In my repressive boys-only high school, there was a rule that my hair wasn't allowed to touch my collar, ears or eyebrows. (My profile pic shows how well that stuck.)

I got a step cut into my hair because, why not? All of a sudden I was faced with a new rule: also no steps. The rationale given to me what that hair shouldn't be that big a deal.

Even as a teenager I could see that the adults, and the system, had turned hair into a control issue, and were blaming me for it.

This is a parable.

Speaking and writing tip: saying "myself" when "me" would fit comes across as contrived, insecure and impersonal.

In our world of electronics, I often find myself thinking about how we're moving electrons around the planet.

We are importing and exporting subatomic particles of matter from (nearly) everywhere to (nearly) everywhere.

It's even more true if we extend this notion to radio-waves.

It's fascinating to think about the physical ways we're operating as a borderless collective already.

I believe that there are truths beyond pure subjectivity. That is to say, for example, there are ways humans respond to things which transcend our own peculiar cultural conditioning(s).

But I also believe that people are predisposed to impose supposed objectivity in ways which end up benefitting them.

Everyone who invokes some kind of "universal narrative" is in extreme danger of being manipulative or coercive.

The people who do this without awareness of this danger are especially dangerous.

Don't know what made me think of this track, but a reminder that there is also beauty, joy and fun in the world.

I needed to Jeff Coffin and Derek Brown performing Chunk today. Maybe you do, too.

https://youtu.be/suxmw5GsqEw

"Don't make this political!" -- an ironic acknowledgement that the matter at hand, whatever it is, is already political.

The single most facile, reductionist and dangerous example I can think of which conflates church and state is this phrase:

"God-given right to own guns."

The instant people embraced this sentiment as not just normal but immutable, there ceased to be any limit to what they can believe or justify.

#politics
#religion

Loud, politically-motivated Christians just strip-mine the Bible long enough to feed their confirmation bias, and then weaponise their twisted, nonsensical beliefs like they're running on rocket fuel.

They do this with such consistency and regularity that they have somehow convinced themselves that they are the moral majority.

Serious question: how do people like this ever wake up -- especially when you factor in that they actively and wilfully denounce self-awareness?

#religion
#politics

I've been really enjoying the Art21 channel on YouTube. They're finding interesting artists, who can also talk about their art compellingly.

It feels instructive, I mean beyond the artists they feature, to how to tell these kinds of stories.

I just saw a headline stating that Tinder is requiring video selfies as profile pics now to fend off the AI invasion.

This week I just watched someone put together a video clip by animating an AI-generated "selfie," and match it to a Chat-GPT-generated script. It was ~80% seamless, and 100% synthetic.

If AI is invading Tinder, this won't stop it.

Social media have consistently revealed that people can have strong feelings about concerns they lack understanding in.

Also there is a whole cottage industry (indeed, several of them) which have sprung up around instigating baseless outrage.

It is important to remember this as you confront anything you see on the internet. This awareness can help you regulate your own emotional health.

(There are outrageous things in the world. Not every example of outrage is worth your attention or energy.)

We need to rediscover/re-assert the value of being human.

We currently have a number of subjective, relatively trivial, and non-binding attributes that we assume to be human. With the expansion of the internet, we're learning how limited our definitions have been.

We may be unable to make universal statements.

For example, regret. Do all humans regret? I'm not sure. But a computer at this point cannot experience regret. (I'm not saying this will never be possible, but it's impossible now.)

We have entered a new zone in human development, one where our machines are very nearly as good as creating things as we are.

This is a bizarre new world that we are not nearly ready for. And yet here we are!

The most common thing that people are talking about is the jobs, and whole industries, that are about to be disrupted.

That's serious.

Even more serious is the worsening of the global credibility crisis. Now there can be photo/video evidence of absolutely any truth claim.

How the conversation goes when I tell people I'm starting a company:

"Uhhh...I don't know what means."

"Nah, me neither!"

"But, like, what's it going to do, exactly?"

"Well, I'm not totally sure yet."

"Oh..."

"Yep. Fun, right?"