Dave VR – Page 7 – Wild Rain

Eternity has no time for regrets

You forget that we are mortal, that our time on earth is not a given. We can all go at any time. We are lucky to have the time that we have.

And then they start dying.

Family members, both near and far, friends both close and distant. You suddenly realise that you are going to more funerals than weddings. Saying goodbyes.

But these goodbyes, though sad with sorrow, are sad for other reasons. They are going before you had a chance to say what you wanted to say, to tell them how you felt, that you appreciated the time you had, however little. To show them who you are and what you have achieved. To show them that you did it, you reached your goals, you did what you said you would.

But now it’s too late. They’re gone. There’s no do-over, no inserting another coin to continue. For them it’s over. Your interaction is no more. You cannot tell them anything.

It hits you like a wave. Not only are they gone but there is no more them. You can’t talk to them, ask them anything, getting the answers to unanswered questions. Game over. It was what it was. Their time has ended while yours continues. Your two timeline’s interactions are over. It was what it was and there is no retrospective.

If this is teaching me anything it’s that I should appreciate the time I have left and to make peace, seek closure, get answers, whatever, with those that are still here, while they are here. Eternity has no time for regrets.

A sense of achievement

I love that feeling of a sense of achievement. Feeling that you’ve accomplished something today. Even if it’s something small. A win is a win.

Some days I can’t go to sleep if I feel like I’ve not accomplished anything today. That I achieved nothing. That nothing was crossed-out on my to do list. No feeling of progress being made.

Life isn’t all about progress. Sometimes you just have to enjoy it. Take a me day. Relax, recover, enjoy.

It’s nice to feel a sense of achievement, and just getting through another day can feel like a sense of achievement in itself. Don’t make life a tick-box exercise. Crossing off items on some imaginary list so that you feel like today had purpose, that it had meaning. Just being here, showing up, living your life is enough.

Everything seems so expensive

Everything seems so expensive.

But is it?

I asked AI.

It gave a detailed response taking into account inflation, the pandemic, supply chain issues, energy prices, wars, the weather, and just about anything else it could think of.

The answer?

Yes everything is more expensive.

Over the last five years it has accelerated, with salaries, therefore spending power, not keeping up.

Thoughts on AI music

I experimented with listening to AI music. Some of it was good. But I wanted to remove it from my feeds. I couldn’t. It had worked its way into the algorithm. More and more AI music was being suggested to me. I went out of my way to search and play tracks from known human musicians. It got better at offering me better AI music.

There’s more options, of all genres. The AI music creators can churn out tracks in hours, albums in days. So many in fact that you can spot them a mile away. The better ones are harder to spot. Even the mainstream news is picking up on how good they are getting. Being unable to track down evidence of the artists existence in the real world. The artist and label having no real-world presence.

Does it matter if the music is good and you enjoy it? From a consumer perspective, not so much. But from a musicians perspective? If listener count isn’t increasing but the amount of AI music being played is, that means more payments are going to the creators of AI music and not actual musicians. Plus it takes far less time, a lot less time to create AI music than music that requires real instruments, singers, a recording studio, fuel, food, transportation etc.

And I guess it does affect some consumers. The fans. It’s not as if you can follow an AI artist on Instagram. Can you? You certainly can’t go to their live performances, unless they use holograms and a lot of technology. Would you want their autograph? Hey you write great prompts, I loved the end result. Could you sign my iphone?

What are your thoughts on AI music?

When you really put your mind to something

When you really put your mind to something.

When you give it your all, all your focus and energy.

It’s amazing what you can achieve.

But we rarely do it.

We procrastinate, we defer, we ignore, we phone it in.

Imagine what we could achieve if we really put our mind to it.

Gave it all our focus and energy.

Brought our A-game.

Each and every day.

Things taken away

We get frustrated when we are told that we can’t do this or that anymore due to age or health. Not that we wanted to. But it was nice that we could, that it was an option, should we ever want to. But when it is gone, removed, no longer an option, we become sad, annoyed, with a sense of loss, for something we never had, or wanted.

We only get one life and not enough time to experience everything that we could possibly experience. So for example being told that you can’t go deep-sea diving, or lift really heavy weights, or run a marathon, ever, triggers a sense of FOMO. A fear of missing out. Of never being able to experience those actions or activities. I mean, there are plenty of other things you can engage in and experience, if you wanted. But being told that something has been taken off your table of life, that it is no longer an option for you, can feel depressing.

I like to think about it another way. That you have reached the point where you are at today through a series of decisions and actions. Every possible action or activity in front of you is not guaranteed to be there forever. You make choices every moment of your life, and some of those choices will remove options from the table. True, you may feel a sense of loss when some things are no longer an option, but take pleasure in the fact that there is still a table in front of you full of options. Every day that you wake to that table is a good day.

Just ask it

Humans can be lazy. My thinking is that AI is becoming more popular because it helps us find information faster. If we have a question and we search for an answer using a search engine, we then have to browse the links that it offers ourselves. We have to read and digest data and then review what we’ve read and determine if we can answer our question.

With AI it’s as if someone has already done all the hard work for you, the reading, digesting, and analysing. We just have to ask it our question and it will attempt to answer it as best as it can. We then have to trust (but verify) the answer provided and we are done. Much faster. Lazy but efficient.

AI and OSINT

With OSINT a lot of the fun is in uncovering the information, finding connections, uncovering useful data that leads to the next node and so on. Assuming you know where to look, or how to analyse the data in the first place that is.

Using AI in OSINT investigations isn’t cheating if it helps unblock you, or helps you make progress where you were stuck. It may suggest alternative sources, or recommend tools. It can be like having a virtual OSINT investigator with you whenever you need it. You still have to drive, to direct, to be able to think and ask the right questions in order for it to be of use. It’s not cheating if you are learning.

I hate supermarkets

Or at least I hate visiting them in person. I do like the bargains and the choice, but I prefer my orders to be delivered than actually having to go to one myself.

Finding stuff can be tricky. Then there’s all the people getting in each others way, banging trolleys, baskets, and bags into you. And don’t get me started on parking. I worked on a system for car insurance once. Supermarket car parks are one of the most common places for car accidents. It’s as if people lose the ability to drive when they enter a supermarket car park. You’d think with these modern cars with all the technology on-board that people will be able to park more easily. Yet the amount of dents and scrapes I’ve seen tells me otherwise.

If I can, I avoid supermarkets in person.

Retail

No one likes paying retail.

The retail price is the starting point. You find out what something retails for and then you try to get it cheaper than that. The cheaper the better.

Paying retail is for amateurs. It’s paying the maximum. Why pay the maximum? Shop around, source deals, hunt for vouchers and discount codes. Add it to your basket and wait. Wait for the price you are willing to pay. Wait however long it takes. Prime day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Bank holiday or Boxing Day sales. Just wait.

Everybody loves a bargain.