The Individual Journey

As an adolescent I used to thrill to the words of love the early American poet Ann Bradstreet spoke to her husband: 'If ever two were one, then we.'

As I have grown, however, I have come to realize that it is the separateness of the partners that enriches the union. Great marriages cannot be constructed by individuals who are terrified by their basic aloneness, as so commonly is the case, and seek a merging in marriage. Genuine love not only respects the individuality of the other but actually seeks to cultivate it, even at the risk of separation or loss. The ultimate goal of life remains the spiritual growth of the individual, the solitary journey to peaks that can be climbed only alone.

Significant journeys cannot be accomplished without the nurture provided by a successful marriage or a successful society. Marriage and society exist for the basic purpose of nurturing such individual journeys.

But, as is the case with all genuine love, “sacrifices” on behalf of the growth of the other result in equal or greater growth of the self. It is the return of the individual to the nurturing marriage or society from the peaks he or she has traveled alone which serves to elevate that marriage or that society to new heights.

M Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled

Generative AI Models are "trained to hallucinate"

It’s important to remember that generative models shouldn’t be treated as a source of truth or factual knowledge. They surely can answer some questions correctly, but this is not what they are designed and trained for. It would be like using a racehorse to haul cargo: it’s possible, but not its intended purpose … Generative AI models are designed and trained to hallucinate, so hallucinations are a common product of any generative model … The job of a generative model is to generate data that is realistic or distributionally equivalent to the training data, yet different from actual data used for training.

UCLA Computer Science Professor Stefano Soatto writing for InsideBigData

Dedication

Mental health is an on-going process of dedication to reality at all costs. -M Scott Peck

13 Recent Articles about How Companies are Using AI

25 percent of CEOs plan to replace human workers with AI this year – Futurism

Duolingo cuts workers as it relies more on AI – Washington Post

Tropicana is one company that’s ditching AI - CNN 

The Best-Managed Companies Have the Most AI Jobs Postings. What Explains That? – WSJ

Companies using AI want human workers to ‘disappear’ – Semafor  

How Walmart Is Leveraging Automation and AI to Deliver Faster – Wall Street Journal 

A Consortium of Big Companies has Developed a Way to Identify A.I. – New York Times

Multinationals turn to generative AI to manage supply chains - Financial Times

ChatGPT Helps, and Worries, Business Consultants, Study Finds – New York Times

How artificial intelligence is revamping customer call centers – CBS News

AI Has a Trust Problem. Can Blockchain Help? – Wall Street Journal

AI ads are sweeping across Africa – Semafor  

An Anticipated Wave of AI Specialist Jobs Has Yet to Arrive – Wall Street Journal

Amazon’s AI-written product reviews aren’t as bad as you think - Washington Post

each success

Each success you encounter only buys an admission ticket to a more difficult challenge.

9 Articles about the AI Economic Impact

How AI is Tipping the Scale of Job Vulnerability - Medium

Generative AI And The Future Of Jobs - Forbes

These are the jobs most likely to be taken over by AI - ZDNET

GenAI Will Change How We Design Jobs. Here’s How. – Harvard Business Review

Generative A.I. Can Add $4.4 Trillion in Value to Global Economy, Study Says – New York Times

The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier - McKinsey

The Impact of AI-enabled Data Analytics Services Across Major Industries – Data Science Central

What AI means for travel—now and in the future - McKinsey 

The world is splitting between those who use ChatGPT to get better, smarter, richer — and everyone else – Business Insider

Life is in the Digging

Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch.

"What are you doing?"  

"We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth," one of the brothers volunteered excitedly.

The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible.

After a long silence, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms, and a wide assortment of insects. He removed the lid and showed the wonderful contents to the scoffing visitors.

"Even if we don't dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!"

Their goal was far too ambitious, but it did cause them to dig. And that is what a goal is for — to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen; in other words, to set us to digging!

Not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end successfully. Not every relationship will endure. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every love will last. Not every endeavor will be completed. Not every dream will be realized. But when you fall short of your aim, you can say, "Yes, but look at what I found along the way! Look at the wonderful things that have come into my life because I tried to do something!"

It is in the digging that life is lived. And I believe it is joy in the journey, in the end, that truly matters.

8 Articles about AI Products

Converse with an AI chatbot through wearable glasses - Axios

Bizarre AI-generated products are in stores – Washington Post

I tested an AI 'digital afterlife' service so my clone can live on after death – Daily Mail

Companies race to make AI you can wear – Axios  

A projector so user interface appears on a hand or other nearby surface – Tech Crunch

A neck-worn pendant designed to record conversations & transfer them securely to a smartphone – Rewind

Tech firms race to put AI in small, wearable gadgets - Axios

Best Free & Paid AI Resume Builders: Build a Resume in Minutes – Tech.co

A Dream

A dream is not what you see in sleep. A dream is what does not let you sleep.

