A.I. Marketing Fail

ChatGPT is widely recognized has being the first A.I. made available to the public. Since then, other companies have also been introducing their variation and their marketing of it is mediocre at best.

If your marketing strategy is to say that "it's better, more powerful than ChatGPT" then you're not sharing any relevant information regarding your own A.I. because, frankly, who cares which A.I. is more powerful? Will users even notice that your A.I. produces results a second faster than ChatGPT? If ChatGPT already provide answers that are somewhat accurate, and your A.I. produces similar result, then how can you expect users to make the switch?

If you're not first, you're last... If you're not first, you're going to be making mistakes trying to catch up.

ChatGPT is to A.I. what ski-doo is to snowmobile meaning that the word is associated with the entity. In my mind, the only way other A.I. companies can make themselves relevant is by utilizing A.I. in new, more innovative, ways-not trying convinced people that it's "better" because the average user doesn't have a way to confirm it.

3 Phases of Reading Non-Fiction

"The brain is a muscle, and I'm a kind of body-builder." 

-Karl Lagerfeild

The brain is like a muscle and reading is how you exercise it. When reading non-fiction, we go through 3 phases:

• Initial Struggle - We don't remember, or understand, what we just read.
• Gradual Retention - We remember some of what we've read.
• Application - We study/apply what we've read.

The most difficult part is to begin as we don't see the point of reading if we don't remember what we just read. If we're able to get through it then a wonderful world of self discovery opens to us. I would encourage you to read non-fiction - start small with only 2 pages a day. One of the best habits you can get into is the habit of reading as it has the power to improve every other aspect of your life.

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

-Mark Twain 

 If you're wondering where to start, the below are some books that I've enjoyed reading with how difficult, I thought, they were to understand:

• The below are easy to read:
• "The 5 love languages" by Gary Chapman
• "Personality PLUS" by Florence Littauer
• "Alexander the Great" by Jacob Abbott
• The below are of a normal difficulty to read:
• "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey
• "Enlightenment Now" by Steven Pinker
• The below are challenging to read:
• "Living Issues in Philosophy" by Harold H. Titus and Marilyn Smith

As I get older, I sometime feel like I'm falling behind and learning new things, from a non-fiction book, has helped alleviate those feelings.

Happy Reading!

Take Ownership of Your Education

I've rarely accepted to partake in learning engagements at work for the simple reason that most of these "classes" are taught by people that don't know anything beyond the Powerpoint presentation they've created for it. 

Take ownership of your education...

In 2007-08, I was a young, French only, punk about to start my career in the tech industry. In order for me to learn English, I created this blog. The plan was that I would do my research, in English, to write the blogs. Within a year, my English was to the point that I could communicate with my peers. 

A few years later, I was on a project where they were discussing Google Analytics & Adsense. Again, I used this blog to learn about these technologies. On another project, I needed test automation experience... this blog was used for this as well.

My point here is that whenever I needed to learn a new skill I created a little side project to teach myself how to do it. This isn't to say that there's no value in having a teacher but you do need teachers that have the results that you want.

"Listen to those that have the fruit from the tree."

If you can't find good teachers, then the only other option you have is to teach yourself.

The Universal vs Intellect Perspective of Free Will

Last week, I agreed with the theory that free will is an illusion but I feel the need to expand on it as it depends on the perspective.

From the perspective of the Universe:

• Everything happens in accordance to the forces at play regardless if a thing is a rock or alive. What begins will end following the pre-determined path - there's no free will as much as things are bound to destiny.

From the perspective of Intellect:

• Intelligent life is free to shape its surroundings and impact its future. A person can choose to be a doctor or a mechanic and as far as he's concerned the Universe had no impact on his decisions.

From a universal perspective, free will is an illusion because it was created by, and is bound to, itself. From the perspective of Intelligent life, we believe that we're free to choose not realizing that what ever direction we take is still within the Universal parameters. A fish in an aquarium is free to choose what to do within the boundaries of the aquarium.