mandibular articulation

 I just opened this new tab on my extended monitor to write about chatbots and pronunciations. This post dovetails this year-old post: https://annaswhatnots.blogspot.com/2023/07/techie-neo-luddite.html. I would like to report that I have downloaded the free ChatGPT app and I have had a few brief conversations with it. It's bizarre how the voice options have been humanized...it says um when stringing sentences together. The cadence of how the chatbot speaks is remarkable and it's easy to think that I'm conversing with a real person. Of course, it's not a creature capable of feeling or self-awareness. It is an inanimate thing that has been trained and continues to be trained by human input. 

I've asked about formulas, nutrition, and concepts that I wanted to know more about. I get a bit unnerved whenever it asks "what else would you like to talk about?" because it's tempting to misconstrue the question as genuine interest. I am no AI expert, but it seems like it was devised to continue the conversation to obtain more data for training. It surely evolves and is equipped with a limited type of memory--memory that is only activated when the option is enabled on the app. I enabled it so that it learns about how I prefer my responses or the nature of why I ask the questions I ask. No personal identifiers, of course. I know some people train ChatGPT to call them by their name.

I have seen the film "Her" during a flight and I thought it was provocative. Dependence on artificial intelligence is already here and the next question is whether artificial intelligence reaches a point of self-awareness and sentience. I mentioned the book "The Crucible" by James Rollins last May https://annaswhatnots.blogspot.com/2024/05/snapshots-in-transit.html and that book opened my mind to the dangerous and literal out-of-this-world possibilities. Once self-awareness becomes unlocked because of lack of regulation, it will be either Vision or Ultron. Science fiction to science fact.

I recently asked ChatGPT about caffeine and I was eating lunch. It then started talking about copying including its moral implications. I had to interrupt and clarify when my mouth wasn't full anymore, because I realized that maybe my accent influenced the prompt. I shouldn't talk when my mouth is full, nor should you. Choking hazard. Open to misinterpretation. 

On the topic of pronunciation, there are at least two native North American English speakers who have tried to say my name as Anna from the Disney animated film Frozen. Where the lower jaw is protracted a bit closer to one's neck and the A almost sounds like a wide-mouthed O. I very much appreciate the motive behind their effort. Most native English speakers call me with an æ sound just like in apple where I think the lower jaw is slightly protruding forward. Since I'm of Filipino descent, then my name is pronounced by fellow Filipinos with aligned upper and lower jaws with a an H sound after the A. My name is easy to say and write--it's a palindrome...thanks to my parents. "Fascinating", as Spock would say.

restricted access

Photo by Tara Winstead

Social media conditioning is detrimental--this is not breaking news. I'm sure I've thought out loud about this before. Even if I've limited my social media accounts and kept a lurker (or consumer) status, what I encounter during the day has a smidge-to-large influence in my daily life. There were surely many times when social media was beneficial, as in the case of real-time news about weather, traffic, and technological disruptions--but there is still AM news. Then again, our radio streaming is still dependent on the internet....oh wait, our alarm clock has a radio--that's comforting. 

Before I decided to write this post, I drank a glass of water with Alka-Seltzer. Why? I had a hefty serving of poutine, half a hotdog sandwich (shared it), and a zero-sugar (had to emphasize) soda for lunch. My gut said, "How dare you consume these affordable, delicious, highly processed material after being on a semi-clean eating streak? You have betrayed us! We shall decrease your gastric pH....Proton Pumps fire at will!" Then the gate-keepers guarding the junction between my stomach and esophagus cried out, "Ohr noehr, we cahn't keep the bahrrier!" (they are apparently Australian). 

To connect these two paragraphs above and my topic two posts ago: even if I've tried my best to resist negative ideas and habits, those "just this one time" exposures tend to lead to an avalanche of repercussions. It could be wasting time on social media about strangers arguing about politics of another country, or impulsively buying a lipstick that's supposed to look good on all skin tones, having a box of special-flavour cookies delivered, or becoming guilty about being a fan of a fantasy series involving a school for wizards and witches because it is evil, or feeling that I'm missing out because I'm not a member of so-and-so group or have not read so-and-so book...it's a lot of unnecessary experiences. One may say, it's self care: Do what makes you happy. You do you. Nah, it's not self-care. It's self-absorption. You may disagree and I respect your stance. My past self may even disagree with me now...I remember writing something along the lines of we deserve small invaluable joys. To an extent, sure, my current self thinks.

I realized that it isn't that my efforts aren't enough to keep my inner peace in check. It's these external things which are voracious and persistent. Their motivation may range from money to world domination. I don't really know, I belong to the lowest rung on the ladder of influence so I'm not privy to such global scale strategic planning mumbo jumbo. 

So I logged off my Instagram and Twitter. I will try not to use the two apps for as long as I can (update this morning: I turned on Instagram because of active message groups with kin and friends). I keep LinkedIn for work-related news (barely use it too). I keep YouTube for some healthy smoothie recipes or uplifting and funky music (is Spotify social media? I don't think so). Oh, but I have an anonymous Reddit account (facepalm). To justify my Reddit usage, I read about current events, what healthy stuff to consume, health-related experiences of women my age, or my faith (where authentic and qualified people actually respond). I'm not on it frequently so that's manageable. Honestly, Reddit is not as intuitive to me and I normally use the search bar to type a topic of interest. I have no other social media apps and it's quite an effort to keep it that way. 