A Dozen Things People are Trying to Get AI to Do

 A new tool to counter California’s housing crisis: AI - Semafor

Can AI Replace Your Financial Adviser? Not Yet. But Wait. - Wall Street Journal

AI models can analyze thousands of words at a time. A Google researcher has found a way to increase that by millions. – Business Insider  

New deep learning AI tool helps ecologists monitor rare birds through their songs – Phys.org

When AI Denies Your Loan Application, Should You Be Able to Appeal to a Human? – Wall Street Journal  

Edith Piaf AI-Generated Biopic in the Works at Warner Music – Variety

ChatGPT and Midjourney bring back the dead with generative AI – Axios  

How advances in AI can make content moderation harder — and easier - Semafor

Can AI Rescue Recycling? - Wall Street Journal  

The US has a new plan for wielding AI to fight climate change - Semafor

AI Doom Calculator is predicting people's death - USA Today 

Jeff Bezos Bets on a Google Challenger Using AI to Try to Upend Internet Search - Wall Street Journal

Irritation with Others Mistakes

The imperative person has very idealistic expectations. Only the best is acceptable. Frailties, common to our humaness, are despise. The result is a strong tendency to look up on anything less than ideal with disdain. That's why imperative people often admit, “I get irritated when other people make mistakes.” or “I tend to do an important job myself because someone might not do it right.” Or “I get impatient when other people can't understand what needs to be done.”

So, clutching onto our high ideals, we tend to hold ourselves above others. False superiority is felt. Condemnation is communicated.  Annoyance is a constant companion. Relationships suffer. (All the while), the impaired person must cling to correctness.

Les Carter, Imperative People: Those Who Must Be in Control

16 Articles about AI & Creativity

The creative future of generative AI - MIT

Meta launches AI-based video editing tools - Reuters

Contract for WGA, the Hollywood writers' union, includes historic AI rules - Axios

Amazon restricts authors from self-publishing more than three books a day after AI concerns – The Guardian

As AI Battle Lines Are Drawn, Studios Align With Big Tech in a Risky Bet - Hollywood Reporter

Art direction vs artificial intelligence: A helpful tool or an added hassle? - Its Nice That

DeepMind and YouTube release Lyria, a gen-AI model for music, and Dream Track to build AI tunes - Tech Crunch

Generative AI in film & TV: A Special Report - Variety  

YouTube Shorts Challenges TikTok With Music-Making AI for Creators - Wired

How Frank Sinatra and Yo Gotti Are Influencing the Future of Music on YouTube - Wall Street Journal

Will AI ruin audiobooks — for narrators and listeners? - The Washington Post

AI-Generated Art: Boom or Bust for Human Creativity? –-Center for Data Innovation  

Staying Human While Using Generative AI Tools for Content Marketing - CMS Wire

Director Christopher Nolan reckons with AI’s ‘Oppenheimer moment’ - The Washington Post

AI study suggests famous Raphael painting was not entirely his own work – Euro News

How AI is transforming the creative economy and music industry - Athens Messenger

The Greatest

The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.  -William James (born: Jan. 11, 1842)

A Dozen Articles about Employees Using AI at Work

Employees want ChatGPT at work. Bosses worry they’ll spill secrets. – Washington Post

Panic and possibility: What workers learned about AI in 2023 – BBC

AI In The Workplace: Helpful Or Harmful? – JD Supra  

Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding, to answer customer questions and write cloud training materials – Insider

How to use ChatGPT to make charts and tables – ZDnet

5 ChatGPT Prompts To Feel Invincible At Work – Forbes

Despite Office Bans, Some Workers Still Want to Use ChatGPT – Wall Street Journal

New Gen Z graduates are fluent in AI and ready to join the workforce – Washington Post

A Guide to Collaborating With ChatGPT for Work - Wall Street Journal

AI bots lack one critical skill for customer service jobs – Tech Target

10 most in-demand generative AI skills – CIO

The Do’s and Don’ts of Using Generative AI in the Workplace -  Wall Street Journal 

Becoming Real

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

“Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

I’m still wounded

I’m still wounded. I’ve learned there is no finish line for healing. But my wounds have meaning now — and for that, and for the people who have made it possible, I will be forever grateful. -Banning Lyon

200 Movies about Journalism

2023

Boston Strangler - Two underestimated female journalists battle sexism as they are the first to connect the 1960s Boston Strangler murders.

