On My Mind 001

Frequently, I have a number of random things that occupy my brain that don't necessarily constitute a full blog post.

Instead of trying to hold onto them, I thought I'd just make a series that will continue over the life of this blog and share them when I feel they're ready.

Sort of like letting soup simmer until it's just right.

I may, in the future, expand on some of these if the idea behind a snippet really grabs hold, but I just want to be able to share some of my thoughts quickly sometimes without being beholden to a social media platform.

And sometimes, my mind will change. So it's nice to have a way to look back and see that kind of progression.

Just a heads up, these will probably be some of the longest posts you see on here.

Welcome to the first installment!

I really dig Cory Doctorow.

While I don't align with all of his political stances, he's an absolutely amazing writer and his thought processes captivate me to no end.

If you like cerebral science fiction with a truly human element to it, he's one of the best out there.

Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com | Cory Doctorow’s Literary Works

Cory Doctorow's Literary WorksCory Doctorow

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Cory Doctorow

I have a particular distaste for politics and political activism as of late.

It's not that I don't have causes that I believe in, but the combination of anonymity on the internet allowing hateful rhetoric from all sides and the algorithmic outrage cycle that drives clicks leaves me feeling exhausted.

There doesn't seem to be a middle-ground anymore. It's all divisiveness.

I've been engaging in a minimalist mindset for years now, ever since I lived in Japan.

I find it alarming that minimalist culture online seems to be more about an aesthetic today than actually achieving peace of mind, happiness, and embracing an anti-consumerism stance.

This is just my opinion, but it's not about owning less things and wearing black all the time. It's about living intentionally, reducing materialism and waste, and owning things that matter to you.

Apparently, more and more people are getting addicted to LLM AI, and it's causing some to have psychotic breaks.

I truly don't understand this personally, but that's because I don't have that issue. I use LLM AI as a tool - to brainstorm ideas, to help make lists, and use it as a general utility.

I can see this becoming a problem if people anthropomorphize it too much. I understand it seems human, but it's not. It's a machine.

And what really alarms me is people using it as therapy. I can see using it as a therapy tool to help organize your thoughts, but it doesn't understand the human condition. Only another human has insight into that.

There are many naysayers out there that poo-poo AI, but it's my personal belief they are shortsighted. They think it can NEVER get anywhere close to human intelligence and reasoning.

They are right in a certain aspect. Eventually, it will exceed us in all ways if we stay on our current trajectory.

New study warns of risks in AI mental health tools

AI therapy chatbots may fall short of human care and risk reinforcing stigma or offering dangerous responses.

Stanford University

Tech Industry Figures Suddenly Very Concerned That AI Use Is Leading to Psychotic Episodes

Tech industry hotshots are speaking out after a prominent OpenAI investor appeared to have a ChatGPT-induced mental health breakdown.

FuturismJoe Wilkins

I've scribbled down a lot of fiction story ideas over the years and now I'm organizing them into a central doc.

Most are just fragments of ideas, but I have a lot of them. Enough to write several hundred novels if I'm being honest.

Now, I've consolidated them into one Google Doc that I can easily reference. This, I think, will make life much easier for me as I try to actually produce some of them and send them out into the real world.

Things I need to do on this blog:

• Go back and see what needs to be rewritten or updated to make it more evergreen and useful.
• Possibly update the images. Some were used to draw attention on other platforms and that's not really my intent anymore.
• Start linking to other pages if appropriate.
• Get rid of all the marketing aspects and focus on the helpful aspects.