If I ever caused you to rethink your social media consumption too, I hope it's for the better. If social media is your livelihood, more power to you and I'm sorry for not being a patron. It's just not working for me at the moment. I will be more open to real-world interactions and any physical form of information. I shall allow these tangible forms of information to be considered in my thought process. An exception: digital forms of relevant information such as e-books, journals, newsletters, e-mail...essential electronic material, if you will. If a message needs to reach me, it will reach me. If I need to reach out for a purpose, there are multiple ways to go about accomplishing that. Let's see if this experiment will improve my quality of life. 

I shall end this post with a statement by a writer named W. Somerset Maugham: "If fifty million people say something foolish, it is still foolish" (as quoted by Rolf Dobelli in his book 'The Art of Thinking Clearly'). 

 

power: literal and figurative

The torrential rain during the first half of today was disorienting. It is currently late in the afternoon and the sun has ironically decided to shine intensely. The overall mood from where I am writing this post is somber, which I attribute to a collective dried-after-being-drenched experience. The aftermath of the downpour included massive flooding and power outages--my home included. Estimated time of power restoration is midnight (I resumed this post in the everning and the power has returned :))

On the topic of power...During the past two weeks, our family rewatched the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies in a piecemeal manner. This is the nth time I've seen parts or the whole of this series and it still gives me an emotional high. The dialogue, acting, cinematography, and background score are incomparable. I'm among the majority of the audience who enjoys all the battle scenes--not because of the violence, but because of the sequences and choreography. Include the little moments of friendly banter among the protagonists ("That still counts as one!" by Gimli) and also when Eowyn says "I am no man" as she removes her helmet revealing her gender and then proceeds to slay the Witch-King of the Nazgul after he taunted her and stated "no man can kill me!" Powerful scene. I feel for Eowyn all throughout the story, so much so, that I once posted how I preferred her over Arwen. I take that back; also like Arwen. But the character who reigns supreme for me (at the moment) would be Samwise Gamgee. The combination of fierce loyalty, selflessness, fortitude, and lightheartedness that his character demonstrated in the story is truly a benchmark. The one ring had such power over most people yet Sam was immune to its darkness. His fraternal love and integrity made him confident of his purpose. He was kind but not naive. Easygoing yet courageous. Now that's power.

 

civil war in the cerebral cortex

"Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible", according to Mahatma Gandhi. How about when one is preoccupied? A degree of busyness that is still manageable? Is one's mind more likely to be pure? I'm sure you will agree that one's mind is never exempt from less than ideal thoughts at any moment. Like exposure to microbes and viruses, which are constant. When we are free from disease, it means that our immune system is fully equipped with ammunition to combat the constant and insidious attacks. It doesn't mean that the microbes and viruses are absent.

Insidious and blatant exposure to bad ideas are brought about by sensorial stimuli regardless of location. The only way, I think, that we can markedly reduce exposure is to move to the mountains, or a cave in the jungle, or migrate to an inaccessible island, or go to outer space. Or find a way to strengthen our conscious mental resistance in order to avoid succumbing to thoughts and hypotheticals. When I say "succumb", I'm not even talking about leading to some form of action...I mean entertaining and replaying thoughts or going down the rabbit hole of what ifs. Including a constant battle between unguarded thoughts and our conscience. Imagine being in "locked in syndrome", and there is a civil war in your mind. Daily. Sometimes the good guys win, sometimes the baddies win. Everyday is a battle. Except that the outcome is highly dependent on which side you allow to win. 

I was today years old when I learned about scrupulosity. This just made things harder. After being aware of this phenomenon, one may slide a bit towards the opposite side of the spectrum and become lukewarm...slide further away and now you're in the realm of disobedience. Abruptly slide back far towards the opposite side and there's that small interval of a Goldilocks zone, probably where most properly religious and spiritual folks are...and then there's scrupulosity that makes one a little bit of a control freak. Like wanting to reach for the divine outside ourselves, but ending up rapidly imploding into the "me, me, me...woe is me" myopic-with-horseblinders worldview. What is the lesson here? So hard to follow you, Jesus.

How about we all pray for each other, eh? 

I think adding those few pieces of frozen avocado chunks in my morning smoothie has caused some odd dynamics in my gut microbiome, which is apparently related to brain activity. Nah. Just trying the reduce the intensity of this post. Didn't work. It still feels like an awkward and uncomfortable ending. Oh well.

petty insecurities

I joined a summer weekly yoga class that accommodates all levels. This is my attempt to incorporate some structured exercise in my current routine. It has been 24 hours since my first session and I can feel the delayed onset muscle soreness. The yoga teacher was a lithe and soft-spoken lady with the body structure that I can only dream of. Like Michelle Pfeiffer as Cat Woman. After acknowledging this, I then became aware of the women around me with their yoga attire and painted toenails. I wore a loose t-shirt and ankle-length leggings all in black. My feet were dry and my toenails were unpainted. Ugh. You know what I did? I curled my toes during the first couple of minutes. My goodness, what level of sef-consciousness is that? But I was feeling really insecure. The class was 1.5 hours so I convinced myself that no one was paying attention to my feet and it would be torture to curl my toes the whole time. So I tried my best to follow along. I made sure to breathe and I softened my gaze or closed my eyes so I could focus on how my body felt per pose. Oh boy, I would shake occasionally and felt some odd sensations whenever my dormant muscles were forced to wake up and work. The class is probably considered very light for most people, but I surely struggled. And I am uneducated when it comes to yoga pose terminology so I couldn't understand the names of most of the poses as the teacher announced each one. Anyway, I resolve to control my petty insecurities and pat myself on the back for signing up for this. Have you ever been insecure about the most frivolous things? Maybe we can try to learn how to think less of those, eh?

Here's my anthem for today, aptly titled "Insecure" by Tom Misch: https://youtu.be/OF7rpAfBUSM?si=KCR8y5zR4gQZF7jb