A little pool of light

This post is less of a blog post and more of a recording of an idea I came up with mid-meeting. I was trying to explain how others should manage projects efficiently, ensuring they are clear on the desired outcomes and can measure them once the project is completed. Granted, this might be a bit out there, but it could help others.

Having a project is like following a recipe.

You find one you like; it might be something you stumble upon, or you might already have an idea of what you want to eat. Then, you create the recipe to achieve the desired result. In both instances, a good result is clear, and you know exactly what you aim to achieve from it.

The departments you need to pull into your project are like the tools you are going to use. You chop onions with the correct knife; you don’t give control over to the knife, you just use it to achieve the vision you have. You pull in your design team, use them to create the vision you have, while listening to their feedback and advice. They are the experts.

Then, you go through the recipe step by step, using all the tools at your disposal, and complete your project. You measure the results, both at the end and during the project. You might discover that you need a few more tomatoes or to chop the onions differently. So, next time when you want to replicate the same project or something similar, you can look at the results from last time and make the required changes.

You work slowly towards being able to pull together the best project you can achieve. You bring together all the parts, using all the tools you have to the best of your ability. Some might be automated; many might require following instructions, but in the end, you have something you followed through and can be proud of.

Now I’m hungry.

On Hard Fork, Casey and Kevin interviewed Open Ai CEO Sam Altman, before all the drama kicked off. It was a fascinating talk, more so listening after all the drama, I found particularly interesting his thoughts on the co-evolution of Ai. He comes across with well-balanced thoughts on the creation of such a societal shifting product as AI. In many ways, it reflects the evolution needed of all such products. They need to evolve alongside the community they are impacting to make the most change.

In the case of Ai, he highlighted the held beliefs that it should be worked on in private and then one day AGI launched to the world. Which clearly would be too much of a change too quickly. Instead, OpenAi chose to develop its products in the open and see what people thought and did with it. Which is a far better prospect than releasing a world shifting invention such as Ai overnight.

Society as a whole, or a large percentage of those exposed to, as with Google Glass, can, of course, reject things entirely. They can make clear that they don’t want this kind of product. That doesn’t make it a bad product, just too much change too quickly, or little perceived benefit. Which is why Sam was talking about the importance of these intellectual pieces of technology evolving in public.

Jack Goody and Daniel Bell coined the term intellectual technologies. They were both sociologists, referring to anything that could be used to improve our mental abilities — anything from an abacus, to a clock or a thermometer. Nicholas Car referred to the web as a new form of intellectual technology in his book The Shallows, one that is changing our brain both figuratively and actually. It is a new way of interfacing with the world around us, and so too are the new interaction methods for Ai.

The pros and cons of developing Ai aside, all of these advancements bring with them a new way of thinking and extending our cognitive abilities. The slow, steady walk towards AI being able to perform complex tasks is inevitable, however at least we have a chance to see how and where it fits into our lives. There will be upheaval, but by co-developing Ai with society as a whole, we at least have more time and space to work out where it will affect society most and cater to those effects.

The first time taking out my new Ricoh GR iiix and I got really lucky. We spent a couple of hours walking around the Victoria Embankment and river in Nottingham, with great winter weather.

My first impressions of the camera are really great. The image quality is amazing from such a tiny snapshot camera. The 40 mm focal length is perfect, and it is really nice to use. Choosing my photo a day shot might be hard for the first day of the challenge.

A few shots from some winter sun in Nottingham, and my Ricoh GR iiix.

This year was the second year I set myself a goal. One that was born out of a frustration that my attention being stolen from me and my concern that I needed to get it back. 2022 my goal was to watch more movies. Like most New Year’s resolutions, it failed miserably in the first few weeks. Whereas reading, that’s my thing!

Making Goals

Setting a goal always seems a bit strange to me. I followed in the footsteps of Matt Birchler for movies, and was encouraged by micro.blog to set one for reading. The trouble was I had no idea what to set it at. I had been using the excellent Epilogue app for a while, but not long enough to track a whole year.

I honestly had no idea how many books I could read in a year, and even setting a goal based on books read seemed strange. Some books are easy to polish off in a day or so, whereas some I have read required a long slog of considerable effort. I thought about hours of reading, but that seemed like a chore. I could think about counting pages turned, I guess, but that’s more work than I want to put in. So books read is a happy medium.

I settled on 30. It was a bit finger in the air, sitting a long way below the extreme levels I have seen online, and also felt achievable. 30 books was a little over 2 a month and with a long backlog of purchases I felt confident.

The Result

That realistic goal setting turned out to be the perfect motivation. Once I had worked my way through the books I had waiting, there was a considerable lag in the middle of the year. However, with confidence in my heart and the positive results I was experiencing, the motivation to read even a few pages a day really helped.

I finished the year completing 38 books. There were a few re-reads in there, but they all make up a fairly eclectic bunch that I have mostly enjoyed. Check them all out below.

More than the small feeling of satisfaction having met a goal set 12 months ago, is the difference it has made to my mind. I feel like I have made a small win in the fight for my attention. Taken back, something that I felt I was losing control of, and learnt plenty of lessons along the way. I love reading now more than ever, and I owe a thank you to the micro.blog community that pushed me there.

🔗 Is Your Inner Voice a Voice? | Psychology Today

According to some sources, as many as thirty to fifty percent of people process their thoughts with little or no inner monologue

This is fascinating. I thought everyone ‘spoke’ to themselves