Ian Barkin’s Post

I just finished the audio book for "Poor Charlie's Almanack" by recently deceased Charlie Munger. I'd heard people i respected mention it many times... especially in the past couple of years. And so I figured I had to read it. And it was good. He's a very rationale thinker and talks a lot about how human psychology causes the masses to often make predictable mistakes. But if you know what to look for you can actually benefit from this. And he basically concludes that this along with some other principles are what made him one of the world's richest human beings. But as I was reflecting on what I'd learned and how to apply to my own life... I found it a bit difficult. As its a bit like... "If this situation X happens then apply Charlie's lesson X1, and instead of taking your normal action X1-1... I should instead take action X1-2. And it made think of what I think is a great use case for AI in the future. We should train AI on ourselves... our work, our history, our mistakes, our relationships, etc. Just throw all that data into the model somehow. And then you can just write a prompt like "Apply Charlie Munger's lessons from his book to my life and tell me what I should be doing differently." This, at least on the surface, feels like it would be far more practical... and I could have saved the ~10 hrs or so listening to the book! hahaha https://lnkd.in/gnJ5FCZj

🚀Technology Predictions with Famous Sci-Fi Authors 🚀 David Brin, the genius blending science with fiction, takes readers on a thrilling journey where gripping stories collide with prophetic visions of our tech-infused future. 📚 His novels not only entertain but also offer a peek into what might lie ahead in our ever-evolving relationship with technology. 📖 🌎 In "Earth," penned in the early 1990s, Brin predicts the rise of the internet, portraying a world where a global information network shapes society. 🌐 It's a snapshot of a future that unfolded before our eyes, showcasing Brin's knack for foreseeing the trajectory of our digital age. "Existence" catapults us into a near-future bursting with augmented reality and artificial intelligence. 🤖 Brin explores the ethical dilemmas of a world where technology becomes an integral part of human identity, offering readers a glimpse into potential societal challenges. In "The Transparent Society" from the late 1990s, Brin envisions a world where transparency counteracts widespread surveillance, making it accessible to everyone. 🔍 The book echoes today's discussions on privacy, transparency, and accountability. Brin's works aren't just riveting tales; in the midst of our tech-driven age, his novels act as signposts, urging us to consider the ethical and social dimensions of the technologies shaping our world. 🤔 #scifi #tech #predictions #authors #books #reading

Summary of Chapter 5 - The Tower of Babble: the Individual - of the new book. Chapter Summary Long before the fallout from the recent elections, the questions of “how has truth always been told in mechanical and now in digital form have been asked. What’s the difference between which delivery platform is used? Well – “the medium is the message” – no? One of the main components lost in the transition from analog to digital is the dissolution of peer review and editing. Now without any form of barrier to entry, anyone or anything at any time can publish “news” or “facts” or whatever else they wish to distribute as their content online in seconds. And there will be an audience, there will be an “echo chamber” ready and willing to join in the cacophony and spread the word to all others who may or may not be interested. But why should this be of interest to anyone? The reason is that this “cacophony” is determining our future, the future of our families, and the future of our society. The title of this chapter “Tower of Babble: the Individual” was selected for many reasons. A nod to the original biblical reference of Babel but updated to speak towards (and pay homage to) the basic human conditions of a need for both communication and hubris in a digital age. But can we foresee how this would permanently disrupt society’s sense of “truth”? During the last 30 years of designing for interactivity, web-based content, and the resulting democratization of content distribution with such ease and reach as this new Artificial Intelligence platform allows for, we have in front of us what appears to be a very disturbing scenario. Sort of like watching your kid try to learn how to ride a bike alone on raw asphalt. No pads, no helmet – just raw skin on the pavement. In the end, they will probably learn to ride but you are worried how much damage will come out of this exercise. It seems that this is what has gone on as we, as a society – globally – try to harness and manage this new skill set. We have been through this before but, locally in our backyard on grass, not globally and on the main street with traffic. How many cuts, bruises, and gashes can we take? How much loss of authority and confusion can we stand? Can we grow up and learn how to teach ourselves how to be independent of authority - and think critically for ourselves if we never take the training wheels off? Will this work or will it be proof of Darwin’s theories but in a gargantuan form?