Freelance - An ex-special forces operative hired to protect a journalist becomes involved in a coup in South America.

Line of Fire (aka Darklands) - An Australian blogger and amateur journalist pursues her relentlessly for an interview, unwittingly endangering her family.

The Night Doctrine - When an Afghan journalist tries to discover who murdered her family 30 years ago, she uncover hundreds of civilians killed in a secretive American-backed program. This short animated documentary was produced by ProPublica.

2022

Endangered - A year in the life of four journalists reporting inside Mexico, Brazil and the US.

The Independent - A young young journalist teams up with a legendary journalist to uncover a conspiracy that places the fate of a presidential election. A mediocre effort.

The Killing of a Journalist - A young investigative journalist and his fiancée are murdered in Slovakia. Their deaths inspire the biggest protests in the country since the fall of communism. The police file about the murders are leaked, leading to the revelation of high level corruption.

Lyra - The life of Northern Irish investigative journalist Lyra McKee through her own work and words. She was murdered by political radicals in 2019.

She Said - Two New York Times reporters break a story that helped propel the #Metoo movement. Slow but focused on the journalism.

Vengence - A dark comedy about a journalist and podcaster who investigates the death of a woman he was seeing romantically.

2021

C’mon C’mon - (Joaquin Phoenix) A radio journalist interviews children about the future.

The French Dispatch - Wes Anderson’s stylized tribute to longform journalism. A collection of stories published by a fictional American newspaper in a French town come to life. 

Profile - An unethical TV reporter impersonates an Islamic convert to catfish an ISIS soldier. The gimmicky and outlandish plot plays out on a computer screen.

Storm Lake - Iowa's Storm Lake Times, fights for survival of th biweekly small-town newspaper.

Writing With Fire - Meet the journalists behind India’s only all-female news organization. The filmmakers say this documentary shows “the raw power of independent journalism.”

See the entire list

Respecting Your Audience

13 Free Media Webinars in the next 8 days: Podcasting, Generative AI, Disinformation, Social Media, & more

Mon, Jan 8 - So You Want To Run A Podcast

What: Sarah Ventre will discuss her career in audio investigative journalism, the perils and promise of embedded reporting, and how she has survived and thrived in a changing media landscape.

Who: Sarah Ventre whose podcast was named one of 2020’s top podcasts by both The New Yorker and The Atlantic. Her reporting there won an Edward R. Murrow award for journalistic excellence.

When: 6 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Society of Professional Journalists

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Tues, Jan 9 - A Discussion with Brooke Kroeger on her book Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism

What: This book explores how women have fared in American journalism’s most competitive and highly valued bastions, the ones men have dominated in the 180 years since mass media began.

Who: Brooke Kroeger, a journalist, professor emerita at NYU, and the author of six books, the latest of which is Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism, published by A.A. Knopf in May 2023.

When: 7 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The New England Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

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Tue, Jan 9 - The Trainer’s Guide to Podcasting

What: You’ll discover how to find your podcasting style and voice, why it’s a good idea for trainers, and exactly how to get started. Takeaway a game plan for quickly creating messages that matter, building your audience, and translating it all into training results. 

Who: Becky Pike Pluth who more than 24 years of experience in training delivery and design and business operations, she has been the owner of The Bob Pike Group for the past eight years. She also is the author of Creative Training: A Train-the-Trainer Field Guide, 101 Movie Clips that Teach and Train and nine other influential books and resources.

When: 9 am, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Wed, Jan 10 – Disruptive AI and Blabbing Chatbots: Are You Ready to Fight or Adapt?

What: Find out how AI could disrupt your writing and editing career — and what you can do about it (or how you can adapt to coming changes). Our panel of experts will discuss what AI is, how it works and whether writers and researchers can use the tools effectively to brainstorm, research and outline new ideas.

Who: Harry Guinness, freelance writer; Jeanne Dietsch, former New Hampshire state senator and founder of Mobilerobots and Activmedia research; Jon Christian executive editor of Futurism; Linda Whitaker computer scientist, Ph.D in operations research and novelist; Arielle Emmett, moderator

When: 1:30 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The American Society of Journalists & Authors

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Wed, Jan 10 – Confronting Disinformation: How Communicators can Navigate Trust & Truth in Society

What: Deciphering fact from fiction has become an ever-growing challenge. Join us for a webinar on the IPR-Leger 4th annual Disinformation in Society Report, where we’ll unravel the layers of disinformation’s impact on society, explore its repercussions, and equip communicators with actionable insights to rebuild trust.

