From thoughts to text

The thoughts and text on this blog is mine, and mine alone.

  • It has been 0 days since an AI lied to me

    I was trying to find a book suitable for teenagers, so I searched Google out of old habit. Now, searching Google these days means that their AI will answer first, because that’s how Google rolls these days.

    It did suggest a few books; one about a father and a son going on a fishing vacation, meeting a family with a daughter and promising some romance.

    So I copied the title of the book and the author into another tab, only to be told, by Google AI, that this book was not written by that author at all. However, it was a book alright — a book about holocaust. Now, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea for teenagers to learn about holocaust, but it was not exactly the story the first Google AI told me it would be.

    So I asked Google in the first tab about it, and it apologized — which is why so many people love AI these days I guess, that and the “excellent question” it loves to throw around — telling me it made it up.

    And this is what the crazy in USA is saying we should call “Super Intelligence”, or else we would be “the enemy”. It says a lot about the “intelligence” over at the White House at the moment.

  • Let Your Thoughts Roam Free Once In a While

    You have probably see them; people with headphones listening to…something. Whether on the bus, the mall — even sometimes while hiking.

    And there are probably a lot of interesting podcasts to listen to, but there certainly is a lot interesting things to listen to outside too.

    When I go for a walk, I like to listen to whatever is around me. Leaves dancing in the wind. Birds singing songs. Streams of water seeking a path downhill.

    And it is not just about sounds, it is about what the eyes sees as well. Observing the dancing leaves. Trying to spot the singing birds. Looking at the stream of water rushing past.

    Once you are tuned in to the outside, it is easier to get tuned in to the inside as well. Listening to your own thoughts, getting to know yourself.

    If you feel your thoughts overwhelm you; do not suppress them with music. Try meditation. Learn to quiet the voice while still allowing ideas to form, to grow.

    Do not be afraid of your own thoughts; embrace them.

  • I Have Bought My First Smartwatch

    Garmin Vívoactive 5. It is not my first smartwatch, but it is the first I have bought myself.

    My first smartwatch was a Christmas present: a Fitbit Charge 2.

    I call it a smartwatch since it counted my steps and heart beats. I think it even could show the time. Eventually it stopped charging. Ironically, given the name of the device.

    My second smartwatch, a Polar Ignite 2, was a hand-me-down from my father when he got a new one (for Christmas). It could count a lot more than the Fitbit, but then the touch screen stopped working.

    It still counts steps, heart beats, sleep, and more, but getting it to track my activity has gotten increasingly difficult without a way to interact with the watch.

    All I want is a way to track my kayak trips. But since my smartphone, for one reason or another, turns off the GPS tracking literally the moment I tuck it away, that is not an option.

    And yes. I have tried to change the battery options to no avail.

    I know Garmin Vívoactive has a lot more functionality. But I have turned off all notifications, and I have no intention to use it to stream music, read messages or use it as a payment method.

    It should simply be out of the way, and occasionally, on my request, track my activity.

  • How Much Do You Support Fascism?

    Not sure how to quantify it, but we could try.

    Do you think Donald Trump is a great guy or have great ideas or have done something good? This one was easy: You support fascism.

    Have you bought a Tesla this decade? Bad news (unless you really like fascism), you enable fascism.

    Do you use Twitter, or is it X?, or is it part of SpaceX now? Do you use SpaceX? You are enabling fascism. Yes, I imply that financially supporting Elon Musk (one way or another) is enabling fascism.

    Use any products from Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon or Meta? I know I do. Well, they don’t exactly stand up to fascism. So we should try harder to not enable the enablers.

    Also, you should stay away from anything Meta regardless. I know; it is addictive. Guess what? It’s by design.

    These thoughts came after reading “Never Forget How Eagerly Apple And Google Coddled Fascism” and “Normalized Fascism in Open Source: $12 Million Given to DHH“.

  • Em Dash Is Fine – It Is AI That Sucks

    Here is a dialog from the movie Office Space — and just to be clear; Michael Bolton in the movie are talking about Michael Bolton the singer.

    • Michael Bolton: Yeah, well, at least your name isn’t Michael Bolton.
    • Samir: You know, there’s nothing wrong with that name.
    • Michael Bolton: There *was* nothing wrong with it… until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
    • Samir: Hmm… well, why don’t you just go by Mike instead of Michael?
    • Michael Bolton: No way! Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.

    And this made me think about AI — and em dashes.

    I have been told that em dash is the hallmark of AI writing, and that seeing em dashes in a text is a sure sign that an AI was involved. But this is simply not true.

    Granted; AI do tend to use em dash and bullet points a lot, but that in itself proves nothing, although it can be an indication of AI writing.

    The interesting thing is that the people who look at em dash and think “this must be AI”, are people that do not read much. And I could say that this is the hallmark of people using generative AI — they do not read. They do not know what good texts looks like.

    (And based on my writing you may say that neither do I)

    AI written text might look better than what most people write, but as John Gruber of Daring Fireball writes; most people are terrible writers, so the bar is low.

    I would rather see your words, and more importantly, your thinking on a subject than a grammatically correct text with a lot of unnecessary fluff.

    Writing is thinking after all, so why would you deprive yourself of this invaluable tool? And if you do not care to write it, why should I care to read it?

    I am not against AI on everything. I use it for research (the glorified search engine), but I always check multiple sources if it is important. But for generative text and images? Please, spare me.

    I like to use em dashes. Why should I change? It is AI that sucks.

    There, I am done. Now go watch Office Space.