Human
Happy 50th Birthday Apple
Apple was founded 50 years ago today which has me thinking about my relationship with technology and specifically Apple. My first personal computer was a Macintosh IIfx with 80MB of storage. I remember wondering what I was going to do with ALL THAT SPACE! There’s no way I would ever use it all. I also remember surfing the Internet (via AOL, IRC, Usenet, etc.) with a book to read while things loaded. How far we have come! That IIfx sparked a curiosity and passion in me that I had only experienced a few times before. I had used a Mac Classic in high school and college and was fascinated by what they could do, what they meant for me and for society even then. I had also used old PCs before that, but the Mac was approachable and friendly; it was nowhere near as intimidating to use and explore. I have always loved to push the limits of what technology can do and explore every nook and cranny of each device and piece of software I encounter. Apple made it fun to create and connect with others; I met some pretty great people in IRC channels back in the day some of whom I’m still in touch with! Computers made it much easier to find your tribe, especially for the shy introvert that I was back then.
That’s part of the inspiration for the name of my website, Something Out of Nothing. I love the idea that you can sit down at a blank screen and just start creating, whether it’s a journal entry, a book, a website for your new business, a piece of music, or a whole album. Computers offer so much potential to impact humanity in so many positive ways and Apple capitalized on that in the best possible way. I still love to explore technology and its capabilities and I love to be able to share that experience with others in ways that they can understand. This is a huge part of why I do what I do; both the love of technological exploration and the pull to help others use it to improve their lives, workflows, creativity, and connections to the world. Apple’s introduction of the Macintosh and all the life changing, society changing products and services released since helped me to discover who I was: the explorer, the builder, the connector. Years later, I’m still all three. Happy birthday Apple and thank you for the inspiration.
What Eliza Started: Human/Computer Communication
Since I have more free time than I’ve had in many years to explore my interests in more depth I’ve been looking at and experimenting with Artificial Intelligence. It’s here now and it’s not going anywhere. I’ve always enjoyed being on the forefront of technology, but this feels different. I remember playing with Eliza, the natural language processing computer program developed in the ‘60’s to explore what communication between humans and machines could look like. It was very basic and mostly just repeated your comments back as a question, psychotherapy style. It was pretty uncanny at first but it was very limited and we got bored with it pretty quickly but it sparked an interest, as I know it did for many people, on what the future of human/computer interaction would look like.
In my recent explorations with AI (I’ve used several different platforms for different tasks) I’ve had some somewhat uncanny conversations with the chatbots. I’ve asked them for feedback on my resume with some good results. I gave one full access to all of my notes (my digital brain - a journal, articles that inspire me, job search notes, recipes, etc.) and asked it to give me a summary of what kind of person it thinks I am and what values are reflected in my notes. It’s a little surreal to have a conversation with an AI bot about yourself but I feel like it has helped give me some insight into some things that I hadn’t thought about in that way before. For example, I feel like I have a good handle on my core values, but the recent conversation brought up some other things that I know were important to me, I just hadn’t elevated them to the level of a core value.
I think about this kind of stuff a lot; I’ve been reading about metacognition lately (defined by Wikipedia as “an awareness of one’s thought processes and an understanding of the patterns behind them.” That sounds right to me. I think a lot and I think about thinking a lot. Yes, it’s a rabbit hole. Hey, there was a reason I dove headfirst into Philosophy in college and ended up majoring in it. I like knowing what makes people tick but I really like knowing what makes me tick. I’ve always believed the moment we stop pushing ourselves to learn about the world and about ourselves, we may as well just quit. I’m always trying to find new ways to evolve and explore how I experience the world. The recent conversation I had with the chatbot about my notes was enlightening, frightening, and perhaps a little self absorbed but it gave me some interesting things to think about and explore further.
I feel like I should say something about my stance on AI. I think it can be a powerful tool when used correctly. It can also be very dangerous and make us lazy when relied on too heavily. I don’t think it should be used to replace human thought, but to supplement it. I’ve used it a lot in the past to get me started with writing a policy for work or a technical email, but I always rewrite it in my own voice. I like to use AI as a collaborative tool; not in place of my work or other people’s input and thoughts, but in addition to them. It’s also very good at some of the more tedious tasks like proofreading.
Back when I was experimenting with Eliza, I quickly realized that she couldn’t really know me. She simply reflected my own words back to me and made me interpret any meaning. What’s so eerie and striking about AI these days is that it can actually synthesize, find patterns, make connections and sometimes see things about you that you’ve been too close to notice. That’s powerful, and yes, a little unsettling. But I think that’s the point. The best tools don’t just make things easier; they make you think harder. Used that way, AI isn’t replacing human thought, it’s provoking it. And for someone who thinks about thinking for fun (and profit?), that feels like exactly the right kind of rabbit hole.
Processing Emotions
Early last week I made a decision as soon as I woke up that I would spend the day embracing all the negative emotions around my current job situation, like giving in to the Dark Side. I spent the day pissed off and miserable. I made those around me miserable; that was mainly my wife - I was getting on her nerves by mid-day. My somewhat conscious logic was to deal with the emotions all at once, get it out of my system and begin the process of moving on. They had been a lingering undercurrent for the past several weeks and I was tired of feeling them. I walked around the house all day saying F this, F them, F that, I even cussed out my dogs if they looked at me funny, which they often do. I felt sad, angry, like a failure, like I had no future, I embraced it all; I was getting angry about being angry.
The next day, I woke up in the best mood. I was super motivated to start the online classes I had signed up for, I started thinking about other career paths that I could create for myself. I sent several emails to my network and chatted with a few people about potential opportunities. It worked! The funny thing is, I’ve felt so much better since that Dark Side day. I’m les stressed, happier than I’ve been in ages, and full of hope for the future. I had become so used to carrying that stress and those negative emotions without dealing with it that it had become almost toxic. The ironic thing is, I posted a new profile picture on my socials and I had a big old smile on my face. I took that photo on the angry day - I must have unconsciously known that I was on the right path. I wasn’t feeling it but after that self-induced miserable day, that picture is a much better representation of me. I AM happier than I’ve been in a long time, I’m able to spend more time doing the things I enjoy and my concentration has improved greatly.