iPod Nano Was My Introduction to Apple

My first introduction to the Apple device ecosystem was with an iPod Nano I had received as a gift roughly 15 years ago. I was immediately blown away by the simplicity and built quality of the device compared to other products of the time.

The iPod Nano never was an Apple flagship device yet they treated it with the same sort of care as any other device they produced. I've bought thousands of dollars worth of Apple devices since that iPod Nano. What would of happened if Apple had decided to treat the iPod Nano as a low quality/throw away product? If first impression is everything then it's very unlikely that I would of bought any additional Apple products.

A company shows their loyalty to their customers through the quality of their products/services. Apple understand that their reputation is on the line for any products that they release.

My friends are quick to point out how overpriced/underpowered Apple devices are but I can't see myself buying anything else but an iPhone/iPad/Apple Watch...

I will always remember when my friend was advertising his powerful new Android device only to have the screen fall off after the glue melted during an extended play session. What's the point of having all that performance in a device that clearly couldn't handle it?

The battery of the iPod Nano has since died but the device has remained almost identical to the day I first received it which is something I can't say about my other MP3 players of the time. I recently received a 2013 iPad, that still works, which I use for reading. Those "overpriced/underpowered" devices are good enough for me.

Limits of Technological Advancement

Is there a limit to technological advancement? If the limit is our imagination then the limit effectively becomes our needs and desires. Once those are satisfied, what could we possibly want more?

Imagination has its limits…

Once we reach immortality, once we can create universes at the blink of an eye, what more could we possibly want? The limit of technology is tied to the imagination of the creator. If the imagination of the creator is limitless then so, too, is the technological advances.

A.I. Marketing Fail

ChatGPT is widely recognized has being the first A.I. made available to the public. Since then, other companies have also been introducing their variation and their marketing of it is mediocre at best.

If your marketing strategy is to say that "it's better, more powerful than ChatGPT" then you're not sharing any relevant information regarding your own A.I. because, frankly, who cares which A.I. is more powerful? Will users even notice that your A.I. produces results a second faster than ChatGPT? If ChatGPT already provide answers that are somewhat accurate, and your A.I. produces similar result, then how can you expect users to make the switch?

If you're not first, you're last... If you're not first, you're going to be making mistakes trying to catch up.

ChatGPT is to A.I. what ski-doo is to snowmobile meaning that the word is associated with the entity. In my mind, the only way other A.I. companies can make themselves relevant is by utilizing A.I. in new, more innovative, ways-not trying convinced people that it's "better" because the average user doesn't have a way to confirm it.

The Tradeoff of Privacy

Most of what companies are offering for your privacy today isn't worth it. Whether it be Social Media, which takes your privacy in exchange for followers, or DNA tests, which takes your privacy in exchange for a "family tree" or even electric cars which takes your driving data... the tradeoffs are rarely worth it. 

What I mean by this is your privacy, or the data you give away, is more valuable than what you get in return and the demand for your data will only increase over time. It may come to the point where you won't have a choice but to surrender it.

What will the future of privacy look like?

Eventually, it will be possible for humans to connect their brains directly to the internet. In exchange for your "thought privacy", your brain will have access to unlimited knowledge. If this ever becomes a reality then you may not have a choice to surrender your "thought privacy" as not doing so would mean that you're at a disadvantage over everyone else that chose to do so.

As technology progresses, the tradeoff for your privacy/data will become increasingly appealing to the point that it may no longer be possible for you to refuse it.

The Future of Video Games using A.I.

We're well into the era of procedurally generated environments and we're about to enter the era of adaptive experiences. Games will be different based on how they're played and who plays them. Think of the game engine as being an A.I. looking over what the player is doing and creating an experience that best suits their needs. 

The below are a few example of how I envision the future of gaming using A.I.:

• If you like to play your FPS using stealth, you will be given additional opportunities to use stealth than the person who likes to run and shoot.
• If you have a tendency to always use the same mechanics in your action games, the A.I. will introduce situations that will force you to switch things up.
• The stages in platformers will adapt based on your skill level.
• RPG stories/events will be created on the spot and could be played indefinitely in a ever changing world.
• The interaction with NPCs will be in real time.
• Racing games will adapt to the player's skill with opponents that feel more authentic/diverse.

