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The god machine – The Daily PPILL #282

The god machine – The Daily PPILL #282

Today I’ll continue my rant about AI. But will let Sam Harris do the honors. Wait, who? Sam Harris. Mr. Harris is a neuroscientist among other things, but he is also considered a modern philosopher by some and has been on a spiritual path of his own. Along the...
Not the best, but… – The Daily PPILL #278

Not the best, but… – The Daily PPILL #278

In 2010, I was attending a photography workshop in New Jersey, and one of the guest speakers said something that applies to almost any other discipline, and that has stayed with me for all these years. By the time of the workshop, this particular speaker was an...
What makes it work – The Daily PPILL #277

What makes it work – The Daily PPILL #277

When we see a caricature of a boat, we don’t see the portion of the hull that is submerged under water. That portion, is not wasted, it is what actually makes it float. It is worth assuming that to make things work, it takes more than what meets the eye,...
Repost: The path you trace on your journey – Daily PPILL #276

Repost: The path you trace on your journey – Daily PPILL #276

We change, and the world changes around us, but here are certain themes that remain constant. A year ago, I published this post. I still love the image of every step taken actually creating the path. A year ago, I was still in Florida. Yesterday, I was at a trail,...
Artificial Trust – The Daily PPILL #275

Artificial Trust – The Daily PPILL #275

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, trying to find some useful application for it. In that process, I try to run some of my searches both through a search engine and also ask the bot for it. In one of my last tests, I asked ChatGPT to cite its sources, and...
Agency – The Daily PPILL #274

Agency – The Daily PPILL #274

To change behavior, there must be a certain degree of agency. If there is no influence in the outcome, there is no point to change. The residents of my current city are great. Rugged, hard working and mostly respectful of their fellow human beings. But when you move...
Listening to criticism – The Daily PPILL #273

Listening to criticism – The Daily PPILL #273

This is one of the most sound advice I have heard, when it comes to dealing with criticism. I heard it from non other than Reid Hoffman, one of the founders of LinkedIn. Not everybody comes from the same frame of reference, and they interpret things differently. So it...
Virtually Accepted – The Daily PPILL #271

Virtually Accepted – The Daily PPILL #271

Some innovations that are appearing over the horizon look to most us someway weird. We go “no way”. We presume they are fads and we’ll never use them. It always have been like that. Just a few years ago, the answer that met some of these innovations went something...
Better than a Post-Mortem – The Daily PPILL #270

Better than a Post-Mortem – The Daily PPILL #270

You probably know what a post-mortem is, right? That’s when we failed (whatever that means), and in order to learn from it and to give it our best effort so that it never happens again, we tease out every single detail of what went wrong. Then there is the...
Storing energy in cryptocurrency – The Daily PPILL #269

Storing energy in cryptocurrency – The Daily PPILL #269

You may have already heard about the large amounts of energy that Bitcoin miners utilize in the process of working on the blockchain and spitting out another coin, or “mining” it. Recently, I was introduced to an ingenious way of using this for stabilizing...
Breaking Bread – The Daily PPILL #268

Breaking Bread – The Daily PPILL #268

We have to nourish our bodies, but since ancient times, there is something about sharing a meal that makes us more human. Most species compete for the food available, with the exception of small offspring. But we humans do something remarkable: we share. And together...
Questions and Answers – The Daily PPILL #267

Questions and Answers – The Daily PPILL #267

We see the world through our own experience. There is no way around it. As a photographer, one of the things I learned, is that no two photographers can ever get exactly the same image, as they will never be able to stand in the same place, at the same time. Either...
DST – The Daily PPILL #266

DST – The Daily PPILL #266

I used to think that Daylight Savings Time was just the way things were done in this country. I didn’t pause to think that there could be a different way forward. Not that I like the sun setting at 6 PM during the winter, but I always hated getting up during the...
Not imperfect – The Daily PPILL #265

Not imperfect – The Daily PPILL #265

In a time where there are some layoffs going on, I know some of our colleagues may have been affected. There is a tendency to ostracize those who are going through this ordeal, and the truth is that, in our economy, it happens cyclically with every boom and bust...
A ride to the airport – The Daily PPILL #263

A ride to the airport – The Daily PPILL #263

Whenever the cost is not significant, I behave like an early adopter. That’s why I started using LinkedIn in 2002, and I continue to check out whatever tech innovation shows up that I can check out for a nominal fee, or for free. So when I was for a few days in...
“Sorry, we don’t do that” – The Daily PPILL #262

“Sorry, we don’t do that” – The Daily PPILL #262

If you are working on something truly innovative, and you insert the word “disruptive” multiple times in your speech when you are describing your product or service, you may have to make some compromises. It may sound obvious, but here is Uber as an...
Ready to go (always) – The Daily PPILL #261

Ready to go (always) – The Daily PPILL #261

Dogs are fantastic animals, and they give us so much. Company is one of those things. The also ground us, make us appreciate the moment, the simple things. If you take a dog for a walk, you cannot rush it, you have to stop, let it in; and only then continue. But the...
Not even plastic in the wallet – The Daily PPILL #260

Not even plastic in the wallet – The Daily PPILL #260

On a recent business trip, I had one setback that I have never had before. It is quite embarrassing, but after logging about 1.4M miles on just one airline, on a domestic trip, I lost my wallet. The last time I remember having it in my hands, was in seat 3C, and...
Lipstick on a pig – The Daily PPILL #259

Lipstick on a pig – The Daily PPILL #259

I was chatting with a Channel Partner’s sales person a few days ago. This particular gentleman has been in the business for decades, and probably have seen it all. When we started talking about co-selling with the vendor, the topic of “account...
Upgrade cycle – The Daily PPILL #258

Upgrade cycle – The Daily PPILL #258

Most days I go through a morning ritual of updating the apps on my phone. It is a rare day when there are not at least four or five apps with a new release. EVERY DAY. Granted, there are hundreds of apps on my device; and the only one at fault for this is me, for...