T.G.I.F ~ 4/21

It’s finally Friday folks! I’ve been working from my new company’s headquarters in San Francisco this week and it’s been interesting to be back in an office. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was excited to get back to my work from home situation next week but I’m really looking forward to spending this weekend with my family in San Jose to watch Justin play some baseball in the sunshine. Doesn’t get better than that! I hope you have a lovely weekend as well and I’ll see you back here on Monday.

Thought: I’ve heard some talk in the opinion section of the NYT and on various podcasts lately about the implicit fears and concerns that seem to accompany AI. As someone who works in tech and has a computer science degree, these fears have never made sense to me but I wasn’t able to articulate why they were unfounded without reaching for an NP-Hard proof of theory. Then I found this TED talk and it really resonated with me – articulating much of what I thought and felt but couldn’t put words too. In particular, I think two points are of critical importance. The first is his idea that “all I’m after is a simple brain, something that offers the illusion of intelligence”. That speaks to the truth the way I see it. It’s an illusion of intelligence and once you learn how AI algorithms are coded and how machines are “taught” the illusion becomes very clear. The boundaries of AI, when compared to the complexities of humanity, are not the sources of fear. The second point was that of how AI even works. AI machines are trained and taught by humans. There’s a mathematical proof to accompany this concept but the general idea is that – because we are the ones teaching them – they will never be smarter than humans, they could only ever reach a level of equality and even then we have no more reason to fear a machine with AI abilities than we do to fear that next door neighbor who seems a little crazy ?. Give the talk a watch – it’s only ten minutes and is incredibly fascinating!

Gist: This story about a homeless Girl Scout Troop in New York City spoke to my heart. It’s a touching reminder that there are some truly beautiful souls in the world. 

Image: The view last night from our hotel window in San Francisco. It was alright, I suppose. As much as the weather is questionable around here, I do love the awe-inspiring architecture that’s so unique to this city.

Find: I smelled this eucalyptus deodorant in a shop in LA a few weeks ago and the smell was so understatedly fresh and perfect it’s stuck with me. The ingredients are non-toxic approved and it’s got some great reviews; I’m planning to order this the next time I run out of deodorant instead of my go-to Lavanilla.  As always, I’ll keep you updated!

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