As part of her social study homework, my daughter, Jolene,  wrote a letter to Henry Ford, imagining it from the perspective of Greta Thunberg.  I like the letter but thought it did not sound much like Greta.  Then it occurred to me that I could ask ChatGPT to rewrite it in Greta Thunberg’s style .    Intrigued by the idea, Jolene enthusiastically consented to this experiment. She has also given her permission for both the original letter and ChatGPT’s adaptation to be shared here.  I hope you have as much fun as I had reading these!

Jolene’s original letter

Herr Henry Ford,

Isn’t it interesting how one day can change your life, and you wouldn’t know? I remember that day like it was yesterday. I remember sitting down at my desk at school, not knowing that my story was just about to start. The teacher announced that we would be watching a film about the state of our environment. I remember how as it progressed, my feelings grew from curiosity to horror as pictures of endless mountains of garbage floating in the ocean flitted across the screen. I will be the first to admit it: I cried. I remember every vivid detail, though my classmates all forgot the atrocities they just witnessed mere minutes after the film ended, apparently deciding that discussing their weekend plans was more important than the outrageous amounts of garbage and smoke that pollute our planet. It’s a strange feeling, looking back and knowing that this film would be forever engraved in my mind. I’m sure you would feel the same about the assembly line, looking back at when you invented it, when you didn’t know you would revolutionize the automobile forever. I suppose that means I shouldn’t blame you for the polluting smog cars let out into the environment every day. Yet, as I sit here in my room, sun warming the paper I write on, I can hear the cars passing my home, and I can picture the cloud of smoke that lingers behind. Too much has been done to our Earth for me not to take a stand.

I understand that when you were innovating and popularizing the automobile, your intentions must have been good: to make people’s lives easier and better. If that was your goal, then you achieved it. At least, at the time you achieved it. On the surface level, it seemed perfect: more jobs were created that more workers were qualified to do, which made our country’s economy stronger. Cities became less crowded as people moved to neighboring towns to form suburbs since they could drive to work. It bridged a gap between different classes of people as it became a norm that men and women, rich and poor alike drove together on the roads. But at what cost?

In 2024, the global temperature has increased by about 1ºC since 1900, with the majority happening after 1970. As a result, the ocean has warmed as well, causing ice caps to melt and the sea level to rise. A main cause of this is the burning of greenhouse gasses. Only approximately 8% of Americans do not own a car. A glance out the window during a busy time of day will show streets packed with everything from fancy red convertibles to rusty pickup trucks. I have worked to decrease the damage our race causes to the Earth, yet it still rises. People are all for helping to stop climate change until it actually inconveniences them. Few are willing to give up constantly driving their car instead of walking, biking, or using public transportation, or to fly across the world a few less times. While in my mind I realize that not all of this is your fault, my heart protests against it, aching for the state of our world. Neither of us can help it if your life’s work happens to clash against mine.

All of this goes to say that, while I respect how hard you worked to make the automobile what it is today, I will work twice as hard to ensure that the damage is undone. I will not apologize for that.

Greta Thunberg

ChatGPT’s Version

Dear Mr. Henry Ford,

The day everything changed for me was just another day at school, until it wasn’t. We watched a film about our planet’s environmental crisis, and the images of pollution and destruction struck me to the core. It was a moment of awakening — a stark, horrifying realization that we are in the midst of a grave crisis. I remember the despair I felt, a sharp contrast to the indifference of my peers. Such moments define us, much like the day you pioneered the assembly line must have defined you, unknowingly setting off a chain of events that would lead us here.

Your innovation brought mobility and progress, but at a catastrophic environmental cost. We now face a planet warmed by over 1°C since 1900, mainly due to emissions post-1970. The burning of fossil fuels, a legacy of the automotive boom you ignited, has pushed our planet to the brink. Our ice caps are melting, our seas are rising, and our future is at stake.

I understand that the environmental crisis we face today cannot be solely laid at your feet. However, the industry you created has played a pivotal role in this unfolding tragedy. As I witness the relentless march of cars outside my window, each contributing to a cloud of pollution, I am reminded of the urgency of our situation.

