In my mind's eye

I would like to report that I've been listening to holiday music already, particularly instrumental playlists in the morning and also while driving. Many years ago, I had a case of CDs in the car including mixed CDs of songs that were "burned" from either a computer repository or purchased from shops that sold mixed CDs. I used to be able to listen to louder and faster paced music while driving, despite chaotic traffic conditions. Aging has compelled me to dedicate focused attention and awareness. I think I can see better when it's calmer inside the vehicle, which is why I've become accustomed to cozy instrumental music. I can say that my poor eyesight is compensated by full auditory attention. These are realizations that make me feel insecure. I heard someone speak about feeling small when thinking about others who are better than one's self. I think people who have great eyesight and don't need readers are really lucky...and people who are over five feet and three inches tall...and confident public speakers. But as Max Ehrman's "Desiderata" goes, "If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself."

Going back to instrumental music and calmer environments, I thought to spend my free daily ChatGPt allotment for image generation by projecting what was on my mind (where I'd like to be) this Friday evening. The first image was from my initial prompt and the second was after a follow-up prompt to enhance the image. Clearly, these are AI generated because on the second image, the turntable is away from the rest of the record player. Also, there are ambiguous knick knacks on both images upon closer inspection. What's clear and explicitly part of my prompts is a steaming mug of hot chocolate that I would like to virtually raise: here's to the weekend, cheers.

Both images were generated by AI

concretize your imagination

I recently listened to two talks involving machine learning and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI) is to program machines to work like human intelligence. Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI that involves computer programming techniques that contribute to the concretization of AI. Part of the work that I do involves some machine learning, in which statistical or mathematical models are constructed, trained and evaluated in its ability to either detect some pattern or discriminate between groups. I understand that persons in my field of practice have qualms about ML—I think part of it is that black boxes of algorithms are involved. I remember many of my grad school professors demonstrating how the statistical software we use is simply speeding up what can be hand calculated. So imagine when you have these amazing new computational processes that are so esoteric that to find a way to manually cross-check and ensure the quality and robustness of the resulting numbers is cumbersome and nearly impossible—then you expect some seasoned practitioners to be skeptical and averse. I'm probably wrong and there is a way to cross-check and that the skepticism is due to something else.

But that’s where things are going now right? Science fiction is quickly becoming science fact. Just think about Star Trek’s Tricorder device where you just put it near something or someone and it can answer whatever question you have about it. We have all these chatbots and smart speakers now. If the human mind can conceptualize it, it already exists and can become real. Aye there’s the rub, of course. There are many possibilities of exciting development yet many possibilities that could lead to dystopia. I am hoping for a higher degree of the former and minimum-to-none of the latter.

The past few weeks since I last posted, I was very much immersed in computational stuff and healthy, constructive arguments with collaborators, partly ML related. I am not a data scientist so ML is not in my bread-and-butter applications yet it's nearly inescapable to me now. Like any kind of group or team work (the good kind), people see things with different lenses and that is important. The end result is a good compromise. A group full of “yes” or full of “no” people will keep the group stuck in a rut. It’s like a group trek up a mountain with each member equipped with a specialized tool or skill, and each one possesses something similar that can be shared. Also these past few weeks, I looked forward to the end of the day or the weekend to watch a film or series. Some of the things I’m so happy to have seen include the latest episodes of The Rings of Power, Lockout, The Martian, and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. The last two films involved some AI. It’s where we are headed now…just blurting out prompts and obtaining some desired result. Like this likeness of my lunch that was generated by Google Gemini after I prompted it to create a picture of a green smoothie in a mason jar on top of a kitchen table in a Mars space station:  

Image generated by Google Gemini

Pumpkin cream cold brew season

What a week, cyber friends, what | a | week. I'm feeling deliciously tired this Friday evening and I look forward to sleeping deeply tonight. I've recently discovered loop type ear plugs for sleeping (low-cost Amazon kind) and I found that it helps me sleep well when needed. Other times when I'm bone-tired, I don't need sleep accessories regardless of ambient noise levels, and I will sleep soundly a la "tulog-mantika" (Tagalog idiomatic expression literally translated as "sleep-oil" as in a type of oil that easily solidifies and is difficult to melt/wake up). Suffice to say that I'm not a light sleeper. Also, I can be a terrible afternoon napper to the point of occasional sleep paralysis (*shudder*). 

Some things I learned when it comes to preventing unecessary afternoon sleepiness include gentle iron supplementation and small amounts of caffeine. Regarding the beautiful and wonderful man-made elixir a.k.a. coffee, I needed to carry out a task requiring laser focus today so I incentivized myself with a seasonal drink from the nearest Starbucks. To date, my regular drink of choice from Starbucks in the afternoon is a no-fuss short americano, but I opted to have some sugar and ordered a pumpkin cream cold brew. Coupled with my fragrance of choice today (I combined 'Sweater Weather' and 'Autumn Drive' from Bath & Body works), I fast forwarded my mental state to the fall season even if it hasn't officially begun. My focus was certainly amplified. I also feel very uplifted after hearing first Friday mass at noon, which I don't always get to do. This is me metaphorically dusting myself off and virtually celebrating many triumphs this week, many of which involve my family and friends. Hoping everyone experienced and will experience the same positive feeling.