Animation, sound, weather effects will also be improved using A.I. as the game engine will be able to mimic environments using real world data. 

When can we expect this A.I. revolution in games?

We have to keep in mind that "Left 4 Dead", a game that came out more than a decade ago, had a basic algorithm that made each playthrough different based on difficulty and player behavior. A player recently made a mod where NPCs in Skyrim are connected to ChatGTP and can interact, in real time, with the player... this means that some people are already toying with the idea of offering players unique experiences using some form of A.I.

What is being discussed here, however, is on a much larger scale and likely won't be made available offline as the processing power required is more than what players will be able to buy at home. I also believe that Epic Games will be the leaders of A.I. via Fortnite (Unreal Engine) considering that their metaverse strategy is dominating the market currently and A.I. seems to be the logical next step for them to take.

It's not crazy to think that this will start happening within the next 5 years.

Where are the Facts?

A few years ago, I attended a leadership seminar where the speaker said "trust but verify" the information that you find but today I find it difficult to "verify" any information.

Where are the facts?

When I was in school, I was assigned research projects where I had to provide at least 3 sources that would support my findings. The only sources that were accepted were from reputable organizations whether it be an encyclopedia or online. 

We have access to an abundance of information online. Many "experts" talk about things that disagree with each other. How are we supposed to discern facts from fiction? In addition to this, we also live in a world where some purposely share erroneous information for the sole purpose of making a profit.

This problem is made even worse with A.I. as it learns from the data that we give it. However, I also believe that the solution to this problem can also be fixed with the help of A.I. as it's also possible to tell it what is widely considered to be the facts on any given subjects.

The only thing that we can do is never assume that we know something - always be open to learning new things. This is what it means to be a Student of Life. 

The Hollywood Strike May Loose to A.I.

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E/Bing)

With A.I., there’s no longer a need to have a room full of writers anymore. In-fact, there will be a day when we may no longer need actors or voice actors. The Hollywood strike, while necessary for those involved, may actually be speeding the transition towards those A.I. tools. The A.I. revolution we’re seeing here as a striking resemblance to the revolution that occurred in the early days of the car. Those responsible for horses and buggies were ultimately swallowed by progress.

The car revolution certainly wasn’t pleasant for those who were negatively impacted by it but the general public decided that cars were better than horses/buggies. A similar situation may be brewing with the Hollywood strike as well – does the general public really care that a script was written by a person rather than A.I.? Or acted using A.I. rather than a person?

I believe the general public wants more entertainment rather than less. We will see a day when entire movies will be created by a single person with the help of A.I. or made entirely by it.

Those artist may need to adapt to the changes in similar ways that those responsible for horses and buggies had to do. Some stayed in the industry until they no longer could and some were forced to join into the revolution or do something else.

Being a hobbyist writer myself, I do feel a sense of powerlessness with A.I. as it’s eating away one of the things I like to do and I know I will see the day when it will take over what I do for work as well. I don’t believe this is something we can fight as too many people will adopt it and we’ll effectively become the causalities of it.

Why We Fear A.I.

 

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E/Bing)

Programs are created by programmers to fulfill specific purposes that are predictable. A.I. may be feared today because it’s code that has a degree of unpredictability to it. 

When you use a search engine, the search functionality looks for the keywords you’ve inputted and returns results that most closely relates to them. Even if you may not know what it will return, you know how the information is gathered - it’s predictable.

When using an A.I., the results contains additional content that, while helpful, is unpredictable and may differ from one result to another for the same keywords. Getting results from the A.I. of today most closely resemble a discussion with a subject matter expert than a typical search engine.

Another reason why people fear A.I. is because of the jobs that it will, inevitably, replace. If you wonder which job are going to be replaced first just think about what information you're looking for with the A.I. that's available to day. Chances are high that who ever would of provided that information to you, in-lieu of A.I., is negatively impacted by it already. It's kind of difficult, for example, to justify going to a fitness professional to design a workout plan when the A.I. is perfectly capable of creating one. While it may not be perfect - it's something, that's free, and something is better than nothing.

For A.I. Data is Everything

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At a high level, Artificial Intelligence is 3 things:

• A Dataset: The information the A.I. looks through to answer its queries.
• A.I. Framework: The code responsible to transform the input request into computer language, search through data and transform it into an answer that a user can understand.
• Input Source: Anything that can be digitized can be used as an input for A.I. (Audio, Video, Text...etc.)

