Looking Out | Electronic brains reveal more of the world

“What’s that?” says my cousin Mr. Bill pointing at a tree as we walk through the woods.

“It’s a silver maple,” I say.

“What about this one?” says Mr. Bill’s wonderful wife, Beth.

I pull out my phone and choose an app. I aim the phone at the leaves, click the button and in a few seconds the tree is revealed to be a shingle oak, which is not a common tree here.

“Cool app!” says Beth.

“I only wish I could use it surreptitiously so that people would think I know everything and don’t have to rely on a computer instead of my own feeble brain,” I say.

“Aldous Huxley pointed out in 1954 that everything is filtered through our brains,” says Mr. Bill, who either remembers stuff like that or makes it up.

“In fact,” he continues, “he said, ‘What comes out at the other end is a measly trickle of consciousness.’”

“Good grief, Mr. Bill,” I say.

Beth sighs.

Later in the day, we are all sitting out on the deck behind our house. It is very quiet in the woods around us, but for the peeping, chirping, calling and singing of the birds and frogs. My beloved wife, Marsha, touches her phone.

The screen lights up. Within seconds it starts identifying the birds we are hearing.

“I’d love to see that indigo bunting,” I say. “We hear it all the time, but we’ve never seen the little blue beauty.”

In just a few minutes, 20 species of birds have shown up on the screen.

“That is fascinating,” says Beth.

“We totally agree,” says Marsha. “We love sitting out here, and we’re learning to recognize more and more bird songs without using the app. There are hundreds of them to learn.”

“Buddha said that to live an unselfish life, we must count nothing as our own in the midst of abundance,” says Mr. Bill.

“That’s a good thing,” I say. “I knew three bird calls yesterday, but I’ve forgotten two of them.”

“What’s the name of that app?” says Beth. “I want to download it.”

“It’s a free one,” says Marsha, showing Beth the name.

We have a wonderful time, chit chatting about this and that during our three days together. We do not spend all of our time identifying trees and birds, flowers and insects, but all agree that it is nice to be able to have information at our fingertips. One or the other of us is often diving into the internet to find a tidbit of information.

I even double check some of Mr. Bill’s offered quotes and find that they are accurate.

“Your memory has always amazed me,” I say to Mr. Bill. “When I need a fact, I just make one up.”

“Mark Twain said, ‘One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives,’” says Mr. Bill.

“I have a cellphone app for Twain quotes,” I say. “I’ll check that one to see if you made it up.”

He didn’t.

“I only wish there was an app that would let you aim your phone at someone to see if she or he is telling the truth,” says Beth.

“That would be the death of politics,” says Mr. Bill. “And you can quote me on that.”

Jim Whitehouse lives in Albion.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Jim Whitehouse: Electronic brains reveal more of the world