he is that the Ukrainians supposedly attacked one of his homes. Did Trump ask Putin how many homes his troops have indiscriminately bombed all over Ukraine, killing thousands and rendering tens of thousands homeless? No, again, Trump took Putin’s side, saying the supposed attack was “not good” and made him “very angry.”
I was born in 1950. Every president in my lifetime, Republican and Democrat, opposed Russia, except Trump. Starting with the Truman Doctrine through President Ronald Reagan’s famous “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” and Russia is an “evil empire,” there have been 12 presidents in the Oval Office who opposed Russia with consistent foreign policy. But, for some inexplicable reason, Trump repeatedly embraces Putin.
Putin is a bad man — there are numerous Russian dissidents who have been murdered under Putin’s regime, e.g., poisoned with radioactive substances.
Everyone should ask themselves, why is the current president changing 75 years of foreign policy and enabling one of the world’s worst dictators?
ANTHONY L. COCHRAN, ATLANTA
AI, misinformation pose global threat
Humanity has long been plagued by men who place profits before people, or the environment, or our shared future. Money is used to override any objection. Years pass before their schemes are shut down, but only after the damage is done.
The tobacco companies and the peddlers of opiates are two glaring examples that spring to mind. This is a pattern as old as time. Sometimes, punishment is meted out, to the tune of one-one-thousandth of the profits, perhaps. Always too little too late.
Humankind now stands at a crucial point in human history: a perfect storm of profit-generating devastation has formed. Taken together, these four things — algorithmically driven divisiveness, hate speech masquerading as free speech, misinformation and artificial intelligence’s elimination of jobs — pose a threat to societies across the globe. The people of the world need their governments to act now to preserve stability and the possibility of a brighter future. We cannot afford to let the normal pattern play out.
The European Union is on the right track, trying to curb hate speech, misinformation and the use of AI. There was a time when the United States would’ve proudly stood with them.
JEFF NEELEY, HAMPTON
AI exposure is risky for children
There’s no doubt AI is here to stay, but there are many risks: as of now, mostly to our young people and children. Exposing them to a virtual world before their brains are wired to deal with it is causing lasting damage.
AI should be treated as if it were alcohol, cigarettes, drugs; anything and everything we know is habit-forming that changes personalities.
As early software programs were directed to commercial use, so should AI be limited. We already have youngsters who are not qualified to deal with the real world or the commercial world, and those who are won’t have any competition.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
