The abbreviated answer to the above question is that most of us are already deeply involved with at least some aspects of AI, from our smartphones, security cameras and the heated seats of our cars, to the questions you ask of Siri or Alexa…

Have you ever taken a holiday with close girlfriends? I’ve read and heard stories about these kinds of shared-dream holidays that have gone spectacularly wrong. Disagreements emerged at every turn: where and what to eat…

When I was in my early 30s, I lived in a two-story house nestled in the forest high up in the Green mountains of Vermont. We were far from the madding crowd for months at a time. It was from that perspective on one cold, sunny morning that I was looking…

I was recently talking with a friend in her 60s who told me that she was considering auditioning to join a choir. She explained to me, “My voice is getting weak. I just don’t have the power I used to have. Do you think that singing in a choir…

Towards the end of each year, I find myself thinking about how I want to improve or refocus my life for the New Year. Yes, I recognize that the timing is purely arbitrary: you don’t have to wait for a new year to make a decision to change. And not everyone’s…

One of the first gifts that I gave to my new lover, John, some years ago was a song called, “The Nearness of You.” I had recorded myself singing the romantic song very informally on my iPhone. I sent it to him for his birthday after we had been seeing…