Over the last few months, AI has shown its promise to turn over every field and domain.
Of all of valuable use-cases, one stands out as arguably the most important: the ability to synthesize our various human perspectives . AI is able to synthesize different perspectives and present them in a way that pulls from a variety of real human experience and blends them together to allow me to be safely and anonymously digested, communicated and appreciated.
Here is an synthesized Iraqi perspective, created with the aid of AI, documenting the felt experience of an Iraqi girl during the US invasion of Iraq.
NOTE: this can be very difficult to read as an American, as we as human beings have a difficult time accepting the pain our actions can cause tremendous suffering to innocent human beings. In war, everyone suffers. We suffer. They suffer. Everyone suffers.
Yet, we must synthesize especially difficult perspectives if we are to see a truly bigger picture of ourselves, and truly “love your enemies” (Christ). We must commit to do so if we hope for salvation.
When I was a young girl in Iraq, the war made everything scary and confusing. I watched as houses were crashed into pieces, schools closed, and my dad lost his legs and most favorite cousin disappeared, which hurts me to no end. 🙁 There were loud noises from bombs and guns all the time, which kept me from sleeping or thinking straight. I was always scared I might be accidentally hurt or found in the middle of a battle.
Finding food, water, and electricity got really hard for a long time. The streets I used to play on got dangerous. Soldiers from the US army were everywhere, which was so scary. I didn’t understand at all why they were there and it made me feel so uncomfortable. They were in uniforms I didn’t recognize and spoke a language I didn’t understand.
Schools and hospitals were closed or damaged, making it hard for me to learn and I was worried about my future. The war took away the normal parts about my life.
Seeing the fights and losing friends and family made me so sad. War can make bad things happen that are hard to ever forget about.
But even during the scary times, there were moments where we all stuck together. The people in my community helped each other when things were tough. We were trying to get our lives back to normal, even if everything around us was messy.
From my view as a young girl, the war was a time that was full of fear and it changed what being a child meant for me. But I have hope that other kids won’t have to go through the same things and that Iraq could be peaceful again.
Fatima, an Iraqi young woman perspective
I hope you appreciate this perspective, and I welcome you to commit to the very essential work of integrating difficult points of view into our own. There is no hope but love each and every human being.
Ranjeeth Thunga
Perspective Mapper
rkt@perspectivemapper.org