“A” Leads the Way…

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

When you think about alphabetical order, you’ll always find the letter “a” right there on top, in front.

It’s been at the head of the alphabet during the whole of the period through which it can be traced.

In the Phoenician period, it resembled the Hebrew name “aleph” which means “ox”.

The letter was derived from an earlier symbol resembling the head of an ox.

The letter was taken over by the Greeks in the form of “alpha”.

I was drawn to consider the letter “a” when I looked into “AI” or ‘artificial intelligence.

Lest you think “AI” is something new, it was founded as an economic discipline in 1956.

In its’ broadest sense, “AI” is exhibited by machines, particularly computers.

A lot of cutting edge “AI” has filtered into general applications, without being called “AI” because once something becomes useful enough and common enough, it is not labelled “AI” anymore.

In the early 2020’s, billions of dollars were invested into “AI” (The AI Boom) and people began looking more closely at potential risks and long-term effects of “AI” with things like robotics.

How about the science fiction/thriller movie “I Robot” with Will Smith as Detective Del Spooner.

The movie was set in 2035 Chicago when highly intelligent robots filled public service positions operating under three laws to keep humans safe.

But it all fell apart when the U.S. Robotics founder “committed suicide”.

A human-like robot named “Sonny” was suspected to have actually murdered the executive and Detective Spooner looked into the case.

An intense movie from 2004.

While “AI” has been very much in the news, the letter “a” has been noted in other ways over the years.

Go back to the Civil War and 1862 because that’s when “A1” Sauce showed up on the scene.

We always had a bottle in the fridge when I was growing up but it wasn’t until my later years that I actually started using it on my steaks.

When we were in the Air Force, we got a little more money and I got an extra stripe when I became an “A1C” or “Airman First Class”.

I think in today’s Air Force, it’s called “Senior Airman”.

While I was never a big fan, we also had the “A-Team” which was the TV series about 4 Vietnam veterans who blew up a lot of stuff after running afoul of the authorities.

There was George Peppard (Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith), Dwight Schultz (Captain “Howling Mad” Murdock), Dirk Benedict (Templeton “Faceman” Peck) and, of course Laurence Tureaud (Mr T) who handled the character of Sergeant Bosco B.A. Baracus.

Not my favorite “Mr T” role, though.

“Clubber Lang” in the 1982 “Rocky III” flick takes that honor.

Let’s go back to our days in elementary school.

If you got at “A”, that was great.

But, if that paper came back with an “A+”, you were the cream of the crop.

Don’t get me wrong

An “A-” was pretty solid but because that “A” had a minus connected to it, some of the glitter was gone.

Don’t forget that Henry Winkler used that letter to cement his character in “Happy Days”.

Arthur Fonzarelli (The Fonz”) reinforced his “cool” with thumbs up as he uttered “Ayyyy!” just after he slapped the juke box to work again of checked his perfect hair in the mirror.

Then there’s that dynamic due of Lennon and McCartney who penned “A” Hard Day’s Night.

“It’s been a hard day’s night

and I’ve been working like a dog.

It’s been a hard day’s night.

I should be sleeping like a dog.

But when I get home to you

I find the things that you do

will make me feel alright.”

I might suggest that song is definitely on the “A” list.