Should AI generated pictures be considered art?
AI generated images are not “Art”. They can be beautiful, even transcendent, but that doesn’t make them art any more than stepping in paint makes my cat the next Picasso.
Category: Thoughts
Thoughts on the world and the things in it.
Personal choices, free will, and the nature of the universe…
I was listening to a podcast this morning which was talking about nature vs. nurture. To what affect does genetics play and how much influence does our upbringing have on us. While listening to this conversation it occurred to me that another forces shape who we become. Our own choices. …
iPhones and true costs we don’t pay
The products that we buy have costs associated with them that we don’t pay. They’re invisible to us because those costs get pushed onto others, usually in less developed counties. For example, you buy a new iPhone for $1500. But only costs Apple $570 to make. In reality though the …
No Billionaires: We’re ridiculously poor at understanding big numbers
To reiterate how poor humans are at judging the differences between big numbers take a look at the Reuters headline regarding Barclays Bank in the UK. “Barclays hit by $361 million penalty over issuance of securities” That is a tremendous amount of money; over a third of a billion dollars. …
Effective Altruism Is White Washing For Rich People
I have had this post percolating in my head for awhile, and the idea is this: effective altruism is white washing for rich people. A few months ago I started this post. And then let it lie, but now with the revelations about Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX I dug it …
Treating existing customers better just makes good business sense
When I was in university I worked summers in an Italian restaurant, Campo Marina, in my hometown. Osoyoos is a tourist town. The population is around 3500 but would double in the summers when families would flock to Canada’s warmest freshwater lake. The restaurant in the summers was only open …
No Billionaires: How to solve the billionaire issue – Pt. 1
I have wanted to make a website for a while now promoting the idea that billionaires should not exist. Capitalism is a deeply flawed system and billionaires are the by-product of that system. There should be a limit upon how much wealth an individual person can accumulate. And that as …
Julius Caesar Is The Cause Of Sexism In Today’s Society
If you could go back in time and kill anyone to improve history, who would it be? Most people would choose someone like Adolf Hitler. For the most bang for my buck, I would kill a young Julius Caesar before the battle of Alesia. “Why Julius Caesar?” you ask? Because …
Vaccines, probability and improving odds
I have written it before, but it bears repeating. We suck at probability. This is very apparent at these anti-vaxx drives we are seeing popping up in Canada, New Zealand and elsewhere. Like this sign below: If only 1% die then isn’t that a really low rate, why should we …
The Internet is too quick to judge
Recently there was a viral video of a middle aged man having a meltdown in a fast food restaurant over a smoothie. It made the front page of Reddit and was posted in numerous subreddits. It was all over twitter and digital lynch mob has been quick to judge. The …