Digital Dilemma

AI’s Hunger

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Artificial Intelligence hunger is insatiable. It’s always hungry for more data and more information in the digital realm. On the physical side, powering AI machines and services requires huge amounts of energy and space. Huge data warehouses are needed to accommodate the machines providing AI services to people. Technology equipment fills the warehouses. They require lots of electricity to operate. Yet, these are only some of the costs behind the scenes.

Beyond AI’s appetite, it’s curious to think about how it’s changed our own longings. The power and potential of AI has filled us with new kinds of yearnings. A different kind of greed to have things instantly that once might have seemed unattainable. With the power of Generative AI, it’s possible for anyone to produce a book, or an artistic work in mere minutes. This can happen even without any talent, training, or skill. All one needs is the ability to create a good prompt.

It always reminds me of a certain character I’ve read about in myths and folktales. Each culture describes it differently, but the underlying intent is similar. In Asian cultures, the portrayal is sometimes as a hungry ghost. Nothing is ever enough to fill or satisfy this being’s intense emotional needs. Some Indigenous cultures call the being Wendingo. Essentially it’s a creature with an insatiable hunger. The more the creature eats, the hungrier it gets.

Are we collectively, as a society, headed in this direction by placing so much energy into AI? The longer AI is around and continues to advance, our uses for it also continue to swell. Or rather, our desires grow, even if it never becomes a reality. Though many places want to use AI, sometimes the service cost can be prohibitive, especially when compared with the perceived savings. And yet, we continue to lust after the potentials of AI.

AI’s insatiable hunger for more information, more data, more electricity, more space, more everything is transferring to us. We also want more analysis, more creations, more automation, more insights, more everything that we think AI is promising us. However, everything comes at a cost. Will our societal cost be satisfaction? Will we ever feel full again?

Human Archives

The Comfort of Warmth

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There’s something so comforting about feeling warm when you’re sick, uncomfortable, or feeling off somehow. It’s probably because warm is that perfect middle ground. You’re not expending energy trying to heat up. You’re not working hard to cool down. Being warm is effortless.

Many years ago, recovering from surgery, my favorite aunt came to stay with me. Near the end of her visit she tripped down a stair and hurt her knee. Even though the outside temperature was comfortable, she asked for blankets because she wanted to feel warm. More than the temperature, I think it was also the comfort brought from snuggling in a blanket, like a cloth hug wrapped around her.

I also enjoy feeling warm, snugged in blankets. I’m a self-professed blanket hog. I might be worse than most because I tuck the blankets all around my body. It makes me feel safe and cozy, cocooned inside the blanket nest. And I definitely stay warm, too.

Other things that elicit feelings of warmth are hot tea, or any type of hot drink. This feels especially comforting on a cold day, during illness, or after something big happens. I recall in the moments after my father died one of the workers placed a cup of piping hot tea in my hand. Though I can’t remember the temperature, it was June, so I know it wasn’t cold outside. At that moment, there was something visceral about the heat in that tea. I remember the feeling of my hand curling around the styrofoam cup and the warm steam rising towards my face. I was in a bad state of shock, but instinctively forced myself to take a few sips. Looking back at it, I suppose the physical sensation of something hot in that moment helped to re-establish a physical connection to ground me.

I’m also a fan of hot soup. Somehow soup is one of those foods that feels warm and comforting in my belly, even if it’s hot outside! Eating heat in the heat helps me feel adjusted to the temperatures. And eating heat in the cold weather helps to warm me up and feel nourished.

Perhaps one of my favorite ways to feel warmth is from the sun. Few things compare to those early warming rays of spring sunshine after a long, cold winter. It’s comforting.

Productivity, True Confessions

Taking Care of the Little Stuff

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Why does it always seem that we become more productive leading up to a major deadline, event, or vacation? What is it about these occasions that makes us change our habits? Even if the change is only temporary, it serves to remind us of what is possible. If only, we can harness the changes and incorporate them into everyday routines.

I recall when reading David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, he also focused on this question. There is something about a looming deadline that makes us focus. I go into a state of hyper-focus. This is the case whether I need to catch a plane, host an event, or prepare for something big. When the deadline passes, I normally revert back to my old habits. While I do complete lots of things, other things often fall to the side. The tasks of lower priority end up hovering at the bottom of the list remainig untouched until… the next big deadline.

In considering what’s different about these times for me, the pace sticks out. I’m often moving faster and working longer than normal. By default, this extra speed and time allows me to complete more. However, it’s also unsustainable. I prefer to maintain a steady tempo, working in incremental sprints as needed, to get through the hard bits.

I’ve been employing this strategy for a number of years. Growing up, one of my best friends committed to cleaning her bedroom for 5-minutes a day. At the time I scoffed at the idea. To me it seemed that 5-minutes was too short to really accomplish anything, so why bother. Since then, I’ve come to adopt this idea in a host of different ways. What I discovered from Sprinting through Clutter and Modifying my own Bad Habits, is that the small sprints help a lot in the long run. I like to think of them as small-scale maintenance. I’ve also discovered that a lot can be accomplished in 5-minutes.

Five minutes is enough time for me to empty the dish drainer or put away all my folded laundry. It’s just enough time for me to complete something small to prevent major build ups from happening. While it’s not sufficient time to accomplish the really big things, it does make those looming deadlines easier to tackle. It takes care of the little stuff, 5-minutes at a time.

