Seeing the light
From the Headmaster’s Desk: 17th November 2023
Mr Hammond
Headmaster
My daughter is obsessed with fireworks, so has been in for a real treat the past few weeks, with Bonfire Night and now Diwali lighting up the skies of North London.
The Hindu festival of lights, Diwali has a good deal of variations and is also celebrated in other Indian religions, including Jainism, Sikhism and some denominations of Buddhism. It symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. No matter your faith (you may have none), I think we can all agree that this allegory breeds good principles.
In the week of yet another cabinet “reshuffle” (despite my research, I am still unclear as to the difference between a reshuffle and shuffling), there are now two ex-Prime Ministers (May and Truss) sitting in the House of Commons, with one more (Cameron) in the House of Lords. I avoid politics, but when one sees tents thrown into bins near UCLH, it does bring to mind the importance of compassion and understanding. No matter what a person’s background or current situation, they still deserve respect and dignity – this would a form of illumination for some.
Hallucinate (UK /həˈluː.sɪ.neɪt/) is the Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year, as it gains an additional definition in one of many Artificial Intelligence-related updates in 2023. The traditional definition is to "to seem to see, hear, feel, or smell something that does not exist,” but this has now been expanded to include "when an artificial intelligence (AI) hallucinates, it produces false information." Considering this point – would the digital brain be doing this intentionally or not? Whatever the case, now (more than ever before), it is vital that we teach our children to be critical of answers that come too easily. The most important opinion in any matter is your own; although we must listen to, respect and consider alternative points of view to shine a light on our own ignorance, we must be alert to fictitious claims when deciding what we think.
Finally – thank you for all of your kind words. I am at my desk until Wednesday evening, and hope to see you all at the Carol Service on Tuesday 12th December.
All the best for a relaxing weekend, Mr Hammond
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