Ghosts of the Past and Devils of the Present: How Genealogy and AI Shape Our Stories

The author explores how we construct narratives from fragmented data, using their grandmother's genealogy research as a starting point. They reflect on the allure of filling in gaps with assumptions, the influence of available data on our understanding of history, and the modern challenge of misinformation and AI-generated fakes. The piece questions whether more data leads to greater certainty or just more confusion.