Archives for January 2023

Some people may think that they are a true friend but while a friend knows your stories. A true friend has lived them with you.

Not via social media or because of a sense of obligation to click the “like” or “care” button on Facebook.

It’s that friend that you reach out to when you really need to vent and explain what is going on or, better yet, the one that reaches out to you first. Good times or bad times. Doesn’t matter whether it is a business or personal matter. They don’t want anything from you. They will listen and give advice, joy, celebration, consolation or empathy as needed.

Or, they tell you something you may NOT want to hear but need to.

Are you the “heel” that friends love to hate OR the “baby face” that they love to love?

OR, are you a true friend.

Do you see the hidden messages? Whether you realize it or not, your brain sees them.

We are bombarded with messages constantly. Most have to do with influencing us as a consumer. Buy this. Call that. Text here. But are there some that aren’t as innocent as they seem?

This is only one example (actually three but who is counting?)

Quoting the movie The Matrix, “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Which pill do you take?

Apple has done this for decades. Sony made the first MP3 player. Consumers loved it. Apple waited and jumped in with an improved one. And now dominates the market.

Don’t try and do what YOU think consumers want. Instead, focus on what consumers WANT. See what’s working and then improve on it. Consumers will flock to your door.

Just ask Apple.

There are many writers in this world that are more prolific than myself. Apparently tech companies like ChatGPT are using all of the contents of the Internet to train their AI software… to mimic and produce content based on others’ work… without their permission. Soon, the toaster will cook your toast based on what it thinks you need, not what you want. Like dark toast? Well, today you get light toast or, perhaps, it thinks you shouldn’t be eating toast at all and refuses to make it. Sentient AI will eventually make our decisions for us. For now, it is learning from us. And stealing that content. What happens when it knows more than us? Skynet. For now, it will just replace writers and content creators.

“Given enough time, a monkey randomly striking keys on a typewriter will end up banging out a copy of Hamlet.” [LINK]

Well, it seems as if AI is following this theorem. It will just need less time.

Hasta La Vista and RIP, writers.