There are so many tech solutions today being easily accessible with no code needed. That means any business owner has the power of an entire IT department at their fingertips for a fraction of the cost - and with better outcomes. And AI is making it even better, shaving off days, weeks and months off your workload! I'm digging into this book Automate Your Busywork this weekend so I can Do Less, Achieve More and Save My Brain For The Big Stuff! What are you reading at the moment to improve your day to day?

There are so many tech solutions today being easily accessible with no code needed. That means any business owner has the power of an entire IT department at their fingertips for a fraction of the cost - and with better outcomes. And AI is making it even better, shaving off days, weeks and months off your workload! I'm digging into this book Automate Your Busywork this weekend so I can Do Less, Achieve More and Save My Brain For The Big Stuff! What are you reading at the moment to improve your day to day?

There are so many tech solutions today being easily accessible with no code needed. That means any business owner has the power of an entire IT department at their fingertips for a fraction of the cost - and with better outcomes. And AI is making it even better, shaving off days, weeks and months off your workload! I'm digging into this book Automate Your Busywork this weekend so I can Do Less, Achieve More and Save My Brain For The Big Stuff! What are you reading at the moment to improve your day to day?

Our CEO, John Munsell, is taking the ‘Deadline Beard’ to a whole new level! He’s vowed not to shave until he finishes writing his first book, ‘Ingrain: The Blueprint for Scaling AI from Strategy to Execution’. Follow his journey from clean-shaven to Santa as he races to complete it. Who else is curious to see the final beard length? #AIBookChallenge #BeardedWisdom #AIStrategy

BEING TECH-AWARE “It is inescapable that every culture must negotiate with technology. Whether it does so intelligently or not, a bargain is struck, in which technology giveth and technology taketh away. The wise know this well, and are rarely impressed by dramatic technological changes, and never overjoyed. There are very few political, social and especially personal problems that arise because of insufficient information. Nonetheless, as incomprehensible problems mount, as the concept of progress fades, as meaning itself becomes suspect, the Technopolist stands firm in believing that what the world needs is yet more information. (…) Technopoly is a state of culture. It is also a state of mind. It consists in the deification of technology, which means that the culture seeks its authorization in technology, finds its satisfactions in technology, and takes its orders from technology. This requires the development of a new kind of social order. Those who feel more comfortable in Technopoly are those who are convinced that technical progress is humanity’s supreme achievement and the instrument by which our most profound dilemmas may be solved. They also believe that information is an unmixed blessing, which through its continued and uncontrolled production and dissemination offers increased freedom, creativity and peace of mind. The fact that information does none of these things – but quite the opposite – seems to change few opinions, for such unwavering beliefs are an inevitable product of the structure of Technopoly. New technologies alter the structure of our interests, the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they alter the nature of community: the arena in which thoughts develop.” That’s from a 30-years old book, written before the Web went commercial, before social media, before smartphones, before gen-AI: Neil Postman’s “Technopoly” (https://lnkd.in/dZF3Ms9y). I re-read it recently and it’s disturbing how actual it is, for we still live in the questions Postman raised. In the book, he doesn’t offer solutions (Postman was, after all, a culture *critic*). But he encourages adopting an attitude of “resistence fighters”. Which does not translate into being anti-technology, but rather acutely technology-aware. He describes it as this: “A resistence fighter understands that technology must never be accepted as part of the natural order of things, that every technology is a product of a particular economic and political context, and carries with it a program, an agenda and a philosophy that may – or may not – be life-enhancing and that therefore requires scrutiny, criticism and control. In short, a technological resistence fighter maintains an epistemological and psychological distance from any technology, so that it always appears somewhat strange, never inevitable, never natural.” (Posted 3 May 2024) #BGreadingnotes

There are so many tech solutions today being easily accessible with no code needed. That means any business owner has the power of an entire IT department at their fingertips for a fraction of the cost - and with better outcomes. And AI is making it even better, shaving off days, weeks and months off your workload! I'm digging into this book Automate Your Busywork this weekend so I can Do Less, Achieve More and Save My Brain For The Big Stuff! What are you reading at the moment to improve your day to day?

There are so many tech solutions today being easily accessible with no code needed. That means any business owner has the power of an entire IT department at their fingertips for a fraction of the cost - and with better outcomes. And AI is making it even better, shaving off days, weeks and months off your workload! I'm digging into this book Automate Your Busywork this weekend so I can Do Less, Achieve More and Save My Brain For The Big Stuff! What are you reading at the moment to improve your day to day?