Many believe that the A.I. Framework is the most important part of A.I. but the data is just as important as the code that looks through it as without it the A.I. isn't able to create any output.

We need to think of this in similar ways as how humans create new data. We may think that we're original in our ideas but our memory is what inspires new ideas. The data, for A.I., is the same as memory is to humans.

As the rise of A.I. is in full swings, many companies are looking into ways to integrate A.I. into their services not realizing that they need a dataset in order for it to function.

I've also noticed many investors throwing their money out at any companies that mentions A.I. but I think we need to look at it from the perspective of the dataset. The most valuable companies today aren't necessarily the ones that work with A.I. but the ones that have the best datasets. Whether it be Meta, Tesla, Microsoft, Pharmaceutical... those are companies to be on the lookout for as their datasets will become increasingly useful as A.I. progresses. 

A.I. VS A.G.I.

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ChatGPT isn't technically a year old yet and there's already murmur of Artificial General Intelligence (A.G.I.) to replace A.I. as we know it today.

What is A.G.I.?

A.I. in it's current form acts more like a search engine than anything else. When you ask it for something, it searches through data and produces results in a way that humans can understand. A.G.I. is the next evolution of this. Not only will it be able to search through data but it will be able to move through obstacles on its own without requiring additional input from humans. It would be possible, for example, to ask an A.G.I. to work on a cure for cancer and let it work until it finds it. Current A.I. are able to assist scientists with the work but aren't actually able to go through the scientific process (trial and error) themselves nor do they necessarily understand what they're doing beyond their immediate query.

The training for A.G.I. would be a lot shorter than that of A.I. as it would be able to interpret previous data in similar ways as humans do.

A.G.I. is what would be required to make autonomous robots as you need it to be able to go through daily life and overcome obstacles on its own accord. Stairs could be climbed by a robot with A.I. as the terrain is consistent/predictable but a robot with A.G.I. could climb mountains on its own a lot quicker than A.I. could - adapting to the terrain, in similar ways than humans would, without relying on hours of training data to do so.

In short, A.G.I. is A.I. with the ability to think (or program) for itself making it more efficient.

A.I. At Work - The Beginning

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E/Bing)

I've recently seen the result of A.I. in the workplace. Someone provided information on something that wasn't part of their area of expertise and that was worded in a way that was out of character. I strongly believe the information came from A.I. because I got similar results when I asked the A.I. for that information.

While I don't believe we're at the point where ChatGTP is going to take a massive amount of our jobs, we're definitely at a point where existing jobs can be enhanced through the help of the tool. People with no qualifications  are able to provide a degree of expertise that wasn't possible before. The issue remains that the information provided by A.I. isn't always accurate and we should therefor only use the tool for our areas of expertise as to be able to correct it whenever we see problems. As soon as we do searches for things outside of our area of expertise, we may be spreading false, or outdated, information and we don't know enough about the subject to correct it.

In my particular case, the information provided sounded correct but wasn't appropriate for the situation. We were looking to customized an existing process and were told the "proper" way of doing it.

With A.I., we've blurred the lines of expertise - now everyone can sound like an expert on anything. It's definitely easier to sound like an expert than to actually be one. While it's not clear what the future of A.I. at the workplace will be, the slow inclusion of A.I. in the workplace is definitely interesting. 

Will A.I. Monopolize Online Traffic?

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E)

While A.I. chatbots are impressive, they're more like an extension of a search engine than a legitimate intellect with ideas that you can converse with (at least for now). In its current form, it can create an output from your requests as long as it can find some answers for it in its dataset - namely the Internet. Perhaps the biggest difference between a chatbot and a regular search is that the chatbot tends to provide a more complete answer making the user less likely to go to the sources.

When asked about creating python code, it did so using an online website currently popular amongst python developers. 

Did this count as legitimate traffic for the owner of that python website?

If website owners are no longer getting legitimate traffic, and selling ads, how long will it take for them to shut down? If they shut down, wouldn't that make the A.I. less effective? 

Most of the discussion surrounding A.I. currently is about the various job losses that it can potentially cause but have those A.I. companies thought about a strategy to insure that the dataset they use can remain online?

