The Naturalist's Method Applied

Kathleen Jamie's method has never changed across four essay collections: arrive at the place where the phenomenon occurs, look at what is actually there rather than what theory predicts, resist the impulse to interpret before the observation is complete, allow the confusion to persist, return the next day. It is the naturalist's method—older than science, predating hypothesis-testing and peer review—the discipline of the person who goes to the unfamiliar territory, sits down, watches, and reports. In *Findings* the place was a pathology lab. In *Sightlines* it was whale-bones in Bergen. In *Surfacing* it was archaeological sites where the past was literally emerging from the ground. In each case the encounter yielded its meaning only because Jamie stayed long enough, looked carefully enough, and resisted the impulse to convert observation into conclusion before the observation was complete. The naturalist's method applied to the AI moment is the