Who: Tina McCorkindale, President & CEO of the Insttiute for Public Relations, Dave Scholz, Chief Strategy Officer at Leger

When: 4 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Institute for Public Relations

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Wed, Jan 10 - Beyond ChatGPT - Navigating the LLM and Generative AI Landscape

What: Generative AI has taken the business world by storm, but vey few have explored the marketplace beyond ChatGPT or Bing AI. What other options are out there, how do they work and what advantages do they offer?

Who: Chad Udell, co-founder and co-CEO of Sparklearn and author of Shock of the New: The Challenge and Promise of Emerging Technologies.

When: 9 am, Pacific

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Training Magazine Network

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Thu, Jan 11 - From Birth to Death: A conversation on health disparities  

What: We’ve known for a while that Black Americans fare far worse in health measures compared to their white counterparts. But reporters with the Associated Press wanted to know how wide these disparities are and why they persist and so they launched a year-long investigation. This webinar is about health equity and how you can cover it in your communities.

Who: Journalist Kat Stafford, one of the main reporters of the five-part AP series "From Birth to Death” that examined health disparities over a lifetime.

When: 12 noon, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: The Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

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Thu, Jan 11 - The 2024 Social Media Trends to Get You More Followers & Sell More Products

What: The latest strategies that will not only boost your online presence but also drive sales. From emerging trends in content creation to leveraging influencer marketing for maximum impact, we'll guide you through the key elements that can propel your brand to new heights.

Who: Sana Ali is the VP of Social Media Marketing at Entrepreneur Magazine.  

When: 3 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Entrepreneur

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Thu, Jan 11 - Speculating about Our AI Future with Cory Doctorow, Ken Liu, and Martha Wells    

What: Three science fiction authors will discuss the promise, perils and possible impacts of artificial intelligence.

Who: Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, most recently The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation. Ken Liu is an American author of speculative fiction. He is a winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards. Martha Wells is the author of many books and has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, and Locus Awards.

When: 7 pm, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Illinois Libraries Present

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Thu, Jan 11 - Public Relations Trends for the New Year

What: This webinar will discuss 2024 trends in public relations including the impact AI may have on the field, how to get ahead of the game related to key social media trends, and a look at the emerging importance of inclusive content creation. 

Who: Members of NC’s public relations team and its PR agency, DCI.

When: 10 am, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Visit NC

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Fri, Jan 12 - Burnout & Stress: How journalists can manage both in 2024

What: A conversation focused on practical tips and effective methods for journalists and newsroom leaders to address stress and burnout. Journalists are likely to face stressors from many directions in 2024: the demands of constant deadlines, industry-wide financial turmoil, and an uncertain election season ahead are among them.  

Who: Tara Francis Chan Managing editor & operations director for The Appeal; Naseem Miller Senior editor for health at The Journalist’s Resource; AX Mina Senior civic media fellow at the USC Annenberg School of Journalism; Samantha Ragland Vice president journalism programs at the American Press Institute; Bara Vaida Director of training for the National Press Club Journalism Institute.

When: 10:30 am, Central

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: National Press Club

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Tue, Jan 16 - Social media in college sports

What: Learn from industry leaders about the latest trends and strategies in sports social media for 2024. Elevate your social media skills by discovering innovative techniques & tools to better engage your audience and amplify your program's brand on social.  

Who: Matthew Glick, Gipper Media, CEO & Founder; Kristen Keller, UC Santa Barbara Associate AD for Communications and Digital Strategy; Robert Rosa, Gipper Media, Creative Director; Lydia Thompson, Gipper Media, Inc. Partner Marketing

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: College Sports Communicators

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Thu, Jan 18 - Advertising Predictions for 2024

What: Topics include: Which market segments are likely to thrive in 2024; How political advertising will impact the future ad landscape; What we can expect in the future for streaming platforms.

Who: Todd Krizelman, CEO MediaRadar 

When: 2 pm, Eastern

Where: Zoom

Cost: Free

Sponsor: Media Radar

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Plagiarism & False Data in Academic Papers

There are countless credible accusations of (academic) misconduct that go uncorrected; I myself have published articles challenging the integrity of hundreds of papers. The majority of them have not been retracted, corrected or even remarked upon. I would wager that most reasonably large universities (my own included) have faculty members who are known to have plagiarized, fabricated, falsified, claimed undue credit, hidden financial conflicts of interest or misbehaved in numerous other ways and who have seemingly gone unpunished."

New York University professor Charles Seife writing in the New York Times