The data is as critical, to Artificial Intelligence, as is the code used to interpret it. No dataset means no quality output!

My prediction...

I suspect that, in order to maintain a healthy dataset, A.I. companies will need to pay a small fee wherever they access content as not doing so would eventually kill said dataset making the A.I. less effective. It's a spiral that must be avoided if A.I. is to be viable longer term.

We Shouldn't Be Selling A.I. Generated Stories

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“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”

-Dr. Johnson.

Question: Why would you buy a book that's been entirely created using A.I. when you can create your own using the same tools?

According to reuters.com, there's been an influx of A.I. generated stories submitted to various platforms, such as blogs/Amazon/Magazines..., for money, ever since people found out about ChatGTP or similar A.I. tools. 

The A.I. revolution has just begun and suddenly everyone is an author. The problem with this is if everyone is an author then nobody is an author. If the tool creates the story then there's no need to buy the story - just ask the tool to create a version of it using the same formula.

How should we be using A.I. for our stories?

With A.I., writer's block is a thing of the past. If you're struggling with a chapter and need some inspiration then sure ask the A.I. but that's as far as it should go. If the A.I. creates the entire story then can you really consider yourself an author? How can you expect to live off of your craft if you're not even the master of your craft?

Because of A.I., legitimate authors will need to find new and ingenious ways to make their stories stand out since the old ways will be inundated by A.I. generated stories. 

I Asked an A.I. How to Learn A.I.

(Image created by A.I. DALL-E)

I've been spending a great deal of my time learning all I can about Artificial Intelligence which is the reason why I ask an A.I. to help with the process.

What I asked: Design steps on how to learn about A.I.

The Output:

1. Begin by researching the basics of A.I. and familiarizing yourself with the key concepts and terminology. Make sure to understand the different types of A.I. and the goals and objectives of each.

2. Take online courses or tutorials that teach the fundamentals of A.I. such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing and robotics.

3. Read books and articles from experts in the field of A.I. to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.

4. Follow blogs and forums about A.I. to stay up-to-date on the latest developments.

5. Participate in hackathons and coding competitions that involve A.I.

6. Experiment with A.I. by creating projects or building applications.

7. Network with other A.I. professionals and attend conferences to learn more.

Crazy uh?

Will the novelty of A.I. wear off?

A.I. is in its infancy and is already gathering a lot of attention but will it last?  I don't see A.I. as a novelty as much as the next step in our evolution. The future of such things as online searches is found in A.I. - some companies, behind those online searches, may already be using some form of A.I. 

The day will come where A.I. will be widely available via our phone or via a drone that would follow us around to help in our daily activities (For gamers: Think of "Ghost" in the "Destiny" video game).

The issue with A.I. currently is that we can't always trust the data that it produces. There's always a little something that we need to double check or fix. You can't currently, for example, use A.I. to build software without first knowing about software as the output that it produces needs to be refined in order to work properly. The key word here, however, is "Output" - the A.I. is producing "Something" which is better than "Nothing" and can be used with a little tweaking or help inspire new things.

A day will come, with enough data/time, where all of the issues will be fixed and every output will be as good as the experts.

We're In the Knowledge Age

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The Information Age is what we call our ability to store/retrieve large quantity of information. The Information Age is over as we're now entering the age of knowledge.

Knowledge Age is the ability to create new information using A.I. from the data stored during the Information Age. A.I. now has the ability to create images/videos/sentences/code/misc (meal plans, diagnosis, schedules...) at the same level, or better, than the average human.

Some students are using A.I. for their homework in school. If an A.I. can do a student's homework then how long will it be until it can do the work the student is training for? What's the point of going to school to train for a job that an A.I. can do quicker, often better, than us?

To say that a revolution is coming is an understatement. The landscape has already changed - the rules we were using in the Information Age are no longer relevant. If you want to thrive in the knowledge age then you need to find ways to incorporate A.I. in what you do. 

Want Nothing

 

Many are looking to get their hands on the next generation of gaming consoles but are unable to. Some can't wait and are going to "scalpers" to get their fix; paying twice, or triple, the amount it would normally cost.

My advice to you is to have patience because whenever you're in a situation where you desperately want something to occur you're setting yourself up to be taken advantage of. In this case, if you're willing to wait, you'll not only get the product at the suggested price but you may also be getting a better deal out of it.
Remember that companies are doing what ever they can to make something available to you. Since they WANT you to buy their items then let them figure out how best to get it to you.