Mr. Ford, while your intentions may have been to better the human condition, the reality is that we are now paying a heavy price for this ‘progress.’ I respect your ingenuity, but I cannot overlook the environmental devastation it has wrought. I am committed, more than ever, to fight for a sustainable future, to challenge the status quo, and to reverse the damage we have done to our Earth. This is not just a promise; it is an imperative.

We are at a crossroads, and I will not rest until we choose the path of sustainability, responsibility, and survival. I will advocate, protest, and work harder than ever to ensure a future where technology serves our planet, not destroys it. This is the mission of my generation, and I accept it wholeheartedly.

Yours in determination,
Greta Thunberg

Today’s NYT’s Daily podcast reports some shocking statistics about Americans’ fading faith in higher education.  In 2010, about 98% American parents want their kids to go to college. Today, that number stands at roughly 50%. During the same period, the number of college enrollments dropped from about 18 million to less than 16 million, despite a 7% increase in total population.

So why is the dramatic change of heart? The podcast offers three reasons, if my memory serves me well.  First, college education no longer makes as much economic sense as it used to.  While college-goers in 1960s and 1970s enjoyed both wage premiums and wealth premiums, life-time wealth accumulation have significantly declined, in some cases disappeared altogether, for younger generations, partly because college has become so much more expensive. Second, colleges are increasingly perceived as liberal hotbeds that could barely tolerate conservatives, much less welcome them.  Third, higher education reinforced a deeply held belief that American institutions are rigged to favor elites, whose kids have dominated the campuses of the best colleges.  At the gate of these colleges, the children of the “working class” are forced to play a meritocracy game that they have no chance to win.  So, they quit.

Surprisingly, this well-reasoned analysis does not mention the intrinsic value of education. While college education does produce a piece of paper that certifies one’s worth in the job market, it also provides something that is hard to articulate and measure but is vital to the betterment of individual lives, as well as the functioning of civilized society at large.  For over a half century, the higher education system in the US has been very successful selling to the parents the notion that college is a wonder investment with only upsides.   The current revolt by the parents suggests it might have overplayed that marketing strategy.

If I understand it correctly, the supreme court’s ruling yesterday did not demand color blindness in the college admission process.  Rather, it only says colleges should not blindly use skin color as a predictor for a student’s qualifications and fitness.   Nor did the ruling reject in any way the value of diversity, including racial diversity.  Rather, the court merely opined that continuing to pursue this value through Affirmation Action can no longer be justified, partly because it violates the equal-protection clause in the Constitution, and partly because it has injured other people, notably Asian students.

Will Asian students and their parents find it any easier to get into the elite colleges in a post-AA world? I doubt it.   For one thing, elite colleges have many reasons and tools to continue the pursuit of diversity, equity and inclusion. Not explicitly considering race does not mean a “pure” merit-based admission, in the narrow sense of the phrase many Asians have come to understand it.   Second, a post-AA world would still see a large number of admissions be slotted for the kids of alumnus, wealthy donors, and other powerful people on the dean’s mysterious list.   This favoritism, much more than AA ever did, has and will continue to squeeze the room of other applicants, including many Asians. Curiously, Americans seem to hold much less grudges about this injustice.  Finally, the expectation of an easier run would probably attract even more applications to the super competitive colleges, which I am afraid might further drive down the admission rate and, being so obsessively invested in education, Asians probably will feel it more acutely than other groups.

Nearly every pundit and journalist I heard yesterday were shocked by the no-show of the Red Tsunami they had confidently prophesized.  Today, many of them seemed to have regained confidence in their own political acumen by explaining the failure with a new theory:  obviously (with the benefit of hindsight), the omnipresence of Trump had caused GOP to underperform.  This reminds me how good humans are at inventing theories to explain things – theorizing really seems easy and natural for us.   The tragedy is that we often fool ourselves into believing the ability to explain must also give us the ability to predict. The greater tragedy is many genuinely believe in these predictions and, even worse, are committed to bringing them about.