Ideas that challenge / comfort / inspire
Stephen Goforth
Tokenization - The process where an LLM creates a digital representation (a token) of a real thing—everything gets a number; words are translated into numbers. Think of a token as the root of a word. “Creat” is the “root” of many words, for instance, including Create, Creative, Creator, Creating, and Creation. “Create” would be an example of a token. Examples
More AI definitions here
When you look at a person, any person, remember that everyone has a story. Everyone has gone through something that has changed them, and forced them to grow. Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours. We meet no ordinary people in our lives. If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer. So appreciate the possibility of new relationships as you naturally let go of old ones that no longer work. Trust your judgment. Embrace new relationships, knowing that you are entering into unfamiliar territory. Be ready to learn, be ready for a challenge, and be ready to meet someone that might just change your life forever.
Research shows just about all of us think we are more competent than our coworkers, more ethical than our friends, friendlier than the general public, more intelligent than our peer, more attractive than the average person, less prejudiced than people in our region, younger-looking than people the same age, better drivers than most people we know, better children than our siblings, and that we will live longer than the average lifespan.
(As you just read that list, maybe you said to yourself, “No, I don’t think I’m better than everyone.” So you think you’re more honest with yourself than the average person? You are not so smart.)
No one, it seems, believes he or she is part of the population contributing to the statistics generating averages. You don’t believe you are an average person, but you do believe everyone else is. This tendency, which springs from self-serving bias, is called the illusory superiority effect.
In 1999, Justin Kruger at the New York University Stern School of Business showed illusory superiority was more likely to manifest in the minds of subject when they were told ahead of time a certain task was easy. When they rated their abilities after being primed to think the task was considered simple, people said they performed better than average. When he then told people where were about to perform a task that was difficult they rated their performance as being below average even when it wasn’t .
No matter the actual difficulty, just telling people ahead of time how hard the undertaking would be changed how they saw themselves in comparison to an imagined average. To defeat feelings of inadequacy, you first have to imagine a task as being simple and easy. If you can manage to do that, illusory superiority takes over.
David McRaney, You are Not so Smart
“Tricking an AI detector into labeling human-written content as machine-made is surprisingly simple. With just a little rephrasing, what was previously flagged with "100% confidence" as AI-generated can suddenly be labeled ‘Likely original.’" -Mashable
Of any activity you do, ask yourself: If I were the last person on earth, would I still do it? If you are alone on a planet a hierarchical structure makes no sense. There’s no one to impress. So, if you’d still pursue that activity, congratulations. If we were the last person on earth, would we still show up at the studio, the rehearsal hall, the laboratory?
Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
For at least a century, psychologists have assumed that terrible events—such as having a loved one die or becoming the victim of a violent crime—must have a powerful, devastating, and enduring impact on those who experience them. This assumption has been so deeply embedded in our conventional wisdom that people who don’t have dire reactions to events such as those are sometimes diagnosed as having a pathological condition known as “absent grief.” But recent research suggests that the conventional wisdom is wrong that the absence of grief is quite normal, and that rather than being the fragile flowers that a century of psychologists have made us out to be, most people are surprisingly resilient in the face of trauma. The loss of a parent or spouse is usually sad and often tragic, and it would be perverse to suggest otherwise.
But as one group of researchers noted, “Resilience is often the most commonly observed outcome trajectory following exposure to a potentially traumatic event.” Instead, studies of those who survive major traumas suggest that the vast majority do quite well, and that a significant portion claim that their lives were enhanced by the experience
Why do most of us shake our heads in disbelief when an athlete who has been through several grueling years of chemotherapy tells us that “I wouldn’t change anything,” or when a musician who has become permanently disabled says, “If I had it to do all over again, I would want it to happen the same way,” or when quadriplegics and paraplegics tell us that they are pretty much as happy as everyone else? The claim made by people who have experienced events such as these seem frankly outlandish to those of us who are merely imagining those events—and yet, who are we to argue with the folks who’ve actually been there?
The fact is that negative events do affect us, but they generally don’t affect us as much or for as long as we expect them to.
Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling into Happiness
"Half of all men reported having used generative AI over the previous 12 months, while only 37% of women did. Studies show that women are less likely to trust technology and that men are more likely to be confident in their tech savvy." -Bloomberg
I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. –Henry David Thoreau
“Researchers and religious leaders released findings from a two-month experiment through art in a Catholic chapel in Switzerland, where an avatar of "Jesus" on a computer screen, tucked into a confessional, took questions by visitors on faith, morality and modern-day woes, and offered responses based on Scripture. Those behind the project said it was largely a success: Visitors often came out moved or deep in thought, and found it easy to use.” -Associated Press
This is a good sign, having a broken heart. It means we have tried for something. -Elizabeth Gilbert
Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt. –Shakespeare
The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been. -Madeleine L'Engle (born Nov. 29, 1918)
Thanksgiving is more than just a long holiday weekend for watching eight consecutive hours of football or finding a few shopping bargains. It’s a time to reflect on the remarkable blessings showered upon us. Think back over the year; You’ll remember how often a crisis loomed. Perhaps you’re facing just such a situation now. And yet, how many of last year’s potential disasters are still with you? There is much for which to be thankful, and Thanksgiving is the perfect time to remind yourself and your family of what you are truly grateful. May you and your loved ones escape the daily grind and spend quality time together.
Stephen Goforth
Individuals using Microsoft Teams will soon be able to converse in languages they don’t speak, thanks to an AI agent that translates speech in real time, using the speaker’s own voice. A preview that includes nine languages will become available early next year. More at Semafor
It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science. –Carl Sagan
We associate development with learning and adding to what is already there—but it is by unlearning and stripping away what is there that we grow. -William Bridges
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. - Anatole France
Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished. -Dan Gilbert
Pokémon Go Players Have Unwittingly Trained AI to Navigate the World – 404 Media
What AI knows about you – Axios
AI firms need to address security, open-source concerns: G42 exec – Semafor
Anyone Can Turn You Into an AI Chatbot. There’s Little You Can Do to Stop Them – Wired
His daughter was murdered. Then he discovered that her name and image had been used to create an AI chatbot.-Washington Post
How to Say No to Our A.I. Overlords – New York Times
Study: AI could lead to inconsistent outcomes in home surveillance – MIT
LinkedIn plans to use your data to train its AI. Here’s how to stop it – Fast Company
A booming industry of AI age scanners, aimed at children’s faces - Washington Post
Inside the company that gathers ‘human data’ for every major AI company – Semafor
A booming industry of AI age scanners, aimed at children’s faces - Washington Post
Can Security Experts Leverage Generative AI Without Prompt Engineering Skills? – Tech Republic
This AI Tool Helped Convict People of Murder. Then Someone took a Closer Look. – WIRED
Development is an interesting word derived from a linguistic root meaning “rolled” or “folded.” An envelope is a folded sheet of paper, and to develop is to “unroll” something that has been heretofore so tightly rolled that we could not see what it really was. After the child has grown up, we can say that she was that way from the very start. But when she was a child, it was anyone’s guess how she would turn out.
The particular individual is an entity that is both utterly unique and profoundly like others. In this paradox of sameness and difference, we are like leaves on a tree or waves on the ocean.
The path of development is the fishtailing course we follow as we let go of what we have been and then discover a new thing to become—only to let go of that in time and become something new. This is the Way of Transition, the way or path of life itself, the alternating current of embodiment and disengagement, expansion and contractions.
William Bridges, The Way of Transitions
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