Up with rapprochement.

My only comment would be, if Mike is frustrated, as am I, if surely to a less passionate extent, with those who are "continually printing the legend," then I would think that Mike and Joyce would have more in common than it might appear at first blush since obviously Joyce has little or no patience for the legend herself, if by legend we are referring to the one spelled E-a-r-p.

100 percent with you with respect to the ChatGPT stuff, and not only regarding the damaging impact it is bound to have on the research and study of History going forward, but no less so on the many more "existential" areas of our increasingly trans-human lives, such as, to name the one that comes immediately to mind, the ability to make a damn honest living. (I best leave it there since once I get started on this subject, Boomer neo-Luddite that I am, I tend to get a little frothy at the mouth.)

By the way, did you happen to catch the latest--the news hit roughly a fortnight ago--about American 8th-grade scores on the most recent National Assessment Test in U.S. History? Grim. All of 13% of the nation's 8th-graders are what the test measures as minimally "proficient" in the subject. Not much better in Civics--22%. Both of these scores are historic lows. (The test has been administered since 1994.)

But I am told it doesn't much matter; nothing to see here. Apparently the only subjects anyone cares about any more are acronymized STEM--science technology, engineering and math, the very academic "track" that has led to our being blessed with ChatGPT and its rapidly proliferating clones and offspring.

We live in spooky times.