ECHOES OF THE ROAD

‘Rivit’ say the 8.2 billion frogs in the cooking pot. Most of the frogs rivit quietly getting on with their lives. But sensing the warming pot, some of the little frogs rivit a little louder saying there’s a problem. The big frogs come together and agree yes indeed it looks like there is a problem. But after a while it dawns on some of the big frogs that stopping the pot from warming is going to be uncomfortable for them and that won’t do. They croak loudly, calling out the little frogs for scare mongering and assuring all the frogs in the pot there is nothing to worry about. Meanwhile the flame underneath the cooking pot burns ever more fiercely.  The push for collective action on climate change is often stymied by the way individualistic and profit-driven interests dominate, especially when a handful of powerful organizations and individuals hold such significant influence. Economic measures like carbon adjustment taxes and the development of circular economies are steps in the right

In my early twenties I made three decisions that for the most part guided my life. These came about when I enjoyed unfettered freedom to think but also a rejection of what I now know as romantic thinking. Create opportunities. Despite attempts and disappointment, standing out from the crowd had never been in my nature and this was a moment of acceptance. If there were things I wanted to achieve, I would need to create opportunities and lean into them my way. This made me open minded but a bit of dreamer. Go with the flow. My first room mate was a positive influence, I copied some of his ways, stopped being so rigid and learnt to not be so hung up. This enabled me to me navigate an easy course but one that periodically with have me crashing, thrashing and clashing all at the same time. Particularly in situations if I felt I was being pushed around.  Keep people at arms length.  Although I am an uninteresting introvert by nature, I have always pushed myself to make personal connections

I was recently prompted by SoulCruzer’s  blog about The Dark Knight to take a discussion with Chat GTP . In fact his blog left a string dangling where I wanted to explore more of good vs bad and the grey line that is the under or otherworld. When the webmaster himself (remember the days of the webmaster?) suggested to prompt Chat GTP to take on a character, I was blown away with the discussion when I asked it to take on the persona of Charles Dickens. I took the time to converse in a manner that would be appreciated by Mr Dickens so the conversation was very immersive. I am in awe of a tool that can be used to help the thought process, to explore, rationalise and understand things that can be deeply personal. How ChatGTP was able to converse in the manner of a Victorian gent but pose such though provoking questions is beyond my comprehension. By the end of the chat, it became obvious, because of the points raised by Mr Dickens, taking the discussion further really needs to be with a fe

 Artificial Intelligence is permeating every nook and cranny across the internet, applications and product launch. It’s being pushed upon us with the zeal of a preacher promising a better tomorrow. With this AI is taking on some sort of god like quality. Like religion AI can be a force for good but, like religion, it can and it will be turned against people. For those who can remember, the hippy dreamy days (‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ comes to mind) when the internet came to the world, followed by early social media with its ideals, indie blogging and podcasts. All have these have been turned against us. Independent thought, communication and expression has been steam rollered into the ground by mega companies and the egos that run them. AI is currently in that idealistic phase. But sitting behind AI are the same egos of these mega companies. These companies are the new religion and the egos that run them are the high priests. It won’t be long before the neutral tones that w

 I finally finished reading ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Robert Pirsig. I heard a discussion about it on Radio 4 one evening and bought a second hand copy.  It takes place with a father and son embarking on a motorcycle road trip across the US along with his life long friend and his wife. All is not right and he is on a mental journey revisiting distant memories that are centred around him going mad while wrestling to discover new concepts and definitions. The concepts I cannot really describe in words, as I read the book some things made perfect sense, particularly when this is related to the mechanics of the motorcycle. There were concepts that come from other cultures that resonated with me, particularly as I have been exposed to them in my working life. Other things I got fleeting glimpses of comprehension that would quickly evaporate.  I felt like the book was dancing around the fringes of my intelligence and so my pace of reading slowed right down. As result the

As I end my working week, I am recalling an interaction I had with Carl Pullein on YouTube. Carl runs a successful time management consultancy and I recommend his courses and new book. His recent video blog was about the methods for organising work before the age of digital - I vaguely recall those times and it turns out the I was at the tail end of methods that had been practised for at least 100 years. Products like the Franklin Organiser and the Filofax were born out of this. I usually make quick notes as I am going along through my day but today there was bugger all entered aside from my calls and must do lists. I had a productive catch up day which got me thinking about the different tools that have overlapping information. At a recent trade show I had business cards from conversations of folk I had met. I logged the follow up actions in a spreadsheet entering the contact names and emails. Each key contact was sent a personal email. The spreadsheet was copied into the last slide