Digital Dilemma, True Confessions

Are We Losing Our Curiosity?

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Though born at the tail end of Gen X, I never questioned where I belonged. I always felt my generational pull firmly. I’m now a working professional getting my first taste of Gen Z employees. I feel that tug even more strongly.

Growing up as a latch-key kid, I took my sense of independence for granted. For me and most of my peers, both parents worked necessitating us to take on responsibilities at a young age. My parents were fine with me doing extracurricular activities. However, I had to find my own transportation most of the time. We figured things out, mostly because we didn’t have other options. This forced us to be curious, engage with others, and learn how to be resourceful. If I didn’t know something, I hunted around for the answer. Sometimes this meant going to the library or asking other people. We didn’t have the internet.

By contrast, I notice with many Gen Z’s, they just don’t seem as curious. I wonder if this is because they grew up with an abundance of information instantly available, literally at their fingertips, all the time. It’s almost as though the over stimulation desensitized their curiosity muscle. Or maybe they have overload from too much internet, social media, and digital interaction.

Even more surprising to me is the reticence I see in Gen Z’s to take the initiative to look things up. For example, I’m honestly shocked sometimes after interactions with distinctly Gen Z’s because they don’t think to use the internet. This is usually my first instinct. They often seem uncomfortable to ask somebody else. I’m guessing the latter might be because they’ve had so much digital social interaction that reaching out in person probably feels foreign to them.

By contrast, many people I know who are Gen X or even Gen Y, will make attempts to figure things out. They do this either by researching, asking around, or looking things up. This is all done before escalating something or submitting a more formal query. I have a hunch this is because of being raised to be independent from a young age. However, part of being independent also means knowing when to reach out to someone else for assistance. We were, in essence, independent to make those decisions. We weren’t alone, even if we only had a telephone to connect us.

Deletion

Archiving vs. Deleting

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Some years ago I posted about the difference between Archiving and Saving. In the world of archiving and records management the terms are distinct. Archiving is designating items or content for long-term preservation. Typically, defined criteria helps with the selection. In essence, there’s a process. It’s not just randomly saving everything because of seemingly unlimited digital storage space.

However, since I changed jobs to work on the dark side in data, another nuance developed. I frequently find myself having to define storage, archiving, and deleting. Then I need to translate what each term means from a data perspective or a records management/archival one. In essence, archiving in the data world means storing data on cheaper disk space. This means it may take slightly longer to access. In some scenarios, the data will be retained for a long time. Sometimes it could be for large volumes of data that will only be needed for a couple of years. In any event, it differs from the archival definition of the term.

Yet, in many circumstances, I find the definition getting blurry between the two. For example, when I had to migrate my list of subscription users from one service to another. I took the opportunity to clean up and remove invalid email addresses. To me, this was an obvious delete. I had no use to keep outdated email addresses. When I hit the delete key, the system gave me a prompt questioning my decision and requiring me to provide a reason. Even more puzzling was that my answer belonged with archiving!

It felt curious to me that permanently deleting wasn’t an option for cleaning up my audience. To me, this is building bad habits in people. Digital storage, and digital archive space, isn’t limitless. It’s not a good practice to save everything simply because the space is available without having a valid reason. When would I ever need to refer to an invalid email address? How would this information be valuable to me? Why does “permanently delete” only happen due to a compliance reason?

The point is, we shouldn’t be conditioned to choose “archive” instead of opting for delete when it makes sense. It’s healthy to get rid of things that no longer have value to us.

Productivity, True Confessions

The Simple Magic of a To-Do List

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I spent my time leisurely on Saturday doing fun activities. Sunday morning my thoughts felt scattered. I was having some (mild) panic about how much I had to get done. Cleaning, weekly preparations, laundry, grocery shopping, yard work (it was a beautiful day!), practicing, writing my blog… basically, a lot of stuff. To add to the mix, some things required multiple parts. For example, I had some vacuuming to do. However, I couldn’t knock that off the list until I first cleaned out the vacuum cleaner. It had gotten gummed up with baking soda after an unfortunate mishap on the rug. In addition to all the tasks, I was also desperate to go for a swim to reset.

Though it was tempting to avoid everything and enjoy the sunshine, I knew my future self would regret that decision. Instead, I spent a few moments over breakfast making a to-do list. Like magic, my breathing slowed down and the morning felt manageable again. Even better, I didn’t have to think about what I was doing. I simply had to consult the list and see what was next, or available, to do in that moment. As I blogged in June, there’s something about “Lists and Why We Love Them.”

The to-do list grew over the day, some things crossed off, others added, and a few tasks getting stars as something critical to finish as time was running short. Even though I failed to accomplish one of the more critical tasks, I completed most of the list. This also included a few small, annoying tasks such as tightening a loose pan handle. Another bonus was the satisfaction of seeing the list and the crossed off items. I even added a few things to the list just so I could cross them off. It’s funny why that feels so satisfying.

All in all, it was a good reminder of how something as simple as a list, scratched out on a scrap of paper, can result in so much clarity. I don’t make a list every weekend, but I’m thinking of resurrecting the practice after Sunday’s success! It also helped me to break down some of the more miserable tasks, aka cleaning out the gummed up vacuum cleaner, into smaller steps I could handle. Otherwise, I easily could have let that one go for another two months.