Sit back and let it come to you.

 

 

Learning Outside of Careers

The average life expectancy is 75 years old and I don't know about you but life seems to go by faster the older you get. There's more to life than just to live. Knowing this, I would consider it a great shame to die with the only knowledge being that of my chosen career path. There's simply more to life than whatever we are learning in our careers.

It's been said that it takes 10 000 hours to master anything. Whether or not this is true is irrelevant for this discussion. What we need to keep in mine is that we only have a set amount of hours that we can dedicate to our activities as well as our learning endeavors. This means that we won't be able to master everything.
If you're like me, and wish to learn all that you can before dying, then where do you even start? Which book? Which audio? Which video? The answer is quite simple: Get the information directly from the experts.

"Listen to those with the fruit on the tree". -Ripencil.com

You may not be a philosopher but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a economist but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a carpenter but there are many that are/were.
You may not be a mechanic.... (you got the point?)

We're decades into the information age now. This means that the information is out there for who ever wants it. We can pretty much learn everything that we want from the devices we carry in our pockets. There's no excuse so get to it!

Delete Your Google Activity/History

Facebook was scrutinized recently for the type of data it kept from every individual using their services. Did you know that Google keeps even more data than Facebook?
Google kept some of my history from 10 years back. Does Google really need to keep that information for that long?

If you wish to delete your Google Activity/History, you can do so by doing the following:

1. Go to https://myactivity.google.com
2. Log in with your Gmail account.
3. Select the "Delete activity by" option from the left.

4. Select "All time" in the "Delete by date" Dropdown.

5. Click on the "DELETE" link/button.

According to Google, this will erase all activity of your gmail account. Does it keep other information on your activity outside of this? Probably - only Google knows.
Everyone should know about this. Spread the word!

I've been HACKED!

Folks, one of my many accounts was hacked. Thankfully, I manage to get it back but many aren't so lucky. I still have no idea what that hacker took from me if anything...
It's my fault. While my password wasn't listed on the most used passwords list it was still a fairly simple one. It followed none of the strong password guidelines as defined by IT security experts.

Nobody is 100% safe from an hacker that knows what he's doing but there are steps that we can take to make it more difficult.

Common Guidelines*

• Use a minimum password length of 8 or more characters if permitted.
• Include lowercase and uppercase alphabetic characters, numbers and symbols if permitted.
• Generate passwords randomly where feasible.
• Avoid using the same password twice (e.g., across multiple user accounts and/or software systems).
• Avoid character repetition, keyboard patterns, dictionary words, letter or number sequences, usernames, relative or pet names, romantic links (current or past) and biographical information (e.g., ID numbers, ancestors' names or dates).
• Avoid using information that is or might become publicly associated with the user or the account.
• Avoid using information that the user's colleagues and/or acquaintances might know to be associated with the user.
• Do not use passwords which consist wholly of any simple combination of the aforementioned weak components.

I have learned from my mistake and I'm hopeful you have too. Update your password with stronger ones:TODAY!

*Guidelines can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength

Tips on How to Overcome Writer's Block

Writing is one of the most fun activities you can do. There are times, however, when we get mental blocks. No matter how much we try, no meaningful ideas seems to come out. The below are some suggestions that may help you get out of those "dark times". They have all proven useful to me to some degree.

• When you're inspired, write until all the ideas are out of your head. You may have a couple of blogs worth of materials after each of those inspirational sessions.
• Expose your min to new ideas. Watch a documentary. Read a new book. Attend a class.
• Force it. Write anything until the ideas comes.
• Take a nap. It's possible that you've had a difficult day, get some energy back with a nap.
• Use a pen/pencil with paper. The act of writing is often all I need to get started. It's a feeling that can't be replaced with a keyboard.
• Schedule blog posts in advance. Not only will this remove some of the stress. It will also insure you have a steady stream of posts in the event you couldn't write for a while.
• Exercise. A walk is sometime all I need to clear my head.
• Have a balance, healthy, diet. Food is what gives energy to the body. If your physical health is bothering you, those are thoughts that could of gone towards a blog post.

Hope these tips helps to put you "in the zone". What do you do to overcome a writer's block?